Our Co-Founders
Matt Pecot is Chairman and Co-Founder of Blackpanda Group. Matt previously served in the U.S. Army Special Forces and is the current Barclays Head of Markets for Asia-Pacific, a member of the Asia Pacific Executive Forum and Global Markets Executive Committee. Matt has worked in Asia-Pacific for over 30 years in both the military and private sectors, previously serving as Head of Prime Services and Head of Equities Distribution at Credit Suisse in APAC.
Gene Yu is Founder and CEO of Blackpanda Group. A computer science honor graduate from West Point, Gene previously served in the U.S. Army Special Forces, and has authored three books. Gene has served in Asia across military and private sectors – as an equity swaps trader at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong and with Palantir Technologies’ Asia business development team in Singapore. Gene also attended Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Stanford Graduate School of Business. Gene is currently best-known for leading one of the fastest recorded recoveries of a family friend, kidnapped in eastern Malaysia by Filipino Abu Sayyaf terrorists in late 2013.
Kevin McCaffrey is one of Blackpanda’s Co-Founders. Kevin is a practiced graduate of multiple highly respected intelligence, leadership, and military risk programs, specializing in crisis response and cyber warfare. With over 15 years of experience in intelligence, security operations, and crisis management, Kevin previously served in the U.S. Army Special Forces as part of strategically deployed teams in Asia, the Middle East, and beyond. Kevin received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and is currently pursuing an MSc in Cybersecurity Leadership.
Our Team
Christina Gaw serves as Blackpanda Group Board Director in addition to her role as Managing Principal and Head of Capital Markets at Gaw Capital. Christina brings over 20 years of investment banking and investment management experience in Asia-Pacific. Blackpanda Group is proud to have Gaw Capital as a key investor.
Timothée Grange is Chief Revenue Officer at Blackpanda overseeing the development of the group’s activities. Timothée spent the past 15 years in risk consulting roles including 10 years as the APAC managing director of a leading specialty lines risk management and loss adjusting firm. Timothée holds two master’s degrees–one in Finance (ESSCA) and one in Risk and Crisis Management (Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne). He also holds several certifications in Business Intelligence (IHEDN), Risk Management (ARM54) and Certified Ethical Hacking (EC Council).
Gregor serves as the CTO of Blackpanda, responsible for the technology and product verticals of the company. In previous roles, Gregor led two ventures to successful buyouts (eCommerce & software engineering) including 10+ years heading the technology of scalable platforms for Fortune 500 companies at Pixelcabin.
John is Blackpanda's Principal Incident Responder. He leads our group's response efforts and brings 15+ years of computer crime investigation experience within private and governmental functions. John is a former United States Department of Defense and Department of Justice crisis manager with deployments international exposure across Europe, South America, and APAC regions.
Nick is the VP of Operations & Finance at Blackpanda. Nick brings his experience in risk management at all levels and across emerging Asian markets to the team. Nick runs the operations side of our company, ensuring client facing services are run efficiently while maintaining a high degree of quality. Nick previously served over 10+ years in the US Army Special Forces.
David is the Managing Director of Blackpanda Japan and Philippines. Previously a Director at Kroll as well as the Head of Northeast Asia for Blackpeak Group, David brings 25+ years of experience in risk intelligence and corporate investigations to the team. David previously founded a risk consulting firm specializing in the Indo-Pacific region and has also served as an expert witness in criminal and civil trials in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and other Asian jurisdictions. David’s work has been widely featured in the Japanese and international press, including the Financial Times, Forbes, Bloomberg, Nikkei Asia and NHK.
Mika is the Director of Strategic Development at Blackpanda. Mika draws on years of experience building insurtech models and conducting technical investigations to serve as a nexus between marketing, sales, product, and operations. Mika has previously held technical roles in cyber security firms and currently serves as a Review Board Member for the BlackHat cyber conference. A Princeton University graduate, Mika also holds a Master of Science (M.S.) in Digital Forensics along with being a Certified Information Systems Security Professional CISSP, GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst, and holder of the prestigious SANS Gold Coin.
Martin serves as the VP of Legal and Investor Relations at Blackpanda and is responsible for legal and regulatory matters. Martin is also responsible for handling investor relations and stakeholder communications on behalf of the Blackpanda Group. In previous roles, Martin has acted as counsel for, advised and liaised with investment funds and family offices of different sizes and their portfolio companies.