Nan Yang
Founder & Chairman
Former Global CTO – Insurance at Sun Microsystems and Chief Enterprise Architect at Oracle Greater China; led 1,000+ architects and engineers globally; AI-native builder.
Hong Kong
The firm
Connect the dots. Create value. Change the world.
Bring innovation to China, and China to the world — and now, connect the world to the markets that matter next.
Yang Brothers is a global strategy, technology, AI and investment advisory firm. Founded in 2012 as a technology services, management consulting and investment advisory company delivering solutions for public and private clients worldwide, and headquartered in Hong Kong with R&D centres in China, we are multinational, multicultural and multidisciplinary by design — bringing the best of East and West together and bridging technology and business in ways few firms can.
Our leaders have held senior roles at Apple, IBM, Intel, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, BlackBerry, Accenture, Monitor Group, Lloyd’s and the United Nations. They bring boardroom judgement, engineering depth and investment discipline to the same table.
Our aim has not changed since day one: help clients grow — not only in short-term results, but in long-term, sustained competitive advantage. Lead the way; don’t follow.
- Global experience, local insight
- World-leading practitioners
- Technology and business in one view
- Built for sustained advantage
2012Founded in Hong Kong, with R&D centres in China
50+Countries where our leaders have worked, across every major region
US$5B+Cross-border M&A led by our CEO, Dr. Tan Yang
1,000+Architects and engineers led by our Founder, Nan Yang, at Sun Microsystems
Selected clients and organisations across our leaders' careers
HSBC JPMorgan Citi Bank of America UBS Standard Chartered AIG AXA ING New York Life Lloyd’s of London ICBC Bank of China CCB Ping An China Life PICC UnionPay NYSE Tokyo Stock Exchange HKEX Shenzhen Stock Exchange Huawei China Mobile China Unicom China Telecom BT Alibaba Amazon TSMC General Motors Ford Midea Bayer HK Hospital Authority SF Express HACTL Cathay Pacific British Airways Star Alliance United Nations African Union PBOC Chinese ministries HKMA Hong Kong Cyberport
Why clients choose us
Headquartered in Hong Kong with R&D centres in China, Yang Brothers is uniquely placed: a pan-national group of highly skilled professionals and industry leaders of many nationalities. It brings the best of East and West together and bridges technology and business in ways few other companies have. It is multilingual, multicultural and multidisciplinary, reflecting the world of the 21st century.
With leadership from former Sun, Oracle, Accenture, Apple and IBM senior executives, and proven track records with major clients such as HSBC, JPMC, UBS, New York Life, Ping An, ICBC, Cathay Pacific, China Mobile, Huawei, Siemens, DuPont and Bayer Pharmaceutical in more than 20 countries, Yang Brothers is agile and capable, and its aim is to lead the way, not follow.
We focus on solutions that transform business and life through innovation — from mobile financial services, blockchain and cloud computing to machine-learning AI and agentic engineering — helping people all over the world take advantage of disruptive technologies they can access.
Our ultimate goal is to help our customers grow — not just short-term profitability but, most importantly, long-term sustained competitive advantage. Our skills, dynamic capability and global reach enable us to bring clients:
- Holistic and innovative solutions tailored to their individual needs
- Global experience with local insight
- Breadth and depth of expertise across most industries
- World-leading practitioners
- Best industry practices
Innovation happens elsewhere — so we go and find it, and bring it to our clients.
What we do
Five capabilities. One senior team.
We work where strategy, technology, AI, capital and markets meet — from one decisive next step to a multi-year transformation.
Strategy & Transformation
Management consulting: where to play, how to win, and what must change across the organisation to get there.
Learn moreTechnology & Architecture
Architecture consulting, application development, system integration, cloud, big data and blockchain — with CTO-level leadership from boardroom to codebase.
Learn moreAI & Agentic Engineering
AI strategy turned into governed, production-grade, AI-native systems that deliver measurable leverage.
Learn moreCapital & Investment
Investment advisory: fund-raising and M&A, technology due diligence and venture building, with commercial and technical depth.
