Robert is an international business leader with an award-winning track record of growing impactful, profitable organizations and bringing about local and global change around complex issues and in challenging environments worldwide.

He has worked at the highest levels of government, business, and non-profit sectors advising clients on corporate strategy, organizational transformation, internal and external communications, and the scaling up of global operations, particularly in complex environments and emerging markets. He also advises startups and directs political and issue related campaigns worldwide.

Robert started his career at the White House in the Administration of President Bill Clinton. During the Administration, he also served at the U.S. Department of Agriculture as Special Assistant to the Press Secretary and assisted with numerous Executive Branch initiatives, including efforts to normalize trade relations with China and their subsequent entrance into the World Trade Organization. Robert has also been a Press Secretary on two U.S. presidential campaigns.

Following the Administration, Robert started consulting public and private sector clients worldwide, including United Nations agencies. For the United Nations, for example, Robert has designed and implemented country, regional, and global level projects and programs and helped establish partnerships between governments, NGOs, and the private sector; he also advised on organizational reform efforts and the rollout of modern management practices. Robert also served as CEO of the Association of Change Management Professionals.

Robert’s experience and expertise are complemented with a joint Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He also holds a Master of Arts in International Relations and a Bachelor of Science in Physics.

Eric is an international award winning Innovation Leader, Strategist, Designer, Philanthropist, and cultural connoisseur. He has won top design awards such as the RedDot, iF, Innovations International CES, and T3 awards. His work has made sizable impacts ranging from market disruptions to redesigning aspects of the City of San Francisco to better benefit the underprivileged neighborhoods with sustainable design solutions. Eric’s products can be found selling millions of copies monthly in top retailers such as the Apple Stores world wide.

Eric has lead innovation teams with such global leaders in design thinking as Y Combinator startups, and at IDEO. He brought several startups to launch and scale into a global position while leading design, and two through acquisition and exit. Eric has also been founder of multiple startups, one of which he took through his first exit in just 2.5 years working closely with the city of San Francisco’s Mayors, bringing design solutions to difficult crime ridden neighborhoods in underserved parts of California. His sustainable city design work has now been built out in over 18 neighborhoods in San Francisco & Northern California. Most of the money awarded from this exist he donated to the project itself to further its efforts. His second exit was while he was leader of the product design team of Joby Inc., and involved in the early R&D of what is now Joby Aviation, global leader in electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing vehicles (eVTOL). Joby’s acquisition and exit came after just 3.5 years after launching the first app in history to have had over 1 million downloads its first day. Eric’s product designs range from creative tools to apps and iPhone gadgets, AI driven robotics, self driving cars and flying taxis to important cutting edge medical equipment, which could improve the lives of millions. Eric Hale’s designs have caught the attention of international journalists who‘ve published his work in notable publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, WIRED, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, and Ellen.

Eric chose San Francisco as a place of study for innovation design and was lucky to find renowned mentors such as Sir Jonathan Ive CDO of Apple Inc. and Rickson Son CTO of IDEO. He studied with and started his career with IDEO, San Francisco and at the California School of the Arts as well as at the University of California Santa Cruz where he obtained two degrees in Industrial Design Innovation and Fine Arts respectively. His focus is human centric design thinking in sustainability design.

Eric has lived and worked in Hong Kong and China working closely with company CEOs and guiding engineering and production teams in San Francisco, California. He is now working with several companies in Europe and the United States offering Strategy, Design Thinking and investing solutions. Eric speaks fluent Italian & English.

Sophie Guimezanes specializes in general corporate law, crossborder acquisition, corporate finance, joint ventures, and group restructuring matters for transactions of all sizes. Sophie’s initial background is in the field of banking and finance, which gives her extensive insight and working knowledge of the many aspects of complex operations involved, such as cross-border leveraged acquisitions and restructuring. She has had experience acting on behalf of HNWI, group of companies and banks in connection with domestic and international acquisitions, financing and restructuring.

Having relocated to Asia since 2012, Sophie is fully integrated into the local culture. She graduated from the leading Kellogg-HKUST EMBA program in Hong Kong (consistently ranked n.1 in the world by the Financial Times). She has also been advising clients in major multi-jurisdictional operations within Europe and the United States. Her truly international profile serves as an asset in transactions where sensitive intercultural considerations are involved.

Sophie is a Luxembourg qualified lawyer and registered as foreign solicitor in the UK. She is graduated from ESCPEAP & Paris XI University, Paris (master’s degree in financial products and capital markets law) and Kellogg-HKUST Executive MBA, Hong Kong. She is fluent in English, French and Spanish.