Jeff Jie-Ping Yao is a co-founder of Prax Capital and has been the managing partner of Prax Capital's China operations since 2003. In addition to the overall management of Prax Capital, Mr. Yao also participates in deal sourcing, investment analysis, evaluation, contract negotiations, portfolio management and fund raising.
Mr. Yao has led Prax Growth Capital Team in successfully closing many investments, such as Suntech Power Holdings Co., Limited, Tianneng Power International Limited, Little Sheep Group Limited, and China Sunergy Co., Limited. He has also led Prax Real Estate Team to successfully executed real estate projects in PRC cities, such as Tianjin, Wuhan, Xi’an, and Wuhu.
Benefiting from his over twenty five years of experience managing industrial companies in Asia and from his thorough understanding of domestic and overseas markets, Mr. Yao is able to play an active role in each of Prax’s portfolio companies, working directly with their senior management, providing valuable advice on the company’s business management, team building, strategic planning or overseas market expansion, as well as assisting in the execution of these initiatives.
Prior to founding Prax, he was a Director and Executive Vice President of Texpack Group since 1989, where he was responsible for the development of Texpack Group's operations in Mainland China, Indonesia, China Taiwan and India. He also has 15 years of management experience with General Electric & RCA in Taiwan.
Jeff Yao was awarded “China’s Best Venture Capitalists” in both 2007 and 2008 by Forbes China; “China’s Best Private Equity Investment Professionals” in both 2007 and 2008 by China Venture; “World 100 Chinese Investors with the Best Investment Judgment” in 2008 by World Eminence Chinese Business Association.
Mr. Yao holds a BA degree and an MBA from Central University in Taiwan. He is fluent in English and Mandarin.

José Luis Artiga is a co-founder of Prax Capital.
Mr. Artiga brings an unique entrepreneurial approach to the private equity investment process through his extensive 26 years of global experience as the President and CEO of Texpack Group, a multinational manufacturer of paper products with sales in 52 countries and factories in U.S., China, Taiwan, Indonesia, India, Spain, Mexico, Greece and Italy. Mr. Artiga has led Texpack during its twenty year expansion into new geographic and product markets, resulting in consistent and successful growth. His involvement in China since 1987 and his extensive experience as an entrepreneur brings a unique entrepreneurial approach to analyze and evaluate investment opportunities, and he utilizes his extensive business experiences and contacts to provide valuable advice to portfolio companies.
Being the chairman and the co-founder of Prax Capital, Mr. Artiga helps to lead and set a high standard for the Prax family and create an environment that fosters team work and creative solutions.
Mr. Artiga is fluent in Spanish, English and French.

Fernando R. Vila is a co-founder of Prax Capital.
Mr. Vila is responsible for the legal, tax and financial aspects of the business, with special emphasis on fund and investment structures, valuations, contract negotiations, risk management, due diligence and monitoring of portfolio investments. He is responsible for the fund raising activities of the firm.
Prior to founding Prax, Mr. Vila was the President and CEO of Iberia Tiles Corporation, a distributor and retailer of ceramic, marble and natural stone tiles in the USA. He was a Certified Public Accountant and worked with KPMG from 1981 to 1985. Mr. Vila has more than 20 years experience in business management and investment operations, which brings a keen knowledge and international perspective to business management and capital market.
Mr. Vila holds a BA in Economics and an MBA from Florida Atlantic University. He is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian.

Michael Xu is a partner of Prax and joined the Company as its first employee in 2003. He is responsible for deal sourcing, investment analysis, evaluation, contract negotiation and initial public offerings of the portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Prax, Mr. Xu worked at New Margin Ventures, Kamsky Associates, Inc. and Deloitte & Touch, providing strategic consultancy. Mr. Xu has more than 10 years experience in venture investment and business advisory in China. He brings to the team a strong capability and extensive experiences to source, analyze, evaluate investment opportunities, to deal negotiation, and to initial public offerings of the portfolio companies.
Mr. Xu holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from Ningbo University in China. He is a native of China and is fluent in English and Mandarin.

Meilan Gan joined Prax in 2006. She is in charge of investment strategy of the real estate Fund, identifying, evaluating and acquiring projects. Ms. Gan has over 15 years of banking and finance experience and wide exposure to the real estate industry. Since joining Prax, Ms. Gan has completed acquisitions of a number of residential development projects in China’s 2nd tier cities totaling 1.2 m sqm valued at approximately US$100 m.
Prior to joining Prax, Ms. Gan was an Executive Director at Zhongan Real Estate Group, a Hong Kong listed company which specialized in 2nd tier city residential and commercial development. From 2000-2005, Ms. Gan worked for Asian Construction and development limited, a German invested development company in central China, where Ms. Gan was responsible for acquisitions and for formulating and implementing the development and marketing strategies for various projects.
From 1993-2000, Ms. Gan held various positions with Deutsche Bank in Germany and with WestLB and LBBW in Hong Kong where she was focused and mainly responsible for structured real estate financing transactions covering the major Hong Kong developers and their investment activities in China.
Ms. Gan is a member of China Commercial Real Estate Association. She is a native of China and holds a BA from Wuhan University and an MBA from Melbourne Business School in Australia. She is fluent in English, Mandarin and German.