About The Author

Mark Atkeson is an international business leader, investor, entrepreneur, and author. A foremost expert on doing business in China, Mark managed, partnered in or provided services to Chinese-based companies for more than three decades in industries ranging from machine tools to aircraft engines, automotive manufacturing, mobile technology, startup venture investing, and aviation asset trading.

Most recently, Mark wrote and released Risky Business in Rising China: Deals, Ordeals and Lessons Learned as an American Entrepreneur in a Surging Superpower Grappling with Growing Pains, chronicling his real-life experiences managing joint ventures and startup companies in China.

Now living in California, Mark continues participating in the Chinese economy as founder and managing partner of China Aviation Partners LLC, which provides software services, market research and other consulting for China-related businesses. Mark is a graduate of Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Business Administration.

“Mark Atkeson has lived through the prime arc of China’s hypergrowth. He has a unique perspective hard won through decades of ground-zero experience — not only surviving but prospering in its ultra-competitive business environment. It is a fascinating arc of personal growth, as well.”
— Kevin Czinger, founder, lead inventor and CEO of Divergent, and
of Czinger Vehicles

“China’s modernization has been every bit as fascinating, colorful and tragic as our own — and Atkeson offers an engrossing account.”
— Wang Xin, partner, VNE Investments Ltd.; former partner,
Mobile Internet Asia Ltd.

“Anyone wanting to experience China should read Mark’s experiences to
save themselves time, heartbreak, and money. He understood the language unfiltered through an interpreter, so had an uncensored interpretation of what was said and what was really meant. Even today when I hear the expression ‘no problem,’ I prepare myself for a problem!”
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— William Gormley former operations manager, Pratt & Whitney