Gerard Wiener has 20 years of M&A, investment banking, transactional, and operational experience and has participated in, executed, structured and negotiated more than 50 M&A transactions across a broad range of geographies and industries.

Gerard was previously Vice President and Global Head of M&A for Nokia’s $15 billion smartphone division.  He led the largest acquisition in Nokia’s history ($8 billion acquisition of NAVTEQ) and was responsible for accelerating Nokia’s entry into new business segments through non-organic growth initiatives, with an emphasis on new technologies, software, and Internet services.  Prior to that, Gerard held various executive and operational roles at Nokia including Vice President and General Manager for a $250 million business unit within Nokia’s smartphone division.  Gerard was also Chief Operating Officer at Sega.com before structuring and leading the sale of that division of Sega Corporation to Nokia in September 2003.

Gerard holds a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Martin Wierzbicki has 19 years of M&A, investment banking, venture capital and private equity experience and has executed, structured and negotiated more than 40 M&A and capital raising transactions valued at over $20 billion.

Martin was previously Director of M&A and Strategy at Nokia, where he closed the largest acquisition in Nokia’s history ($8 billion acquisition of NAVTEQ) and was responsible for the sourcing, execution and evaluation of global M&A opportunities.  Prior to that, Martin was Vice President at Crimson Investment, a $600 million international private equity and venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley.  Martin also worked at Salomon Smith Barney (now Citigroup) in the New York and London offices, where he provided strategic and M&A advisory services to both early stage businesses and leading multinational clients across a broad range of technology and services industries.  His work included executing M&A and capital raising transactions valued at over $10 billion, including the largest merger, at the time, in the electronics manufacturing industry.

Martin holds dual degrees in Computer Science and Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Eric Cronstedt has 25 years M&A, investment banking, venture capital and operational experience and has participated in, executed, structured and negotiated more than 20 M&A and capital raising transactions. He is based in Helsinki, Finland.

Eric was previously Director and Global Head of Business Development for Nokia’s $15 billion Multimedia division. His work included formulating the strategy for and leading the collaborative negotiations for Nokia’s Internet strategy. Prior to that, Eric was the Managing Partner at Holtron Ventures, managing one of the most successful Private Equity Funds in Finland. Eric also has extensive entrepreneurial experience.

Eric holds a MSc in Business Administration from the Swedish School of Business Administration in Helsinki and a MBA from the Helsinki School of Business Administration.

Nereida Flannery has 20 years of M&A, consulting, investment banking and operational experience in China working with prominent multinational clients as well as leading Chinese firms across a broad range of industries. She is based in Beijing, China.

Nereida previously co-founded The Balloch Group (TBG) in 2001, a leading investment advisory firm in China with Howard Balloch, the former Canadian Ambassador to China. At TBG, she headed business development activities and was particularly engaged with the firm’s M&A mandates in the natural resources sector. She led the team that advised Hong Kong-listed Zijin Mining on several of its major overseas acquisitions and originated or managed several other transactions including Sinopec’s acquisition of a 40% interest in a Canadian oil sands project in 2005 along with CIBC. Nereida has advised Chinese sector leaders such as Sinochem, Minmetals and other mining and oil and gas firms in China, helping them identify overseas acquisition targets and sourcing foreign strategic partners for their projects overseas. Prior to founding TBG, she was Shanghai General Manager and Vice President for International Business Development at Alibaba.com, Asia’s largest B2B online marketplace. Before that Nereida served as Country Manager of the Canada China Business Council in China (CCBC), where she worked closely with Canadian member companies to design, execute and monitor their China entry strategies.

Nereida has a Political Science degree from Queen’s University in Canada and speaks Mandarin Chinese, French and Greek.