Andre Lee

Last updated
Andre Lee
Born (1963-01-16) January 16, 1963 (age 57)
New York City, New York, United States
Nationality
EducationBachelor of Arts (1985)
Alma mater Colgate University
Occupation
Known forCreating the Asian bond market and co-founding the first invention capital private equity fund.

Andre Lee (born January 16, 1963) is a French-Canadian-Korean executive, entrepreneur and financier from New York City, New York. He is the chief executive officer of Snowflake Innovations and Technology Reserve. He formerly served as co-founder and managing director of the Invention Development Fund at Intellectual Ventures. [1] Lee is best known for "largely pioneering the Asian junk bonds market" [2] as the head of Peregrine's bond department. [3] In 2011, Lee founded Snowflake Innovations, a private holding company focused on designing and spinning out new business models and strategic platforms in financing intangible assets. He blogs on a range of subjects related to innovation at Innovation Unleashed.

Contents

Early life

Andre Lee was born in New York City to a French-Canadian mother and Korean father. [3] When he was five years old, Lee moved to South Korea [3] with his family, where he stayed until he returned to New York to attend Colgate University in 1981. [4] He studied philosophy and religion and earned his Bachelor of Arts from Colgate in 1985. [5] After graduation, Lee was hired by Juki, a Japanese company that manufactured industrial sewing machines, and was responsible for managing distributors in the garment industry in New York City. [5]

Career

In 1988, Lee became a retail-broker trainee on Wall Street at Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc., which later became Salomon Smith Barney. [3] Lee built relationships and established contacts in Korea and began to establish business with Korean banks. [3] Because of his early success, Lee went to work for Lehman Brothers in their Hong Kong office, where he became a "leading" bond salesman. [6] In Hong Kong, Lee worked as a fixed-income salesman covering Asian fixed-income institutional investors in Hong Kong and Korea. Lee began selling bonds to Korean banks and managed Lehman's fixed income trading relationship with the central bank of Korea and the Asian Development Bank. [7] [8]

In 1994, "with a reputation for being at the cutting edge of financial developments in Asia," [8] Lee left Lehman Brothers to head Peregrine's fixed-income business. [6] From 1994–1996, Peregrine's business increased six-fold under Lee's leadership. [9] In 1996, Lee's team accounted for one-third of Peregrine's operating profits. [9]

Peregrine went into liquidation in January 1998 as a result of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. [10] [11] and Lee returned to Korea to found 01 Inc., an internet-based company that provided internet-enabled financial trading and investment banking services for small businesses and financial institutions. [12] [13] 01 Inc. was backed by Hyundai Development Company and Kolon. [13] 01 Inc.'s DealComposer.com, a website designed to guide companies through funding processes, including regulatory and due diligence, launched in August 2000. [13] [14]

Lee later co-founded and served as managing director of Intellectual Ventures' Invention Development Fund, an approximately $590 million fund focused on generating invention and encouraging technology transfer that partnered with universities and individual inventors in Asia and North America. [1] He left the firm in 2011. Lee currently serves as CEO of Snowflake Innovations and Technology Reserve both based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Snowflake Innovations is a private holding company focused on designing and spinning out new business models and strategic platforms in financing intangible assets. Technology Reserve is a global exchange platform for sharing technology and know-how designed to accelerate innovation in small and medium-sized companies. [15]

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References

  1. 1 2 Nathan Vardi (2011-07-07). "How A Notorious Banker Left Intellectual Ventures With A Poorly Performing Fund". Forbes. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  2. ↑ Edward A. Gargan (1998-01-13). "Hong Kong's Peregrine Soared Like a Falcon, Sank Like a Reckless Bank". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Erik Guyot; Jon E. Hilsenrath (13 January 1998). "Going Nova: How Peregrine Rose And Fell With a Star In Bond Trading --- Like the Hong Kong Bank, Andre Lee Was Soaring Until Currencies Tanked --- Grousing About 'Eurofags'".
  4. ↑ Allen T. Cheng (August 1999). "Life After Peregrine".
  5. 1 2 Jon E. Hilsenrath; Erik Guyot (13 January 1998). "Scourge of 'Eurofags': Like Peregrine, Andre Lee Soared Until Crisis Erupted". The Asian Wall Street Journal.
  6. 1 2 Robert Steiner (14 April 1994). "Battle Heats Up for Asian Finance Staff --- Poaching Proliferates as Companies Rush to Build Regional Presences". The Asian Wall Street Journal.
  7. ↑ Malcolm Surry (1 March 1998). "One crash too many". Asian Business.
  8. 1 2 Peter Lee (April 1998). "Peregrine's Last Days".
  9. 1 2 Moon Ihlwan (July 10, 2000). "Seoul's Web Spawns a Comeback Kid".
  10. ↑ Jason Nisse (13 January 1998). "Peregrine's short flight and spectacular fall – Peregrine Investments". The Times.
  11. ↑ "Hubris left out basics". South China Morning Post. 28 March 2001.
  12. ↑ "The philosophical Mr Lee". Asiamoney. 1 November 1999.
  13. 1 2 3 Emiko Terazono (19 October 2000). "SOUTH KOREA 7 – Online Cupid for investors PROFILE – ANDREW LEE". Financial Times.
  14. ↑ Richard Irving. (26 June 2000). "Peregrine's Lee to back bond venture". The Financial News.
  15. ↑ "Report on Proceedings and Findings" (PDF). International Commercialization Alliance. May 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-05-22. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
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