Board of Directors

With 15 years of deep involvement in the automotive industry and 20 years of continuous entrepreneurial experience, he serves as the Chairman of the Board of Xiaoyudida Group; Chairman of Xiaoyudida Interconnection International (Cayman) Co., Ltd.; Chairman of Xiaoyudida Interconnection Technology (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd.; Founder and Chairman of Zhongrui Group; and Director of German Meilin Tire Group. He has received numerous honors, including being recognized as a High-end Talent in Hong Kong, a High-end Industrial Talent in Guangdong Province, and an Outstanding Innovative Talent. 

Stephen is Chairman Emeritus of KX Power, a UK-based renewable energy developer, and an independent non-executive director of five publicly listed companies, including Fanhua, Inc., Jinko Solar Inc., ZZ Capital International Ltd., Monterey Capital Acquisition Corporation, and UGE International. He also served as a trustee emeritus of Princeton-in-Asia. Prior to this, he worked for GE Capital in China and Asia Pacific, leading their business development activities, and with the Boston Consulting Group throughout Asia. Mr. Markscheid holds a BA in East Asian Studies from Princeton University, an MA in international affairs from Johns Hopkins University, and an MBA from Columbia University. His financial background and public company experience make him well-suited to serve on our board of directors.

Robert de Neve has over 45 years of experience as an engineer, entrepreneur, executive, lecturer and investor in Silicon Valley. Skills and experience include General Partner at NextPhase Ventures, Founder & CEO at the accelerator/integrator BriteLab, EVP & General Manager at Brooks-PRI Automation, NPI Manager & Engineer at KLA-Tencor, Technologist at SLAC, and a lecturer/mentor at Draper University, Carnegie-Mellon and UCSC. Robert is a six-time honoree of the INC. Fast 500 and a seven-time honoree of SVBJ’s Fast 50 achieving a #1 win in 1996. He has executive management experience supporting two significant exits, a $240M sale of Equipe to PRI, and a $475M sale of PRI to Brooks. He is a graduate of the Project & Program Management program at UC Santa Cruz and the Contemporary Optics program at University of Rochester.

Bala Padmakumar is currently the CEO of Monterey Acquisition Corp. where he is responsible for numerous management activities. Mr. Padmakumar is also actively serving as a partner for Advantary LLC, a full-service Management Accelerator, that provides outsourced CxO services across the entire C-Suite. Mr. Padmakumar also served as an EIR for SK Telecom Americas Innopartners, a company that sources and evaluates new deals and mentors existing portfolio companies, since 2016. Mr. Padmakumar also has previous experience working for GSV Labs as a mentor, and acted as a CEO for Amperics Inc, a company that leverages deep materials to deliver innovative ultra capacitor hybrid energy storage products and systems in a variety of applications. Mr. Padmakumar holds a masters degree from Stanford University and a B. Tech from the University of Madras.

As a Founder and Managing Partner of FocalPoint Partners LLC, an independent investment bank, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, capital raising (debt and equity), and financial restructurings, Alvin and his firm provide unbiased, innovative financial advice by truly understanding the needs of their clients and devising strategies that best fit those objectives.

Experienced Managing Director with a demonstrated history of working in the accounting industry. Skilled in Risk Management, Corporate Finance, Accounting, Venture Capital, and Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Strong business development professional with a EMBA-GLOBAL ASIA focused in EMBA from Columbia Business School, London Business School and Hong Kong University.

Rahul Mewawalla is a leader with extensive experience in technology, digital, business and financial services. He has served on various public company boards, including Phunware Inc., Mawson Infrastructure Group, Lion Group Holding, and Aquarius II Acquisition Corporation. Mr. Mewawalla has also held executive positions at Xpanse Inc., Freedom Mortgage Corporation, Zenplace Inc., Nokia Corporation, and NBC Universal. He has advised public, private, and philanthropic companies and earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BBS from the University of Delhi. We believe his diverse background and public company experience make him a strong fit for our board of directors.