Team

S. Tien Wong (twong@opus8.com)

Mr. S. Tien Wong is Chairman of Opus8, Inc., a private investment, strategic advisory, and conference management firm based in the Washington, DC area.

Opus8 provides strategy and fundraising advice to technology companies and investors. The firm organizes tech networking events as well as fundraising missions for private equity and VC firms to meet overseas LPs. As an investor, Opus8 invests in BPO, ITO, call center, CRM, mobility, and datacenter/cloud technologies and services.

Mr. Wong is Chairman & CEO of Tech 2000, Inc. a Herndon, Virginia-based world leader in technology training, mobile virtual education, and mobile content management software. The company leverages its patented mobility technology to create products and solutions for organizations including Fortune 100, Federal Government, nonprofit, and SMB clients around the world.

He is also Chairman of Lore Systems, Inc., a Silver Spring, Maryland-based provider of enterprise network engineering and cloud computing services to enterprise, government and SMB markets. Lore is an SBA-certified HUBZone company.

In 1991, Mr. Wong co-founded and served as CEO of CyberRep, Inc. until its acquisition in 2003 by Affiliated Computer Services (NYSE: ACS). At the time of its acquisition, CyberRep was one of the largest CRM outsourcing companies in the world, operating 6 customer interaction centers throughout the USA with over 2,300 employees and $80 million in revenue. Today, the CyberRep/ACS business unit is one of the largest call center operations in the world, with nearly $2 billion in revenue as a division of XEROX. In addition to garnering such prestigious awards as Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine’s MVP Quality Award and Customer Interface magazine’s ACCE (Award for Call Center Excellence), CyberRep was ranked in INC. magazine’s 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000′s “Inc. 500″ as the 51st, 53rd, 72nd and 408th fastest growing private company in the USA, respectively. CyberRep was profitable for eleven consecutive years and was backed by Allied Capital Corporation, a $5 billion investment company (NYSE: ALD).

Mr. Wong is a recognized international expert in CRM, direct marketing, and BPO. He has presented at dozens of industry events around the world, and has written numerous articles on the CRM and BPO spaces. He has also provided commentary on the ABC, Fox, NBC, CNBC, Maryland Public Television, and China’s CCTV networks, as well as print media including Time magazine, the Washington Post, Inc. magazine, and Success magazine.

Mr. Wong was the recipient of the 2001 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for Greater Washington. An “Entrepreneur in Residence” at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, he frequently guest lectures on entrepreneurship, leadership and finance at Georgetown, the University of Maryland, George Washington University, and the University of Virginia.

Mr. Wong was appointed by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley to the 9-member Maryland Venture Fund Authority which allocates and manages $84 million in VC-invested capital. He serves on the Investment Advisory Board of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology GAP Fund (cit.org) and the Board of Directors of the Potomac Officer’s Club (potomacofficersclub.com). He is an Organizing Board member of Startup Maryland (startupmaryland.org) and Founding Board Member of FounderCorps (foundercorps.org).

Previous Board positions include Treasurer and National Board Member of the American Teleservices Association/PACE (paceassociation.com), Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (bsomusic.org), Chairman of the Executive Leadership Committee for the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (nfte.com), the Technology Council of Maryland (techcouncilmd.com), Association for Corporate Growth - National Capital (acg.org), and the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association (mj-dc.org).

Mr. Wong also is an Advisory Board Member of some of the most promising technology companies in the US, including Parature (parature.com), Transactis (transactis.com), DataRPM (datarpm.com), and SpydrSafe (spydrsafe.com).

He is a graduate of Dartmouth College where he majored in Government, and writes about leadership and "hypergrowth in the Entrepreneurial Economy" on his blog, Winning Ideas (tienwong.wordpress.com).

Laurie M. Freeman (lfreeman@opus8.com)

Ms. Laurie M. Freeman is Managing Director of Opus8, Inc. Her primary responsibilities are in operations, sales & marketing, due diligence and implementation for buyout and portfolio companies. She has world-class expertise in the business services, BPO (business process outsourcing), CRM (customer relationship management), direct marketing, call center, healthcare, telecommunications, and consumer products industries, having worked with dozens of Fortune 500 customers on the development and implementation of marketing and customer service solutions.

Ms. Freeman has also served as Chief Operating Officer of SkyVax Corporation, a consumer health products holding company owned by affiliates of Opus8, Inc. where she had responsibility for all operations, including sales, marketing, fulfillment, vendor management, international distribution, and customer service.

