Sean Lien

Sean Lien or Lien Sheng-wen (Taiwanese: Liân sìng-bûn; born February 4, 1970) is a member of the Central Standing Committee of the Kuomintang of the Republic of China (Taiwan). He is co-founder of Evenstar Capital and he previously served as chairman of the Taipei Smart Card Corporation, the company which operates EasyCard.

Family
Sean Lien is the eldest son of Lien Fang Yu and Lien Chan, who served as the Chairman of the Kuomintang party and was the Vice President of Taiwan. He is the grandson of Lien Chen-tung, and the great grandson of Lien Heng. He has a brother and two sisters. He is married to Patty Tsai.

According to some sources, he was born in the United States of America; others indicate that he was born in Taiwan.

Education
Lien received a Bachelor of Laws from Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City, Taiwan. He received a Master of Laws and a Juris Doctor from Columbia University in New York City. He was also an Eisenhower Fellow.

Early career
Lien served in a senior management position at GE's Asia Pacific Capital Fund II and as a vice president with an Investment Banking Group in Taipei. He is co-founder and senior advisor to the Hong Kong investment company Evenstar Capital.

Political career
In 2008, Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-pin appointed Lien as chairman of Taipei Smart Card Corporation. Lien resigned as Chairman of EasyCard Corporation at the end of 2009, citing health reasons. Assessments of his performance during this brief tenure differ.

During the municipal election on 26 November 2010, Lien was shot in the face at close range while stumping for Chen Hung-yuan, a New Taipei City Council candidate in the Yonghe District of New Taipei City. Lien's wound was minor and he recovered quickly. Lien disagrees with Taiwan judiciary's conclusion that he was shot by mistake. On February 24, 2014, Lien announced his campaign for Taipei City mayor election; on April 19, 2014, he won the KMT mayoral primary. On November 29, Lien lost the race to independent candidate Ko Wen-je.