Pearl Chin - Managing Director

Dr. Chin specializes in advising on nanotechnology investment opportunities. Dr. Chin has extensive experience in strategy and marketing consulting, management consulting, operations, sales and marketing, and customer service, in diverse industries from small to large companies. She was also the President of the Foresight Nanotech Institute which was founded in 1986 by Dr. K. Eric Drexler and which is the leading nanotechnology think tank in the U.S and now a Research Fellow.

Dr. Chin was recently featured in her alma mater's alumni magazine's Winter 2008 "At Cooper Union" issue and in Business Week Online, July 2005 in their MBA Careers section.  Dr. Chin is on the Board of Directors of Biophage Pharma, a Canadian biotech company focusing on phage therapies. She also works with the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) in Singapore.

Dr. Chin contributed to National Nanotechnology Initiative's Grand Challenge Workshop 2004 for Nanotechnology in Space Exploration her views of the opportunities and needs for research and development in nanotechnology and what can be accomplished in the next 10 years for a Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology (NSET) Subcommittee report to serve as input to the new NNI strategic plan for the next 5-10 years, and will also be provided to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) as input for the PCAST’s ongoing review of NNI. 

She was a management consultant with Pittiglio Rabin Todd & McGrath (PRTM)'s Chemicals, Engineered Materials and Packaged Goods group optimizing Supply Chain Management and Change Management operations (Business Process Re-engineering) for technical companies. Before that, she was an Applications Consultant under Sales and Marketing and headed domestic Customer Support for TA Instruments, Inc. (spinout from DuPont as DuPont Instruments) when TAI was number one in Customer Support in their industry. TAI sells thermal analysis and rheology instrumentation to a wide variety of industries.

She was Managing Director of the US offices and co-Managing Director of the London offices of Cientifica, a global nanotechnology consultancy providing business information, marketing analyses and business strategy consulting to Fortune 500 companies and investment firms. She has also worked with Lederle Laboratories (formerly of American Cyanamid Company now known as part of Wyeth) and also with the Colgate Palmolive Company.

Dr. Chin also has extensive deep tech research expertise. She was a Guest Scientist collaborating with the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) Polymer Division's Electronic Materials Group under the US Department of Commerce. She received a NIST Fellowship for graduate study and a Henry Enders Graduate Study Scholarship from The Cooper Union. Her PhD research focused on characterizing nanoscale polymer films for electronics packaging applications and studying fundamental adhesion phenomena. She also studied nanoscale interfacial phenomena and effects on mechanical properties of graphite fiber reinforced epoxy composites systems for military, automotive, sporting goods and other high performance applications. 

To round herself out, she was an alternate finalist for a Congressional Fellowship with the Materials Research Society. 

She is actively sought out to speak about the business of investing in nanotechnology.  She wrote monthly articles on investing, business, management, strategy and social issues in nanotechnology.  Her articles have appeared in the Nanotechnoloy Law & Business Journal, European based Alt Assets (private equity research), Cornell Enterprise Magazine, the U.S. based Nanotechnology Now and Netherlands based Nano-Tsunami sites as well as for Tech Valley Times in Upstate New York, a designated economic development region by Governor Pataki focusing on hi-tech development.

Dr. Pearl Chin has an MBA (Commencement Marshall) from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management (JGSM), a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from University of Delaware's Center for Composite Materials and B.E. in Chemical Engineering from The Cooper Union in New York City. Dr. Chin also has her Series 7.  Se was recently featured in At Cooper Union in Winter 2007.

Dr. Chin also spends time advising small businesses in the downtown Lower East Side Manhattan area with the Chinatown-Lower East Side Business Outreach Center as part of her economic development and community service activities after 9-11.

Dr. Chin is a US Citizen born and raised in New York City. She enjoys gourmet food and cooking, travel, reading, philosophy, dancing and seeks to become an oenophile.

Dr. Chin also speaks Cantonese, has working knowledge of French, Japanese and Mandarin and dabbles in Farsi (Persian).
 

Berndt Samsinger - Director - Europe

Dr. Berndt Samsinger was Executive Director of Capital Stage AG in charge of the Private Equity and Banking business. He was Co-CEO of Capital Stage Brokerage GmbH, Frankfurt and CEO of Capital Stage (Schweiz) AG, Zurich and was in charge of Capital Stage's investment portfolio of approximately 20 high-tech investments. At Capital Stage AG, he established the first European nanotechnology fund. 

Dr. Saminger was President of SECA, the "Swiss Private Equity & Corporate Finance Association". He is currently Senior Partner of ReTurnOn AG, a firm that manages international projects with a focus on restructuring and turnaround in the private equity domain. Prior to that Dr. Samsinger was General Manager of Midrex International, a Rotterdam based global licensing business for a major Japanese industrial conglomerate. Before that he was Managing Director of GASAM AG, a private equity and corporate finance advisory business instrumental in establishing VC companies.

