Edgar (Ed) G. Hotard

Edgar (Ed) G. Hotard is a Senior Advisor to the Monitor Group, serving as the Chairman of the Monitor Group (China), a leading management consulting firm for leading companies and governments around the world. He is also a Venture Partner with ARCH Venture Partners and Managing Partner of Hotard Holdings Ltd.  

Ed retired in 1999 as President and Chief Operating Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Praxair Inc., a US$6 billion worldwide industrial gases and medical services company operating in 40 countries. In the past, Ed has also served as an advisor to MPM Capital, Harvest Partners and AEA Investors, and Pacific Corporate Group.

Ed has extensive global experience in business development, marketing, operations, planning, finance, and acquisitions (and their integration) of technology based businesses. He has advised on market entries into China, and acquisitions and alliances in the US, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and China. Ed has spent over 20 years involved in China business development and during that time has established numerous relationships with senior Chinese government officials and business executives. His activities with Praxair and the Monitor Group have involved him in China in industries/markets as diverse as health care, life sciences, oil and gas, telecommunications, information technology, advanced materials/nanotechnology, consumer products, chemicals, metals, micro-electronics and automotive.

He serves on the Board of Director of the China Business Council for Sustainable Development, was a founding sponsor of the China Economic and Technology Alliance and the founder of a joint MBA program in China between Renmin University, Beijing and the School of Management-State University of Buffalo, NY. In December 2000, the municipality of Beijing presented him the Great Wall Friendship Award.
Ed obtained a Bachelor of Science in from Northwestern University. He has lectured at Yale University, Rice University, the State University of Buffalo, NY, Renmin University and Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, the China Academy of Science Graduate University, School of Management, and Shanghai Jiatong University.
Ed resides in Beijing, China and Shenandoah, Texas, USA.