A Harvard MBA and JD. An Executive MBA from LSE, HEC Paris & NYU. Fifty years of combined leadership — built running real companies across four countries, not observed from the outside.
The Spark
Jon needed to expand his American company internationally. Deana led that expansion — across China, India, South Korea, and Indonesia — and the partnership stuck.
The Firm
They co-founded China Gravy — one of the first agencies in its space to operate fully digitally from day one — which they still run together today.
The Track Record
Jon: a Harvard MBA and JD, nearly 20 years as CEO and entrepreneur — building and leading growth-stage companies through two acquisitions. Deana: an Executive MBA from LSE, HEC Paris & NYU, entrepreneur and operator who has personally led 50+ companies into China, now leading Chinese companies expanding overseas.
The Venture
Vdanto Advisory: fifty years of combined leadership — proof, not theory — turned into a coaching practice for the leaders and dealmakers facing that same divide now.
Based in Chicago · 5 years in China
Harvard MBA and JD. Nearly 20 years as CEO and entrepreneur — building and leading growth-stage companies through two acquisitions, one of them the very company he and Deana first worked on together. Certified executive coach.
Harvard MBA, JD · Certified Coach · ~20 Yrs CEO
“In nearly twenty years as a CEO, I watched leadership break down across cultural lines the same way, again and again — not over etiquette, but over judgment.”
Based in Dubai
Executive MBA from LSE, HEC Paris & NYU. Entrepreneur and operator who has personally led 50+ companies into China, now leading Chinese companies overseas.
LSE · HEC · NYU EMBA · 50+ Into China · Co-Founder
“I've watched 50+ companies try to enter China. The ones that struggled almost never had a strategy problem — they had a leadership problem.”
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