Board of Advisors
Bill Trenchard
Phil Hubbard
Xu Xiao Ping
James Liu
Russell Siegelman
Toivo Annus
Bill Trenchard
With over a dozen years of experience as an internet entrepreneur and deep understanding of the work at home market; Bill offers valuable advice to Idapted. Bill is currently Chairman of LiveOps. Bill was CEO of LiveOps from January 2004 until December 2006 and was co-founder and CEO of CallCast, a revolutionary call routing technology firm that merged with LiveOps in 2003. Prior to CallCast, Bill was a managing director at idealab!, where he served portfolio companies in capacities ranging from a board member to interim CEO. Bill also founded and served as CEO of Jump Networks, Inc., which was acquired by Microsoft Corporation in April 1999. Bill has a Bachelor of Arts degree in science and technology studies from Cornell University.
Phil Hubbard
A specialist in computer-assisted language learning for over two decades, Phil is the author of more than 20 software programs for teaching English as a second language and serves on the editorial boards of three academic journals focused on technology in language teaching. He is the author of a number of research and methodology articles in this field and is co-editor of a new volume on technology in language teacher education. He has held elected offices in several professional organizations and currently sits on the Executive Board of the Computer-Assisted Language Instruction Consortium.
He is a senior lecturer in Linguistics at Stanford University and directs and teaches in the English for Foreign Students Program in Stanford's Language Center. He taught previously at UC San Diego, San Diego State, and Ohio University.
Phil holds an MA and PhD in Linguistics from UC San Diego, as well as a BA in Communication from Stanford University.
Xu Xiao Ping
Xiao Ping brings a wealth of experience, contacts and understanding of the English Training industry in China. As a co-founder of New Oriental School; Xiao Ping has over 10 years of experience in the English education business having been responsible for the company's marketing, public relations, government relations and most recently a specialised consulting arm for Chinese preparing to study abroad.
Xiao Ping also presided over an advisory board that helped advise management on a variety of issues relating to English Training in China. Xiao Ping was instrumental in New Oriental’s successful NYSE listing (EDU) in late 2006.
Xiao Ping holds a MA from the University of Saskatchewan of Canada.
James Liu
James Liu is the Co-COO of Oak Pacific Interactive (OPI), the second largest private internet company in China that owns and operates leading online services including mop.com, xiaonei.com, uume.com, donews.com, and renren.com. James was instrumental in helping OPI raise 400 million dollars from leading investors such as Softbank in 2008. James joined OPI through the acquisition of UUMe which he founded in 2003 as the first social networking site in China.
Before that, James was heading the marketing group with the Silicon Valley based Fortinet, and helped the company grow revenue from zero to US$ 33 million within 2 years. James was a senior product manager for two years with Siebel Systems, and worked as Product Manager at Netscape and Cisco as well while at Stanford. James served as consultant to eBay and helped the company develop market entry strategies into the global Chinese markets. Before that, James worked with BCG as a management consultant for three years.
James is an engineer by training. He holds dual degrees in CS and in Economics, both from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, He received his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar.
Russell Siegelman
As a Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Russell invests in consumer and energy related technologies and markets, including software, electronic commerce, Web services, semiconductors, consumer systems, media and telecommunications. He is currently on the boards of Digital Chocolate, Friendster, Lilliputian Systems, Mobilygen, Quorum Systems and RazorGator. Russell also leads KPCB's investment in WildBlue Communications, and is also on the board of the non-profit organization Sustainable Conservation.
Russell joined KPCB after seven years at Microsoft. At Microsoft he helped launch LAN Manager, Microsoft's first network operating system, then was the marketing manager in charge of Windows for Workgroups, a small-business networking version of Windows. For the first half of 1993, Russell worked directly for Bill Gates, during which time he researched the online market and recommended an entry strategy for that market. This led to the formation the Microsoft Network (MSN), Microsoft's online service. Russell became the first employee of this division and became its General Manager and then Vice President through April of 1996. Under his direction, MSN was developed and launched and reached over one million paying members. Russell was also responsible for the formation of the Slate project, Microsoft's World Wide Web political and arts commentary. He recruited the editor, Michael Kinsley, and was the business manager in charge of Slate until he left Microsoft in July 1996.
Before Microsoft, Russell was a software engineer who wrote artificial intelligence applications for the financial services industry at Applied Expert Systems, a Cambridge, Massachusetts startup, and was also an engineering consultant. He earned his BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Physics in 1984 and an MBA from Harvard University where he was a Baker Scholar in 1989.
Toivo Annus
Toivo has extensive experience with emerging technologies and also maintains a wide breadth and depth of knowledge technology related companies. He brings a valuable understanding of VOIP networks and infrastructure to Idapted’s team.
Toivo has a degree in economics from Tallinn University of Technology, and before establishing ASI he led several projects together with Ahti, Jaan and Priit. Toivo is one of the co-founders of communication software company Skype, where he built and led a world class engineering organization of 120 team members.
Being a no-nonsense kind of guy who constantly looks for something new to challenge him, Toivo manages to create an environment where the best experts and most innovative ideas meet, resulting in forward-looking, efficient and tremendously successful projects.
While his ability to work 24/7 is legendary, Toivo knows very well how to enjoy life too, be it in the company of good friends, charging a big hole of mud on his ATV, trying to beat that competitor in squash, or helping a team mate out in an adventure race.
Russell Siegelman, Silicon Valley Angel Investor, VC