Speaker Bio
The phireGEN Advisory Group works with a wide portfolio of C-level engagements across multiple segments including technology, media, telecom (TMT), private equity and venture capital firms, and state governments.
In TMT, Leland began his career at Hutchison Telecom (HKEX: 215) in 1990, then rolled a small Puerto Rico telecom firm into eOn Communications’ IPO (Nasdaq: EONC), and was part of Terayon executive team (Nasdaq: TERN) when Motorola acquired it for USD 140M. From there, Leland headed GSMA Mobile World Congress Shanghai and Facebook Telecom Infra Project. After the T-Mobile/Sprint merger changed the industry landscape, Leland guided an MVNO through its acquisition by DISH Networks. Currently, he is advising Foxconn’s MIH electric vehicle (EV) consortium and for TMYTEK, a mmWave equipment supplier.
In the public sector, Leland’s team was involved with the state of Arizona’s foreign direct investment (FDI) efforts, fueled by TSMC’s 40B investment and the US. CHIPS Act.
On the investment side, Leland has been an advisor to WI Harper (1B AUM), Whitesun capital, SBIE2 (formerly a SoftBank company) and FINEX, Asia’s largest private equity placement agency.
Leland holds both an MBA and a BS in mechanical engineering from UCLA, and was selected as a Coro Fellow in public policy by The Coro Foundation. He served in the U.S. Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps and is a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) licensed pilot and an American Sailing Association (ASA) certified bareboat captain.