Dr. Saminger is also CEO of OncoPept AG, a biotech startup and was Managing Director of Bimarco AG, a Zurich based international steel trading operation.

Formerly, Dr. Samsinger was the Head of Corporate Finance at Price Waterhouse Switzerland. He held management positions in the investment banking divisions of Bank Julius Baer in charge of M&A and Corporate Finance-Services, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank as Director in charge of Corporate Finance and Commercial Banking for Continental Europe and Interallianz Bank as assistant to the CEO where he was In charge of Bank Relations, Investment Banking, Reporting and Controlling, Compliance, and establishment of a subsidiary in Hong Kong and Taipei.

Dr. Samsinger lectures at HSG (Saint Gall Business School), Schweizerische Akademie Fur Wirtschaftsprufung and IFZ (Institut fur Finanzdienstleistungen Zug). He is also a Board Member of ISU (Initiative Start-ups) and is a regularly invited speaker at international conferences in the area of private equity and corporate finance.

Dr. Samsinger has an MBA from Keio University in Tokyo, a Ph.D. from Hochschule St. Gallen und Universitat Zurich in economics. He is a graduate of the Swiss Banking School and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Universitat Zurich.

Dr. Samsinger speaks fluent German and English. He is is adept at French, Italian, and Japanese and dabbles in Chinese.  Dr. Samsinger has 2 children and his wife is Taiwanese.

Wayne Chang - Director - Silicon Valley

Prior to joining Seraphima, Wayne was a partner of Vela Global Technology Ventures, where he incubated and managed new venture opportunities in semiconductor, nanotechnology, biotechnology and wireless systems.   Wayne identified innovative new technologies and developed early stage companies into market ready sustainable companies.  Under his management, Vela established several companies with pioneering products, including TV-Technologies, Inc, a next generation interactive TV platform that is paving the road to implement interactivity into television programs.  Blancco, a company that has established strategic alliance with eBay’s PC Selling Center, to implement advanced data erasure software.  Iglootek, a start-up dedicated to developing nano scale, site-specific active heat sink and thermal management devices for ICs, MEMS, and Integrated Systems.  Iglootek’s solution has immense potential in addressing heat dissipation problem of over-heating microprocessors and high speed integrated circuits and related systems.   WhisperLog Technologies, developing advanced RFID solution with superior RF architecture and enhanced sensitivity that would offer scalable and cost effective commercial deployment solutions.  

Prior to joining Vela Global, Wayne was a Business Development Director at Monsanto where he led the company’s market entry, product management and corporate development initiatives in China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and India.  Wayne was also a consultant with Booz, Allen and Hamilton where he advised Fortune 500 multinational companies on product development, product & business planning, marketing & sales development strategy, M&A, and general corporate strategy issues.  Wayne led AT&T Bell Laboratories and 3M to improve company’s product planning and product development processes.  Wayne spent early part of his career as ASIC designer with TDK Semiconductor, where he managed several key custom ASIC design programs for Fujitsu, NEC, IBM and HP.

As a research associate at Lawrence Berkeley Labs Center for Advanced Materials and Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center, Wayne helped develop piezoelectric nano-sensing platform which led to a successful design of integrated multi sensors capable of detecting chemical vapor absorption, tactile pressure, acceleration, air flow, photo reaction, and thermal radiation from one integrated device.  

Wayne holds an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, M.S. in Manufacturing from Northwestern University Robert McCormack School of Engineering, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering Computer Science and Materials Science Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

Tom L. Tyrrell - Director - London

Colonel Tom L. Tyrrell, USMC (ret.) is Director of Special Projects in London at investment firm, Cantor Fitzgerald.  Prior to this, Col. Tyrrell was Executive Director and CEO responsible for all management oversight related to the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum operations, programs, and finances.  He directed a multi-million dollar upgrade and expansion of exhibits and public spaces, the largest undertaking of its kind since the museum’s 1982 opening.  He also served on the Intrepid Museum Foundation Board of Trustees as an ex officio member.  Tyrrell joined the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum as Chief Operations Officer in 2002.

Previously Tom held a number of strategic leadership positions.  He served as Commanding Officer of the First Marine Corp District, U.S. Marine Corps, overseeing all officer and enlisted recruitment in the 14 state northeastern region.  He also served as Director of Strategic Planning, United Nations interim Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).  Functioning as a civilian member of the UN staff, he developed and implemented The Witness Program to observe presidential elections in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.  He also participated in the development of the Human Rights Matrix, an informal diplomatic channel designed to facilitate negotiation of issues relating to prisoner release and identification of casualties from the war in Kosovo.

In 2000, as an assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Tom completed the “Fulcrum Project” and recommended an overarching cultural transformation strategy for the Armed Forces that mapped existing Cold War capacity and processes with future terrorism based conflict requirements.

Before 1996, Tom accrued over 20 years experience in a variety of assignments including 16 years of Command and a stint as the U.S. Marine Corps Chief Contracting Officer for the Far East.