Daniel K. H. Chao has over 40 years of experience in commercial and investment banking, finance, corporate management, project development, equity investments and risk management. During this time, he has also been active in the management of a number of non-profit organizations focused on Asian American issues, US-China relations, education, and healthcare.
For eight years, Dan was an SVP at TerraPower, established by Bill Gates to develop a new 3rd Generation nuclear power technology available to all countries. Dr. Chao was responsible for all of TerraPower’s business and financing activities and led the successful effort to obtain an agreement between the U.S. and Chinese governments and to form a joint venture to develop this technology.
Prior to joining TerraPower, Dr. Chao was the Chairman and President of Bechtel China and a Senior Vice President and Partner of Bechtel Group, Inc. While he was based in Shanghai, Dan had responsibility for managing Bechtel’s activities in Greater China, including establishing engineering and procurement centers on the mainland and all activities in its two joint venture companies and two wholly owned companies.
Prior to his time in China, as an Executive Vice President and Managing Director at Bechtel Enterprises (BEn) as well as Partner at Bechtel Group, Dr. Chao managed all of Bechtel’s equity investments in civil infrastructure projects and companies worldwide, and arranged third-party equity and debt for these entities. He also managed BEn’s seven international and domestic financing offices, including Beijing, Hong Kong, London and Mexico City. He established and managed Bechtel’s investments in United Water Co., International Water Co. Ltd, United Infrastructure Company and Alterra, BEn’s aviation development company. Dr. Chao arranged for co-investors in each of these companies, to buy, expand, and manage water systems, airports and roads in the United States, Europe, Australia and Latin America. He was Chairman of the Board or Board Director of each of these companies, during which time such companies raised additional capital and/or sold assets for significant gains. Signature projects included winning the project management for the Chek Lap Kok airport program (Hong Kong, $20 billion); bidding, owning and operating the world’s largest water privatization project (Manila, $6 billion); building the largest petrochemical complex in China ($4 billion); and winning the program management of the Seoul-Pusan High Speed Rail Project ($10 billion).
Prior to joining Bechtel, Dr. Chao spent eight years in commercial and investment banking in New York City. As a Vice President, he worked in the Energy & Minerals Division at Chemical Bank and in Citibank’s Treasury/Investment Banking Department. During this period, Dr. Chao acted as the Investment Manager for a bank subsidiary, as a commercial loan officer lending to domestic and international energy and mining companies, and as an investment banker providing corporate and project financing services to major multinational companies. He also sold financing instruments to customers including Eurocurrency alternatives, commercial paper, note issuance facilities (NIFs), bonds, swaps, caps, collars and foreign exchange hedging options.
Dr. Chao is also very active in non-profit organizations. He is currently the Board Chairman of Asian Health Services, which provides health, dental, and mental health care to 50,000 mainly immigrant and lower income patients in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The 1990 Institute, and is a former director of the Committee of 100, the Asia Society of Northern California, the U.S.-China Business Council, the Head-Royce School, and the Pucheng Microfinance Development Association in Shaanxi, China. Dr. Chao is a member of the National Committee for US-China Relations and was a former member of the Export-Import Bank of the United States’ Board of Advisors, the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy’s International Management Advisory Council, and was the former President and Chairman of the California-Asia Business Council. At C100, he has served as Vice Chair for Operations and Regional Head of Asia. He is also a long-time member of the FF Fraternity.
Dr. Chao holds a B.A. from Stanford University (Phi Beta Kappa), an M.A., M.A.L.D. and Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and an Advanced Professional Certificate (Business) from New York University.
