Mike Finnegan is a founder and the Managing Principal of NMV Consulting, LLC.

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Prior to his retirement from active duty in November 2008, Mike served in the United States Army, retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel with over 27 years of Commissioned and Non-Commissioned service. Since 1987, he served exclusively in the Asia-Pacific area. As a Foreign Area Officer specializing in the political-military affairs of Northeast Asia, he served as the Senior Country Director for Korea for the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2003 to 2007, where he was responsible for Department of Defense policies related to the Korean Peninsula, and most recently served as a Special Assistant for Regional Strategy in the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs.

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As a researcher, Mike has published several papers and articles on Northeast Asian security issues, including prospects for multilateral security cooperation in Northeast Asia, trilateral security relations between the U.S., Japan and PRC, regional implications of ballistic missile defense, future security strategies for Korea, and Republic of Korea Armed Forces modernization efforts. His current research efforts include issues related to the U.S.-ROK security alliance, U.S.-Japan security alliance, U.S.-ROK-Japan trilateral cooperation, and energy and environmental security in Northeast Asia, as well as questions related to constructing a peace and security regime on the Korean Peninsula and Korean unification.

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Mike holds an A.M. in Regional Studies East Asia from Harvard University and is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research in Washington, D.C. He is also a graduate of the Republic of Korea Army Staff College and speaks Korean.

Richard Lawless is a founding Principal of NMV Consulting, LLC.

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Richard served the United States government for over 20 years, most recently as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs. In this capacity Richard was responsible for formulating U.S. security and defense policy in the Asia-Pacific region, including East and Southeast Asia, South Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. He retired from this position in July 2007, but maintains an advisory role to the Secretary of Defense on Alliance transformation issues.

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Prior to his appointment at the Department of Defense, Richard co-founded and served as the Chairman/CEO of U.S. Asia Commercial Development Cooperation from 1987-2002. U.S. Asia and its affiliated companies headquartered in Washington, D.C. with offices in Seoul, Tokyo and Taipei, specialized in telecommunications and information technology investment and market entry strategies in East Asia. Mr. Lawless is also a co-founder and former Chairman of the internet technology development company, Online Environs, Inc. of Boston, Massachusetts.

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Mr. Lawless served as a career employee of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1972 through 1987, serving in Washington, D.C. and various postings in the Far East and Europe. He specialized in subjects related to high technology, nuclear proliferation and Far East security issues.

Richard is a graduate of Bradley University’s School of International Studies (B.S. International Relations, Magna Cum Laude) and the Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California (Korean language program).

Mark Walker is a founding Principal of NMV Consulting, LLC.  Mark is an executive manager and international affairs specialist with 20 years of experience in both the public and private sectors.

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From 2001 to 2009, Mark served as a White House appointee in the Office of the Secretary of Defense where he specialized in U.S. defense policy with Asia and the Pacific.  During this time, Mark served for two years in Baghdad, Iraq as Chief of Staff for the Iraqi Ministry of Transportation (air, rail, surface and maritime) and later as Deputy Chief of Staff of the $21 billion Iraq Reconstruction Management Office at the U.S. Embassy.  Before starting his government service, Mark lived and worked in Beijing, China where he managed several telecom ventures for private investors.  From 1997 to 1998, Mark lived and worked in Bonn, Germany as a Foreign Policy Fellow in both the German Foreign Ministry (Auswärtiges Amt) and the German Parliament (Bundestag).

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Mark earned his MBA from the Instituto de Empresa business school in Madrid, Spain and he earned his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.  He speaks German, Chinese (Mandarin) and Spanish and is a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve.

Mel Richmond a founding Principal of NMV Consulting, LLC. 

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Throughout a 35-year government career, Mel successfully built, managed and led numerous programs of national importance and myriad high-performing organizations varying from as few as 30 to well over 1500 people. Prior to leaving government service in 2009, Mel was the Chief of Staff for the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs and the Special Assistant to the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Asia-Pacific, who were responsible to the Secretary of Defense for policies and practices advancing United States national security objectives in the Asian and Pacific region. From 1996 to 2005, Mel served in the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office as the Chief of Staff and Senior Director for Policy. From May 1994 until June 1995, Mel led U.S. activities in Vietnam to account for U.S. serviceman still missing from the Vietnam War. Mr. Richmond retired from the United States Army in September 2000 at the rank of Colonel following 26 years of service.

