Mr. DeVette is one of the foremost experts on accessing, acquiring, and distributing information in Asia today. He began his career with EBSCO Information Services as an award-winning sales representative during the mid-1980's. Currently, he is General Manager and Assistant Vice-President for EBSCO with responsibility for the Far East and Southeast Asian regions. Mr. DeVette's groundbreaking activities have lead to the establishment of six regional offices for EBSCO. He received the General Manager of the Year Award in 1995. He has also been honored with election to the EBSCO Industries Founders' Club. In addition to his regular duties, Mr. DeVette has organized or participated in dozens of seminars and conferences throughout Asia. He is a regular guest lecturer at universities throughout the region. He has published numerous papers on serials management, collection development, access versus ownership, and recently, electronic publishing. Among others, papers published include: "Serials is Serious Business," "Collection Development Policies and Practical Guidelines for Academic and Research Libraries in Asia", "The Changing World of Electronic Publishing." Several of his articles have been translated into Chinese or Japanese for local publication.

He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill where he was a Turrentine Scholar and received his Batchelor of Science in Business Administration. Mr. DeVette is currently enrolled at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business (Singapore campus). He has also studied at the University of Virginia, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration and the National Taiwan Normal University. He is a member of the Persatuan Perpustakaan Malaysia (Library Association of Malaysia), the China Library Association, and numerous frequent flier clubs.

Mr. DeVette has lived in Asia for more than twenty years, and is fluent in Chinese / Mandarin and English. Penang, Malaysia is his current home, where he resides with a reticulated python, a cat, two turtles, two dogs, three children, and one wife.