Mr. Lawton founded Seagate Global Group in 1996. He led the team to help modernize The People's Bank of China.  Lawton was founding CEO of China Everbright's asset management company.  He is the inventor of  the Lawton Bond Model used by Seagate to create its prize winning track record.  Lawton is responsible for Seagate’s overall philosophy, strategy and investment activities. He maintains close, senior-level relationships with key government and industry leaders in China, South East Asia, and around the world. He is a proponent of ESG finance, meaning he uses financial markets to help people and the planet while seeking to produce exceptional investment returns. Lawton has a 30-year history as a professional investor and helped set up and manage six institutional investment operations at global financial entities.  Lawton holds a BA degree in economics from UC Berkeley, a MA in International Economics from Middlebury Institute and a MBA in Finance from Columbia University. Mr. Lawton was Adjunct Professor of Finance at Tsinghua University. He is working on a general theory of financial markets.