About Us
In mid-2025, Richard attended the MIT Alumni Startup Annual Reunion for the second time and was deeply struck by the energy in the room—the warmth of reconnection, shared memories, and the enduring strength of the MIT network.
Reflecting on the Visiting Fellows community, he realized that a more structured and lasting global platform could greatly benefit MIT Sloan Visiting Fellows worldwide. Richard received initial encouragement from MIT Sloan leadership to explore the idea further.
Later that year, Alberto returned to campus, and together they stood on stage at Kendall Square, reminiscing about their time in the Sloan Fellows Class of 2023—a diverse and globally connected cohort. Yet only two years later, they saw how quickly classmates had dispersed and how difficult it had become to sustain close ties. That realization strengthened their commitment to launch the MIT Sloan Visiting Fellow Global Network.
Alberto formally joined Richard, and they soon brought in Luiz (Spring 2023) and Xin (Fall 2023), whose enthusiasm and support helped form the founding team
About our team
We are proud to bring together a diverse group of cohorts, each contributing unique perspectives and skills.
Richard Wang
President
Alberto Halfeld
VP of PR
Luis Bessa
Vp of Events
Xi Jiang
Vp of Finance
Richard is the co-founder of Veritas Education and BranchOut!, promoting holistic education and empowering students across Boston, DC/MD/VA, NY/NJ, and other metro regions. He also founded maka.AI to transform education through technology.
He was invited to join the Forbes Business Council in 2026 and has served as an advisor to the MIT College of Computing since 2023, and spoke at the MIT Asia Business Conference. Previously, he worked at Freddie Mac and PricewaterhouseCoopers for 15 years, focusing on data engineering, AI/ML, and financial markets, while serving on committees overseeing K-12 student performance and learning in the largest U.S. school district.
Richard was a MIT Sloan Visiting Fellow in Spring 2023. He holds an MBA from the University of Maryland and an M.S. in Computer Science from Southeastern University.
Alberto Halfeld is a PhD candidate in Financial Accounting. He is currently working on the first accouting research project focused on search funds, alongside MIT Sloan and HSB faculty.
Prior to his doctoral work, Alberto worked at Draper Associates, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm founded by Tim Draper. Draper Associates is an early investor in companies such as Tesla, Skype, PayPal, Coinbase, and Twitch. In addition to venture capital, Alberto worked in asset management.
Alberto was a Visiting Fellow at MIT Sloan School of Management in 2023. His broader research agenda focuses on how financial statements—particularly cash flow reporting—shape investor understanding, valuation, and decision-making in innovative financial structures.
Before founding Grafin, Luiz Bessa was a partner at Zaxo, leading the firm into the top 3 M&A boutiques in Brazil in Anbima’s ranking from 2017 to 2019. It is the advisor with the most transactions in Southern Brazil and ranks 14th nationally since 2017, according to Transactional Track Record.
With over 20 years in M&A, he has led 30+ transactions totaling over R$ 4 billion, including the BRL 144 million Series D with Goldman Sachs private equity fund for Olist and its acquisition of Tiny, the investment round with private equity funds controlled by Jorge Paulo Lehman and Randal Zanetti in Implus Group, and the sale of Volk do Brasil to Bunzl (LSE: BNZL), a British multinational.
He holds a Business Administration degree from UFPR, is a graduate of FGV-SP, and a Visiting Fellow at MIT (class of ’23), with main courses in corporate finance and negotiation from MIT and Harvard MBA programs.
Xin is a founder, Web3 investor, and startup advisor focused on AI and frontier technology. Xin founded Distill AI, where he broadcasts and analyzes AI breakthroughs and emerging technologies on X, reaching 100,000+ user views globally.
Xin has been investing in Web3 since 2019. He previously led the investment arm of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, and served as an investment partner at OFR, a $100M Web3 fund, backing teams across crypto infrastructure, DeFi, and developer ecosystems.
Xin also advises founders on strategy, fundraising, and go-to-market, helping startups scale from zero to over $1B in market capitalization. In Fall 2023, Xin was a MIT Sloan Visiting Fellow, researching the long-term impact of AI and decentralized systems.