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During his service in the Army and as a DoD civilian, he was awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Award and the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Award. He also received the 1998 Paul H. Nitze Award for excellence in International Security Affairs.

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Mel holds a Master of Military Science for Operational Art and a Master of Military Science in History from the United States Army Command and General Staff College, and a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University. He also attended MIT’s program, Seminar XXI: Foreign Politics, International Relations, and the National Interest. Mel speaks English moderately well–with some assistance.

​Kevin Maher is a Senior Advisor at NMV Consulting, LLC.  Kevin joined NMV Consulting after retiring from the U.S. Department of State as a Senior Foreign Service officer, following a distinguished thirty-year career with a focus on Japan and East Asia.  Kevin led the State Department’s Japan Task Force in the aftermath of the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident.

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Prior to that, Kevin was the Director of the Office of Japan Affairs at the State Department in Washington DC (2009 – 2011).  Kevin served 18 years in Japan, including as the Consul General in Okinawa, Japan; Director of Political Military Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, where he oversaw the realignment of U.S. military forces in Japan; as the Minister-Counselor for Environment, Science and Technology at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, which included oversight of the nuclear energy relationship; and as Principal Officer in Fukuoka, Japan.  He also spent three years in the Pentagon as Chief of the Policy Office for the Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force.  Prior to joining the U.S. Department of State Kevin was an attorney in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Kevin speaks Japanese fluently, and speaks some Mandarin and Cantonese.  Kevin earned a J.D. from the University of Georgia in 1981, an M.A. from the University of Hawaii in 1977 (Modern East Asia), and a B.A. from LaGrange College (Modern Europe) in1974.  He was a Visiting Associate at the University of Tokyo 1997-1998. His Japanese language book, "The Japan That Can’t Decide" (決断できない日本), was a best seller in the fall of 2011.  Kevin appears regularly on Japanese television news programs as a commentator on political and national security issues.

Ms. Mikiko A. Takahashi is a Senior Director at NMV Consulting. Ms. Takahashi is a bilingual in both English and Japanese and supports NMV Consulting’s portfolios in the cyber security, nuclear energy, mineral resources and property development sectors, with a focus on Japan-based research, analysis and client interaction. Prior to joining NMV Consulting, Ms. Takahashi served as a Market Research Associate for Nielsen Media Research in New York and Program Analyst for pharmaceutical company Pfizer (formerly Wyeth). Ms. Takahashi has a Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry from Tufts University.

Young Jun (“YJ”) Bae is a Senior Associate at NMV Consulting, providing executive level advice and support to NMV Consulting activities in the Republic of Korea and Northeast Asia.  Mr. Bae has extensive experience managing large organizations, international business development and general contracting.

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As the Chairman of Kun Young International, Inc. Mr. Bae has provided executive level strategic advice to the CEO’s of several large Korean corporations on general business development planning, including: Doosan Group, Daewoo Group and Hanjin Group (Korean Airlines). Mr. Bae previously served as the President of U.S. Asia—Korea, a subsidiary of U.S. Asia, CDC, that specialized in business development and marketing for foreign corporations and organizations in Northeast Asia with an emphasis on Korea. Earlier in his career Mr. Bae worked with Namkwang Construction Company as its President and Chief Executive Officer where he managed the company’s international construction business development, including projects in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan and the Philippines with supporting offices in London, Frankfurt and New York.

Mr. Bae studied Economics at the University of California at Berkeley/Los Angeles.

Jung Jun ("JJ") Lee is a is a Senior Associate at NMV Consulting, providing executive level advice and support to NMV Consulting activities in the Republic of Korea and Northeast Asia. He is a highly experienced advisor in the Korean aerospace and defense industry with a focus on military aircraft, helicopters and other defense systems.

Prior to joining NMV Consulting in 2014, Mr. Lee was a Director at Sung Eun International Company, a consulting and sales representative company for GE Aviation, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Elbit Systems.  Mr. Lee successfully negotiated and implemented numerous defense acquisition contracts including offset projects with Korean government and industries.  Mr. Lee was highly recognized by foreign companies in the programs involved.  Prior to that (1990-1993),  Mr. Lee served as a Foreign Affairs Officer in the Office of Chief of Staff in the Republic of Korea Air Force, where he was responsible for supporting activities involving foreign affairs for the Chief of Staff, including coordination with the United States military and foreign visitors.

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Mr. Lee earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in 1989 at the George Washington University (1989) in Washington D.C.  He speaks both Korean (native) and English (business professional).