Senior Professionals


Jack Bell, Managing Director

Jack founded Pantek and leads the firm's Technology practice. Prior to founding Pantek, Jack was Vice President of Marketing with Symwave, a fabless analog/mixed-signal semiconductor company providing integrated circuit solutions to the consumer and digital media markets with operations in China, Taiwan and the US. Jack joined Symwave in 2004 as the first US employee and was instrumental in the early development and implementation of the company's venture financing and cross-border sales and marketing strategies. The company has raised over $30M in venture capital, has grown to over 70 employees and now ships multiple high-performance analog IC product lines to the leading Greater Chinese and US consumer electronic and computer manufacturers.

Previous to Symwave, Mr. Bell was an Associate with Mission Ventures, a $500M early- and mid-stage venture capital fund where he managed direct equity investments and provided marketing and business development support to Mission's semiconductor, hardware systems and related software and services portfolio companies.

Prior to Mission Ventures, Jack was an Equity Analyst with UBS PaineWebber in New York with UBS' Telecommunications Equipment Group, providing equity coverage and M&A advisory to public and private companies in the telecommunications systems, sub-systems and related semiconductor markets.

Jack began his career as an Analyst with the Global Partner Ventures, a $100M Moscow, Russia-based private equity fund investing in recently privatized telecommunications, manufacturing, energy and media companies in the former Soviet bloc countries where Jack advised companies leading up to, during and after the Russian financial collapse of 1998. Jack graduated with honors from Colgate University and is conversant in Russian, Portuguese and beginning Mandarin Chinese. Jack splits his time between Pantek's California and China offices.

Contact:
jack@pantekpartners.com
U.S. Office: 858-356-5966 x801

Richard Li, M.D., Ph.D., Managing Director

Dr. Li leads Pantek's Healthcare practice. Dr. Li brings over 20 years of experience in international biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical research services as well as a strong background in international private client wealth management services servicing investors active in the biotechnology sector and cross-border mergers & acquisitions between US and Chinese companies.

Throughout his career, Richard has served as a trusted advisor to US and Chinese companies in the biomedical, CRO and advanced materials sectors, assisting these companies with market entry, joint venture partnerships and mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, Dr. Li has worked on behalf of several leading investment banking firms leveraging his industry and regional networks. Dr. Li possesses close relationships with the provincial government ecosystem throughout China, and has leveraged these networks to assist in facilitating M&A, joint ventures on behalf of his clients.

Between 2004 and 2008, Dr. Li served as Assistant Vice President at Wedbush Morgan Securities where he assisted Wedbush's private wealth management team advise clients active in the public and private equity biotechnology-related markets in China and the U.S. Previous to Wedbush, Dr. Li served with UBS Financial Services in a similar private client services advisory role.

Previous to his career advising US-based financial firms, Dr. Li held Assistant Professor and Professor positions at several medical institutions including the Pharmacology Department at the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo, the School of Biologicial Sciences at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the Beijing Medical University in Beijing, China, and as a Physician at the Center for Disease Control for Hubei Province in Wuhan, China. Dr. Li received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and M.D. from Beijing Medical University. Richard splits his time between Pantek's California and China offices.

Contact:
rli@pantekpartners.com
U.S. Office: 858-356-5966 x802

Sterling LeFevre, Managing Director

Sterling leads Pantek's Media practice. Sterling as one of the leading M&A dealmakers in China media, brings over 10 years of M&A experience in the Chinese media sector. Sterling comes to Pantek after having led the M&A team for Xinhua Finance Limited (XFN) and Xinhua Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (XSEL) since 2003, one of the most prolific M&A players in China over the past decade. At Xinhua, Sterling assisted with the XFN Tokyo public listing and XSEL's listing on the Nasdaq. Following the company’s Nasdaq listing in 2007, Sterling led a successful rollup of 10 media companies in China totaling several hundred million dollars spanning print, online, radio and TV advertising and publishing via Xinhua’s in-house investment banking division, Xinhua Capital. This series of transactions represents the largest M&A rollup in the Chinese media sector for the past 50 years.

Upon successful completion of these deals at Xinhua, Sterling managed the eventual spinoff of Xinhua Capital from XSEL as an independent investment bank focused on reverse merger listings and private placements for China-based companies in media and related industries. Sterling continues to manage Xinhua Capital as a founding partner where Sterling and his team provide specialized advisory services pertaining to reverse-merger listings and private placements for China-based companies.

Prior to Xinhua, Sterling consulted on the successful launch and business development of the Santa Barbara Market Neutral Fund, a fund of funds hedge fund. During that time period Mr. LeFevre also advised on numerous private equity placements and was instrumental in the founding of The Dream Foundation.

Contact:
sterling@pantekpartners.com
China Office: 86-21-5169-2113

Michael Adams, CFA, Managing Director

Michael leads the firm's Energy practice. Prior to joining Pantek, Michael was Managing Director at Lonestar Ventures, a direct investment firm based in Moscow, Russia with additional offices in Central Asia. While with Lonestar, Michael consulted to Ithmaar Bank (Bahrain) and composed the private placement memorandum for, road-showed, and brought core investors to Ithmaar's Central Asian Energy Fund, focusing on upstream oil and natural gas assets in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tadjikistan for Gulf investors. Michael also consulted to Burlington Capital Group (Omaha, Nebraska), for whom he composed a private placement memorandum and developed a solid pipeline for their Agribusiness Partners International Fund II, which focuses on commodity and processed agribusiness product development in the countries of the Former Soviet Union.

Prior to joining Lonestar Ventures, Michael co-raised US$50 million in public and private investment capital and developed pipeline for ACAP, Afghanistan's first private equity fund under the aegis of Actis (London) and focusing on infrastructure and agribusiness investments.

Michael began his private equity career with Global Partner Ventures, a $100M Moscow, Russia-based private equity fund investing in recently privatized telecommunications, manufacturing, energy and media companies in the former Soviet bloc countries where Michael advised companies leading up to, during and after the Russian financial collapse of 1998. In all, Michael has been in private equity investing in domestic and emerging markets for over 13 years.

Michael earned his BA from Haverford College, his MBA from Thunderbird, and is a CFA Charterholder. He is near-native in Russian, fluent in Arabic, and has other language skills.

Contact:
mike@pantekpartners.com
U.S. Office: 858-356-5966 x803