S. Tien Wong (twong@opus8.com)

Mr. S. Tien Wong is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Opus8, Inc., a Chevy Chase, Maryland-based private investment firm specializing in middle market buyouts, private equity and venture capital investment.

The firm seeks to acquire North American call center, CRM (customer relationship management), and outsourced marketing services and technology companies.  Opus8 also makes venture capital investments in emerging outsourcing companies in China with a special focus on tech and services companies in the following sectors: ITO (IT outsourcing), CRM, BPO (business process outsourcing), and outsourced marketing and information management.

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 privately held 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 over $850 million in revenue.  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 industry commentary on the ABC, Fox, NBC, CNBC, Maryland Public Television, and China’s CCTV networks. Prior to co-founding CyberRep, he worked for ten years in commercial real estate finance and investments.

Mr. Wong was the recipient of the 2001 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for Greater Washington.  An "Entrepreneur in Residence" at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, he frequently guest lectures on entrepreneurship, leadership and finance at the University of Maryland, Georgetown University, and the University of Virginia.

Mr. Wong serves on the Boards of Directors of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (bsomusic.org), Technology Council of Maryland (techcouncilmd.com), HarVest Bancorp (harvestbankmd.com), Association for Corporate Growth - National Capital (acg.org), the Potomac Officer's Club (potomacofficersclub.com), and Monte Jade Science and Technology Association (mj-dc.org). He serves on the Investment Advisory Board of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology GAP Fund (cit.org). He is former Treasurer and National Board Member of the American Teleservices Association (ataconnect.org).

Mr. Wong is Chairman of the Executive Leadership Committee for the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship's Greater Washington region. He is CEO of The Tien and Beverly Wong Foundation, which supports youth, education, and social services charities. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College where he majored in Government.

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 is also President & Chief Operating Officer of SkyVax Corporation, a consumer health products holding company owned by affiliates of Opus8, Inc. She has responsibility for all operations, including sales, marketing, fulfillment, vendor management, international distribution, and customer service.

Ms. Freeman was most recently 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 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 Boards of Directors of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, Business Alliance of George Mason University, SkyVax Corporation and Expert, LLC, a Pennsylvania-based facilities maintenance company. She is a member of the DC Tech Council, Technology Council of Maryland, Direct Marketing Association, Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA), and Executive Biz. She is Co-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 DC Tech Council. She is an active supporter of a number of community organizations including the National Foundation 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.

Vivian Gu (vgu@opus8.com)

Ms. Vivian Gu is Senior Vice President and Chief Representative of Opus8’s Shanghai, China Representative 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.

Sherry Paterra (spaterra@opus8.com)

Ms. Sherry Paterra is Senior Advisor of Opus8 where she is responsible for advising Opus8 management and portfolio company management 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 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 was instrumental in designing Telespectrum's IPO roll-up strategy that took the company public, and resulted 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.

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

Ms. Sumin (Antonia) Chen recently obtained her MBA degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where she majored in finance. She had been an intern at Opus8 in 2008. Currently, she is responsible for investment due diligence, financial modeling, and analysis, as well as research on the private equity and venture capital sectors in the US, Brazil, and China.

At RPI, Ms. Chen worked closing 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 fundamental analysis framework into the firm’s proprietary option-trading system in order to improve the accuracy of corporation 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.