Learn moreGlobal Markets
Market entry, partnerships and trade corridors connecting China, Asia, the Americas, Europe and Africa.
Learn moreExperience that travels
Financial services, capital markets, technology, trade, maritime, healthcare, government and more.
View industriesOur services in detail: technology services, management consulting and investment advisory
Yang Brothers’ service offerings began as three business lines — technology services, management consulting and investment advisory. Each addresses different needs and challenges an organisation faces; combined, they represent a truly integrated total service solution. Today they are joined by AI and agentic engineering and by global market development.
Technology services
As enterprises strive to grow and cut cost, technology plays a key role. To grow, new blue-ocean markets must be reached through mobile and digital channels; to reduce cost, capital expenditure must become operating expense through cloud computing; to serve customers and monetise opportunities, innovation must be aligned with business priorities.
- Architecture consulting — enterprise, application, infrastructure and system architecture
- Application development — analysis, design, development, integration, testing and deployment
- System integration — enterprise integration of systems and software
- Outsourcing — on-site, near-shore and off-shore development: T&M, fixed price, ODC and BOT
- Enterprise cloud — SaaS and cloud platforms for enterprises
- Infrastructure and data centre — design, operation and monitoring
- Big data and AI — architecture, platforms, analytics and machine learning
- Blockchain — strategy, use cases, architecture, DevOps, integration and training
Management consulting
We believe a firm’s success rests on integrating people, business and technology resources, and that sustained competitive advantage comes from combining them well. Our management consulting spans a wide range of industries, aiming to deliver both top-line and bottom-line benefits, drawing on a track record of designing and implementing best management practice for customers in all parts of the world.
- Corporate strategy
- Marketing and sales strategy
- Corporate finance
- Operational strategy
- Organisational change management
- Six Sigma and process improvement
- Lean manufacturing and quality management systems
- Risk analysis and management
Clients benefit from our network of global thought leaders and industry insight — helping them understand where to play and how to win in today’s turbulent markets.
Investment advisory
Investment advisory is the third cornerstone of Yang Brothers, complementing the other lines of business with investment-related value for our clients. It focuses on fund-raising advisory and merger and acquisition advisory.
For fund raising, we help clients identify potential investors, prepare business plans and marketing materials, and coach and execute the marketing strategy. For M&A, we support buy-side and sell-side clients with deal sourcing, investor selection and recommendation, valuation, financial structuring and contract negotiation.
We have strong relationships with private equity firms, investment banks, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, university endowments and funds of funds, and a strong pipeline of potential M&A deals through our industry partners.
Disruptive technology
Every wave, early.
Our leaders have taken each wave of disruptive technology into the enterprise before it became mainstream. Technology changes. The principle does not: connect people, data and decisions so that value can move.
- Wave 1
Java & enterprise platforms
Frameworks and centres of excellence for global banks and insurers.
- Wave 2
Mobile financial services
Reach and inclusion for the next billion customers.
- Wave 3
Cloud & big data
Capital expenditure turned into scalable operating capability.
- Wave 4
IoT & blockchain
Physical systems made visible; trust made programmable.
- 2018
Machine-learning AI
A machine-learning robo-advisor for wealth management — years before generative AI.
- 2026
AI-native & agentic
Software built and operated with AI agents, governed like enterprise systems.
The trust machine, updated
Create trust for a trustless world.
Trust is the infrastructure. Each technology creates a different kind of value; the advantage comes from combining them into one system that connects people, data and decisions.
IoTDigitisation
The physical world, made observable.
CloudAutomation
Elastic, resilient platforms at global scale.
BlockchainTrust
Provenance, ownership and exchange.
AIDecision
Models that improve with every transaction.
AI agentsExecution
Work done, not just insight delivered.
Disruptive technology: The Stack
The trust machine combines IoT for digitisation, cloud for automation, blockchain for trust and AI for decision. The Stack is our blueprint for a digital world operating system: a single source of truth shared by blockchain, capital markets, insurance, banking and supply chains — enabling trust transfer, asset transfer, risk transfer, money transfer and goods transfer.
