Jack Perkowski

Upon graduating from Yale and the Harvard Business School, Jack Perkowski spent almost twenty years on Wall Street, rising to Head of Investment Banking at PaineWebber. Well before others recognized the significant role that China would play in the global economy, he spent three years investigating opportunities in Asia and China, leading to the founding of ASIMCO Technologies in 1994.

Widely recognized as an expert on doing business in China, Perkowski authored "Managing the Dragon: How I'm Building a Billion Dollar Business In China," published by Crown Publishing, a division of Random House, in March 2008. The Chinese edition of the book was published by China Youth Press in May 2008. Perkowski has also written numerous articles on China and doing business in the country for The Far Eastern Economic Review, AmCham's China Brief, BusinessForum China, Huffington Post and other publications.

Perkowski is a frequent speaker and commentator on the subject of China to the broadcast media, including CNN, CNBC, Fox, BBC, NPR, and CCTV, as well as a variety of audiences worldwide: universities, business schools, corporate and industry conferences, and various chapters of the Council on Foreign Relations, Asia Society, YPO, and other professional organizations. He has spoken for audiences at JP Morgan, Fidelity China Forum, BMW Executives, and MMAC World Trade Association, and has appeared at events hosted by prestigious institutions such as Columbia University, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia, and the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. His presentations cover a wide range of topics including investment opportunities in China, building businesses in China, and the impact of China’s economic policies on global industries.

In 2008, Perkowski was named one of "30 Outstanding Entrepreneurs in China's Auto Components Industry Over the Country's 30 Years of Economic Reform," by China Auto News, the only foreigner to receive such distinction.

Prior to founding JFP Holdings in January 2009, Perkowski served as chairman of ASIMCO's Board of Directors. From February 1994 until September 2008, Perkowski was the company's chief executive officer.

Perkowski developed the strategy, raised the capital, and assembled the management team that has enabled ASIMCO to become one of the most important players in China's automotive components industry. Headquartered in Beijing with 12,000 employees throughout the country, ASIMCO is a unique foreign-invested company that was established specifically to serve the China market.

ASIMCO operates 17 manufacturing facilities in China and has 52 sales offices throughout the country, as well as offices in the United States, Europe, and Japan. ASIMCO derives 85 percent of its sales from China, its main market. Within China, ASIMCO has a dominant position in the commercial vehicle segment where up to 25 percent of the components used in a diesel engine made in the country may come from ASIMCO factories. Under his leadership, ASIMCO was named one of the “Ten Best Employers in China” twice.

Over the course of his 20-year career on Wall Street, Perkowski held a variety of positions in PaineWebber's Investment Banking Division. He completed private placements, mergers and acquisitions and public offerings, rebuilt PaineWebber's Real Estate Group after it was decimated by defections and dramatically increased investment banking revenues as head of Investment Banking from 1985 to 1988.

In 1987, Perkowski negotiated, and then renegotiated after the stock market collapse on Black Monday, October 19th, a $300 million equity infusion into PaineWebber by the Yasuda Life Insurance Company of Japan.

Perkowski received a Master's Degree in Business Administration with the Highest Distinction from the Harvard Business School in 1973. He graduated in the top 5% of his class and was named a Baker Scholar.

Perkowski did his undergraduate studies at Yale University, graduating Cum Laude with a B.A. degree in American Studies in 1970. He received the Gordon Brown Memorial Prize, which is awarded each year to the outstanding member of the Junior Class at Yale.

Perkowski was a starting guard on one of the best football teams in Yale's history and played in the famous 29-29 tie against Harvard in 1968, a game which Sports Illustrated has named one of the most exciting college football games of all time. Perkowski appeared in the movie, Harvard Beats Yale 29-29, which was produced in 2008 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of The Game.

Perkowski grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, graduating from North Catholic High School.

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