Management Team

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  Dr. Pengkai Pan     Founder and CEO

  Dr. Pengkai Pan graduated from the Industrial Design Department at Zhejiang University, and worked as one of the youngest teachers in the Computer Science Department there. While studying for his master's and doctorate degrees at the MIT Media Lab, Dr. Pan achieved pioneering results in the mobile media field and published tens of papers for both international conferences and periodicals. In 2003, he received the first-ever "National Excellence Award for Overseas Chinese Students" from the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China for which he also received the honor of meeting Premier Wen Jiabao.

  In the summer of 2004, Dr. Pengkai Pan established Saybot (Shanghai) Inc. with strong support from digital media guru Nicholas Negroponte. The company's mission continues to be to revolutionize English language learning by producing new technologies and products, and to nurture more "global citizens and future leaders", as well as contributing to Creative Learning in China.

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  Mr. Andrew Shewbart    VP of English Language Learning

  Mr. Shewbart has been engaged in teaching Chinese children English for over fifteen years and has a gained a rich understanding of the difficulties and problems Chinese children confront in English learning. The curriculum department, led by Mr. Shewbart, works closely with other teams to make English learning in Alo7 more efficient, effective and engaging, with the goal of completely changing Chinese children's English learning habits and addressing the problems they encounter. Before joining Saybot, Mr. Shewbart served as the first Language Learning Director at Disney English. He also established and managed his own chain of schools, William Language School, in Taiwan before arriving in Shanghai to open the world's first-ever Disney English center. Mr. Shewbart has obtained a bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University, and a TEFLC certificate issued by Columbia University. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in Teaching English to Young Learners through the University of York.

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  Mai Kai    Director of Software Engineering

  Mr. Mai manages the software production and IT departments. It is his passionate and precise team that brings the Alo7 world in front of children. Mr. Mai's guiding ideology is to 'Create perfect learning experience on Alo7'. Before joining Saybot, Mr. Mai worked in Silicon Valley for nine years in various technology roles. He was the Sr. Engineer of Innovative Interfaces and the Product Development Lead of Searchforce. Mr. Mai holds Bachelor's degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC-Berkeley, and a Master's degree in Software Engineering from Carnegie Melon University.

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  Mr. Zach Cai    Director of Sales and Operations

  Mr. Cai graduated from Fudan University's Business Management College with a B.S. degree in Management Science. Mr. Cai is responsible for sales and business operations for Alo7. Before joining the Saybot executive team, Mr. Cai worked in Customer Relations Management (CRM) and Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) for ten years. He has been a systems consultant on projects for more than twenty companies, including those in the fields of Information Technology, Manufacturing, and diverse holding groups. Through these experiences, he has developed wide variety of proven sales and operational skills.

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  Benny Wang    Associate Director of Designing

  Mr. Wang manages the art design department and is in charge of the overall visual design of the Alo7 world. Mr. Wang pursues perfection in design. In his opinion, the ultimate satisfaction of both kids and parents is the only criterion of designing the scenes and figures in Alo7. Before joining Saybot, Mr. Wang worked in professional design corporations. He has been involved in many design projects making him an experienced designer. Mr. Wang graduated from Jiangsu University. His major was visual communication.