Connect the dots, create value, change the status quo: Yang Brothers solutions help customers fundamentally improve the way they build IT solutions, accelerate time to market and reduce cost.
Innovation & ventures
Ideas that became ventures.
We don’t only advise on innovation — we build it. Our ventures have applied each technology wave to real markets, from supply-chain finance to the digital ocean economy.
The newest chapter · 2026
ConexOS
ConexOSCONNECT|EXCHANGE|OPERATE
An AI-native global trade operating system.
ConexOS proves how far a company can scale when its founder builds alongside AI agents. It is our clearest evidence that Yang Brothers leadership still builds — not just advises.
About ConexOS330K+Lines of code
6,800+Commits
AgenticAI-assisted engineering
LiveMarketplace integrations
Supply Chain Finance Smart Ocean Trade Exchange Smart Health Soccer City Digital Insurer
Our people
A truly global team.
Leaders and advisors who have worked in more than 50 countries — running global technology businesses, leading multibillion-dollar transactions, advising governments and building industries across the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.
Dr. Tan Yang
Chief Executive Officer
Oxford PhD; led US$5B+ in cross-border M&A; former Jacob Rothschild Creat Partners, Monitor and Accenture; Honorary Advisor on China for Oxford University.
Greg Shea
President
Former President of BlackBerry China and former President & Managing Director of USITO; senior government, technology and market-development leader across Asia.
Frank Lau
Chief Technology Officer
Former Greater China Chief Architect for Professional Services at Sun Microsystems; around 25 years across Sun and Oracle, spanning financial services, telecom and enterprise platforms.
Jade Ellis
Vice President, Americas
Helped manage a US$30B structured-finance business; former Accenture financial-services consultant; Oxford Executive MBA.
Jay Elliot
Advisor
Former Apple Senior Vice President reporting directly to Steve Jobs; managed IBM’s 16,000-person software organisation; producer of the Academy Award-nominated Berkeley in the Sixties.
David Piesse
Advisor
Chairman of Ambassadors, International Insurance Society; former Global Head of Insurance at Sun Microsystems; 40 years across Lloyd’s, the United Nations and insurtech, in more than 50 countries.
Dr. Simon Handelsman
Advisor · In memoriam
International minerals adviser; UNTAC Natural Resources Controller in Cambodia; 100+ UN missions in 44 countries; transaction adviser on Afghanistan’s Aynak copper tender; taught at NYU, Columbia and UBC.
Leadership and advisor biographies
Nan Yang — Founder & Chairman
Global technology executive, enterprise architect and hands-on engineer with 30 years’ experience in more than 20 countries. Former Global CTO – Insurance and Global Chief Architect – Mobile Financial Services at Sun Microsystems, leading a global matrix of 1,000+ architects and engineers; former Chief Enterprise Architect at Oracle Greater China; former SVP Global Client Engineering and GM China at Navagate. Chief architect of HSBC’s Java Centre of Excellence (the first in Asia-Pacific) and of Ping An’s PAFA framework and SOA platform; technical authority on Hyundai Marine & Fire’s US$30M core-insurance migration. Today builds ConexOS, an AI-native global trade operating system. MSc Computer Science, University of Auckland.
Dr. Tan Yang — Chief Executive Officer
More than 20 years in general management, operations, strategy and investment across Asia Pacific and Europe. Led cross-border M&A including China’s largest cross-border healthcare acquisitions, with a combined value above US$5 billion, and the first share swap between a Chinese A-share and a US-listed company, securing CFIUS approval for every deal. Formerly Managing Director of Jacob Rothschild Creat Partners in Hong Kong; earlier with Monitor Group and Accenture in London, delivering strategy for Fortune 500 clients and Siemens in Australia and New Zealand. PhD in Management Studies, University of Oxford; Honorary Advisor on China for Oxford University.
