TDM partners
Bridging the Skills Gap
ABOUT
We are a private investment firm based in Hong Kong that invests in people, technologies and companies that address the “Skills Gap.” This is the worldwide situation where companies cannot find the right workers and university graduates cannot find rewarding jobs. The Skills Gap is largely caused by digital disruption across virtually every industry and the failure of higher education to equip students with the skills and experiences that employers value.
We believe there are creative solutions to the Skills Gap and are investing in companies that:
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provide skills training and workforce education that employers value highly
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offer innovative pathways to good careers for students across industries
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work closely with universities to provide practical career training and skills development for their students and local communities
TDM Partners invests our own capital alongside a network of co-investors who share our mission, values and strategic vision.
TEAM
Carl Lu
Managing Partner
Carl started his career as a corporate finance analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York and consultant at Boston Consulting Group in Boston. He was Managing Director of First Eastern Investment Group, a Hong Kong based private equity firm, and then served as Managing Director, Asia-Pacific, of Laureate Education, Inc., the largest private university network in the world. He managed the acquisition and integration of private universities in China and Southeast Asia into the Laureate International Universities network. He is on the board of Entangled Group in San Francisco, and its affiliated ventures Pathstream, Inc. and ReUp Education. He founded TDM Partners in 2017.
Carl received his BS degree from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, MA degree from Oxford University and MBA from Harvard Business School.
Alan Diaz
Partner
Alan lives in Hong Kong, London and Miami and speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian. He started his career in 1979 at Ernst and Young in London and rose to become EY’s partner in Barcelona in charge of international tax planning and business transaction services. In 1998, he joined Laureate Education, Inc. as Senior Vice President, Business Development. As Head of Global M&A, he led the acquisition and integration of private universities in Spain, Mexico, Chile, China and India. He also oversaw Laureate’s hospitality education group in Switzerland. He has extensive knowledge of public and private higher education systems in Africa, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Central and Latin America, the Middle East and the UK/Europe. He retired from Laureate in 2018.
Alan received his BA (Hons) and MA degrees from Cambridge University.