Gene Yu was born in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1979, and entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1997, where he majored in computer science and graduated top of his class. Gene served in Korea and Japan as a US Army Armor and Special Forces officer. He deployed for four combat tours in Iraq and the southern Philippines, and is a recipient of two Bronze Star Medals and the Combat Infantryman Badge. In 2015, Gene founded Blackpanda Group, a cybersecurity insurance and emergency response services company headquartered in Singapore, and currently serves as the CEO. Gene is also an alumnus of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Stanford Graduate School of Business.