Cheng Lu is the President and Chief Executive Officer of CreateAI. Cheng was first named President and CFO in 2018, became CEO in 2020 and returned to the position in November, 2022. While serving as CEO, Cheng led CreateAI as it became the first company to demonstrate fully autonomous trucks on surface streets and highways, launched CreateAI’s Autonomous Freight Network (AFN), and forged partnerships with UPS, the United States Post Office, Traton Group and Navistar. In addition, Cheng guided CreateAI as it became the first self-driving tech company to go public. Cheng has over 16 years of experience in operations, strategy and corporate finance in the U.S. and Asia. Prior to joining CreateAI, Cheng co-founded KCA Capital Partners, a growth stage investment firm. Prior, he was a private equity investor in the US and Asia. He started his career in the investment banking division of Citigroup in New York. Cheng earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, and B.S. in computer science and economics at the University of Virginia.
Mo Chen is our co-founder. He served as our Chief Executive Officer from our inception in 2015 to 2020 and as our Executive Chairman from September 2020 to March 2022. Prior to founding our company, Mr. Chen served as founder and Chief Executive Officer at Deep Blue Brothers, an online gaming platform. Prior to that, he served as founder of startups in the field of traditional and online advertising and used car online marketplace. He has more than 12 years of entrepreneurship and management experience.
James Lu is a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and executive with over 20 years of experience in the technology sector. James is the founding partner of Joffre Capital, a global investment firm focused on control positions in leading consumer software, technology and internet businesses.
James is Chairperson of Grindr, the world’s largest LGBTQ social dating service application; Director, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Life Concepts Holdings Limited, an investment company mainly engaged in restaurant operations; a Director of Fusion Media Limited, an Internet publishing company; and a Director of Global Commerce Technology Limited, a software development company. James served as Global Head of Amazon Marketing Services (now Amazon Advertising) from 2011 to 2015, and Vice President overseeing content ecosystems at Baidu from 2015 to 2017. James founded social network Yoolin, serving as Chief Executive Officer from 2006 to 2007. James was a founding member and the director of product management at Chegg, Inc., a textbook rental company, from 2007 to 2011. He began his career as a software engineer at NASA.
James holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. James is also a member of the Provost Advisory Committee at his alma mater.
Ms. Tao will serve as a member of Audit Committee and qualifies as a financial expert. Ms. Tao is a Senior Partner at Third Square Capital Management, an investment firm focused on global consumer-driven, long-term growth companies. She has over 20 years of investment management, investment banking, and capital markets experience. During her career, Ms. Tao has often partnered closely with management teams of both public and private companies in developing growth strategies. Ms. Tao started her career in the leverage finance department of Deutsche Bank. Ms. Tao also serves as the South Pasadena City Treasurer where she oversees the city's investment portfolio and provides independent oversight for its finances.
Albert Schultz is the President of Kaerus Consulting, a company dedicated to helping clients comply with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) agreements and orders. Mr. Schultz has served on the board of Grindr (NYSE: GRND) before it went public and several private and non-profit boards. He is a serial entrepreneur with successful exits. He spent his early career with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as an Economic Analyst and Operations Officer (Case Officer). He also served in the Army National Guard and Reserve as an infantry soldier and officer. Mr. Schultz received a BA with Honors in Economics from the University of Chicago and a MSc in Management with Distinction from the London Business School.
Jianan Hao is the Chief Operating Officer of CreateAI. Prior to CreateAI, he spent over a decade conducting research in parallel and distributed computing, including as a Research Scientist at Temasek National Laboratory. He holds a Ph.D. from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