Ms. Freeman was formerly head of Worldwide Customer Care for Carey Limousine, the largest limousine and car service in the United States. Her efforts resulted in significant cost savings and revenue capture through process re-engineering and customer care consolidation. From 1992-2002, Ms. Freeman was Senior Vice President – Operations and third-largest individual shareholder of CyberRep, Inc., one of the world’s largest privately-held customer care and CRM organizations. She ran the company’s Florida and California operations, and held responsibility for over $30 million in revenue and 600+ employees. She also held senior leadership positions in program implementation and client relations departments.

Ms. Freeman serves on the Executive Board of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, and has served on the Boards of the Business Alliance of George Mason University, SkyVax Corporation and Expert JMS, a Pennsylvania-based facilities maintenance company. She is a member of the Technology Council of Maryland, Direct Marketing Association, Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA), and Executive Biz. She is a former Chair of the Grubstake investment series for the Business Alliance of George Mason University, and she volunteers as a mentor/coach for portfolio companies on behalf of the local DC region technology councils as well as the Big Idea CONNECTpreneur Forum. She is an active supporter of a number of DC-community organizations including the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), the Greater Washington Sports Alliance, the Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund, Monte Jade Science and Technology Association, and the Hispanic College Fund.

Ms. Freeman is a graduate of Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland, where she earned both a B.S. and M.E. in Education.

Sumin (Antonia) Chen (schen@opus8.com)

Ms. Sumin (Antonia) Chen is an Associate at Opus8, Inc. where she also serves as Program Manager for the company's fundraising trade missions. In 2012, she obtained her MBA degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where she majored in finance. She started as an intern at Opus8 in 2008. Currently, she is responsible for investment due diligence, financial modeling, and analysis at Opus8 target and portfolio companies. She also heads up research on the private equity and venture capital sectors in the US, Asia, and South America.

At RPI, Ms. Chen worked closely with college incubators and local startups in technology commercialization. She has a keen interest in entrepreneurship, impact investing, and microfinance.

Prior to re-joining Opus8, Ms. Chen worked as an investment associate intern at a startup dealing with stock option trading. She embedded a fundamental analysis framework into the firm’s proprietary option-trading system in order to improve the accuracy of company analysis, trading strategy proposals and risk evaluation. Her knowledge of and passion for investment made her the key member of the student management fund at RPI.

In 2010, she interned at Standard Chartered Bank in China.

Ms. Chen received her bachelor’s degree in finance from Macau University of Science & Technology in Macau, China, a city which blends Eastern and Western cultures. She is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese and English.

Sherry Paterra (spaterra@opus8.com)

Ms. Sherry Paterra is Senior Advisor of Opus8 where she advises Opus8 management and portfolio company leadership on strategic business matters, sales & marketing, and product development and positioning. She also advises Opus8′s venture, buyout and business process outsourcing teams on their business and investing activities.

Ms. Paterra is Co-Founder and Principal of Paterra & Iguchi Partners, a boutique M&A firm specializing in the customer management segment. She has served as a Director and strategic advisor to emerging technology and internet companies such as Apple, Siebel Systems, Webline Communications (Cisco Systems), Post Communications, NetIncentives, US Wireless Data, Woman.com, and Encover.

Earlier in her career, she Co-founded and served as CEO of Telespectrum, Inc., a global provider of outsourced marketing and sales, and customer care services. Ms. Paterra designed Telespectrum’s IPO roll-up strategy that took the company public, resulting in Telespectrum Worldwide becoming a $400 million services company listed on NASDAQ. Prior to Telespectrum, she held senior management positions in sales and marketing with Xerox Corporation, and operational management positions with United Airlines.

Vivian Gu (vgu@opus8.com)

Ms. Vivian Gu is Senior Vice President and Chief Representative of Opus8’s Shanghai, China office. She is responsible for overseeing the Company’s activities in China. Ms. Gu has spent her entire career in the marketing services, advertising, public relations, and event promotion industries, all in China. Her expertise in these sectors supports the Company’s interests in technology, new media, marketing, and internet-related businesses.

Ms. Gu is Founder and Managing Director of Shanghai Richoy Advertising Co., which is a rapidly growing advertising, events management, and talent management agency with major multinational clients and brands including Intel, Fiat, L’Oreal, Diageo, Bailey’s, and China Mobile.

Prior to Founding Richoy, Ms. Gu was Marketing Manager of TVB Media Group, Hong Kong’s largest media group. She was in charge of planning live concerts and organizing press conferences for all TVB activities in China. She also served as Public Relations Manager for renren.com, one of China’s “top 5” web portals. At renren.com, Ms. Gu was responsible for organizing PR campaigns on a nationwide basis

Ms. Gu began her career at Ogilvy & Mather and served as Assistant to the General Manager and Account Manager for a wide spectrum of clients including Siemens and Tops Supermarkets. A Shanghai native, she is a graduate of Shanghai International Studies University where she majored in English.