Greg Shea — President
Three decades as a technology business leader in Greater China and Asia Pacific, and more recently in Africa. Former Canadian Foreign Service officer; China Director at HP; Sun Microsystems’ North Asia Government Industry Director; President and Managing Director of USITO; President of BlackBerry China (2008–2012). Since 2014 has advised African and Chinese governments and businesses on ICT projects; based between Hong Kong, Beijing and Nairobi.
Frank Lau — Chief Technology Officer
25 years of IT experience, mostly with Sun Microsystems and Oracle; former Greater China Chief Architect for Professional Services at Sun, covering finance, telecom and education. Expert in access management, BPM, middleware and blockchain. UC Berkeley; MS Computer Engineering, Santa Clara University.
Jade Ellis — Vice President, Americas
More than 20 years in IT implementation, management consulting, real estate and green building. Helped manage the US$30 billion structured-finance department at Countrywide (now part of Bank of America); began at Accenture in financial services. Executive MBA, Oxford; MPIA, UC San Diego; BA, UCLA.
Jay Elliot — Advisor
Former Senior Vice President of Apple, reporting directly to Steve Jobs, during which Apple grew from US$150 million to more than US$3 billion in sales. Previously managed IBM’s 16,000-employee software division and directed California operations at Intel. Author of the bestseller The Steve Jobs Way; producer of the Academy Award-nominated Berkeley in the Sixties.
David Piesse — Advisor
Forty years in insurance, risk management and technology across four continents. Began at Lloyd’s of London; seven years with the United Nations as a risk-management and reinsurance consultant across more than 50 countries; Global Head of Insurance at Sun Microsystems in Hong Kong; part of the team that launched Insurwave, the first commercial blockchain insurance platform, in 2018. Chairman of Ambassadors of the International Insurance Society and recipient of its Kenneth Black Jr. Distinguished Service Award.
Dr. Simon Handelsman — Advisor, in memoriam
International minerals-development engineer and adviser to industry, governments and state enterprises. A decade with the United Nations Mineral Resources Group, leading more than 100 advisory missions to 44 developing countries, including as Cambodia’s Natural Resources Controller for UNTAC; transaction adviser on international tenders for world-class copper and iron-ore deposits, including Afghanistan’s Aynak copper deposit; author of Human Rights in the Minerals Industry (IIED, 2002); guest lecturer at NYU and Columbia and adjunct professor at UBC. We remember our revered colleague, who passed away on 26 November 2021.
Africa Next
Technology. Entrepreneurship. Capital. Trade.
Africa is not merely a developing economy — it is a re-emerging civilisation, with extraordinary entrepreneurial energy, the world’s youngest population and more accessible technology than any economy has had at the start of its rise. We connect global innovation, Chinese experience and African talent to build the companies and digital infrastructure of the next generation.
WestTechnology & Management
EastTechnology & Money
AfricaTalent & Markets
Africa Next: mission and focus
Africa, humanity’s beautiful cradle, is a “take two” on China’s billion-person rise. Just as China’s youth spearheaded its transformation into an internet powerhouse, Africa’s young techpreneurs will lead the transformation of Africa — applying cloud, IoT, big data, open source and AI to real pain points, as M-Pesa did in banking the unbanked.
Our mission is to promote the development of African entrepreneurship to power the re-emergence of Africa as a leading global economy — through tech zones, capacity building, investment (sourcing, due diligence and co-investment), Africa-centred joint ventures and the Pan-African Entrepreneurship Platform (PEP).
Start a conversation
The next move starts here.
Navigating a strategic transition, building a technology or AI platform, assessing an investment or entering a new market? We would welcome the conversation.
Hong Kong
15/F, 100QRC
100 Queen’s Road Central
Central, Hong Kong
Zhuhai
1510 Industrial and Commercial Building
125 Renmin Road East
Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai, China
Guangzhou
219 Building 15, Juda Creative Industrial Park
644 Shibei Industrial Road, Dashi Jie
Panyu District, Guangzhou, China
Sydney
Sydney, Australia