FreeWheel, A Comcast Company that provides global technology solutions for the future of television advertising, announced that it has appointed Hong Cai as general manager of the company’s Beijing office and vice president of engineering. He will be based in Beijing and report to Yuling Ma, who was named chief technology officer of FreeWheel in Februar.

Cai will be responsible for leading, building and mentoring FreeWheel’s Beijing engineering team and partnering with leadership to drive innovation and strategies that further FreeWheel’s endeavours to help connect buyers and sellers across the TV ecosystem. He will also collaborate across product, operations, revenue and additional disciplines to develop and deliver differentiated advertising products and media solutions and support FreeWheel’s clients during this critical time in the rapidly evolving media landscape.

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“Cai’s commitment to engineering excellence, innate curiosity and knack for developing talent will play a critical role in driving technology innovation and product delivery across FreeWheel”

“Cai’s commitment to engineering excellence, innate curiosity and knack for developing talent will play a critical role in driving technology innovation and product delivery across FreeWheel,” said Ma. “He has a strong technical background with expertise in data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, all strategic areas of focus on FreeWheel’s roadmap. I am confident his leadership in technical development will accelerate the company’s ability to transform the way TV and premium video advertising is bought and sold in today’s technology-driven advertising industry.”

A 23-year technology industry veteran, Cai has held global engineering leadership roles at both small startups and established corporations, with extensive experience in cloud computing and technical evaluation as well as people management and building collaborative partnerships.

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He joins FreeWheel from Data Orient, Inc., an AI-driven big data analytics startup in Beijing, where he served as chief technology officer and chief scientist. Prior to Data Orient, Inc., Cai was at Datayes, a FinTech company in Shanghai, as chief technology officer and vice president of engineering and ZTE TX in the United States, as chief technology officer of cloud computing. He also spent nearly 15 years at IBM across three different organizations, including IBM’s research group in China, IBM’s software development center in China, and IBM’s headquarters in New York, where he worked with senior technical and business leaders to define technology trends for the company’s future.

Cai earned a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering and PhD in Artificial Intelligence from Tsinghua University, the number one ranked university in China. In addition, he has authored approximately 50 papers, filed tens of patents and co-authored a book titled “Services Computing.”

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