KNOWLEDGE@WHARTON - Jun 20, 2017
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Catherine Leung is a principal and co-founder of MizMaa Ventures,
a Hong Kong-based investment firm that focuses exclusively on Israeli
technologies. Leung formerly was vice chairman of JPMorgan Asia
investment banking for 20 years until 2015, where she spearheaded
efforts in Greater China. During her tenure, JPMorgan was named the best
foreign investment bank in Hong Kong at various times by The Asset
magazine and also FinanceAsia. She has been involved in many
high-profile IPOs, mergers, acquisitions and other transactions. In this
Knowledge@Wharton interview, Leung shares her views on technology,
innovation and the opportunities for collaboration with Israel’s tech
industry.
An edited transcript of the conversation follows.
Knowledge@Wharton: Israel is well-known for its tech
prowess and rich start-up culture. Hong Kong, meanwhile, is one of the
world’s largest financial centers, and so it seems like the two would be
a great match just on the face of it. In fact, the name of your
company, MizMaa, is a combination of two Hebrew words that mean East and
West. Why did you make the change from investment banking and why the
focus on Israel today?
Catherine Leung: You only have so long of a working
life, I would say. People can say, I want to stop [working] at 50,
people can say I want to stop at 60, some people don’t stop at 70, it
depends on what your perspectives are, but there is going to be a limit
to the work life. And I think that having done 20 years of investment
banking gives me plenty of perspective, plenty of experience and plenty
of scars and celebrations and victories. Where the world is now, the
most interesting thing I think is actually tech.
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