AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum 2022
Asia's premier private equity & venture event for the last 35 years
LIVE Broadcast & In Person
Four Seasons Hotel, Singapore & Online
Leading expert speakers participating this year include:
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Mr. Arougheti is a Co-Founder of Ares and the Chief Executive Officer and President, as well as a Director of Ares Management Corporation. He is a member of the Ares Executive Management Committee, the Ares Enterprise Risk Committee and is on the Board of Directors of the Ares Charitable Foundation. He additionally serves as Co-Chairman of Ares Capital Corporation ("ARCC"), Co-Chairman of Ares Acquisition Corporation ("AAC") and as a director of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation ("ACRE"). Mr. Arougheti also is a member of the Ares Credit Group's U.S. Direct Lending and Pathfinder Investment Committees, the Ares Equity Income Opportunity Strategy Portfolio Review Committee and the Ares Sports, Media and Entertainment Investment Committee. Prior to joining Ares in 2004, Mr. Arougheti was employed by Royal Bank of Canada ("RBC") from 2001 to 2004, where he was a Managing Partner of the Principal Finance Group of RBC Capital Partners and a member of the firm's Mezzanine Investment Committee. Mr. Arougheti oversaw an investment team that originated, managed and monitored a diverse portfolio of middle-market leveraged loans, senior and junior subordinated debt, preferred equity and common stock and warrants on behalf of RBC and other third-party institutional investors. Mr. Arougheti joined RBC in October 2001 from Indosuez Capital, where he was a Principal and an Investment Committee member, responsible for originating, structuring and executing leveraged transactions across a broad range of products and asset classes. Prior to joining Indosuez in 1994, Mr. Arougheti worked at Kidder, Peabody & Co., where he was a member of the firm's Mergers and Acquisitions Group. Mr. Arougheti also serves on the board of directors of Operation HOPE, a not-for-profit organization focused on expanding economic opportunity in underserved communities through education and empowerment. Additionally, Mr. Arougheti is a member of the PATH Organization Leadership Council. Mr. Arougheti received a B.A. in Ethics, Politics and Economics, cum laude, from Yale University.
Mr Darryl Chan was appointed as Deputy Chief Executive from 1 November 2022, and is responsible for overseeing the work of External, Monetary Management and Research departments. Mr Chan joined the HKMA as Executive Director (Corporate Services) in February 2013 and took up the post of Executive Director (External) in August 2019. Before joining the HKMA, Mr Chan was an Administrative Officer in the Hong Kong SAR Government and had worked in different policy bureaux and departments on policy formulation and administration.
Dr. Mark Konyn is the Group Chief Investment Officer responsible for providing oversight of the management of the investment portfolios of the Group as well as supervising and supporting the many investment professionals throughout the Group. He is a director of various companies within the Group, including Chairman of AIA Investment Management Private Limited and AIA Investment Management HK Limited. He joined the Group in September 2015.
Dr. Konyn joined AIA from Cathay Conning Asset Management, where he was Chief Executive Officer responsible for the company’s investment business and strategic expansion in the region. He had held senior positions at Allianz Global Investors (where he was Asia-Pacific CEO for RCM Global Investors), Fidelity Investments and Prudential UK. He is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and holds a Diploma from the London Business School in Investment Management, having previously completed his Ph.D. in Operational Research sponsored by the UK Government.
Mr. Salata is the Chairman of EQT Asia. He previously founded Baring Private Equity Asia in 1997 and led the management buyout that established BPEA as an independent firm. In 2022, BPEA merged with the Swedish listed firm EQT to create a global private markets firm spanning the US, Europe, and Asia.
EQT in Asia has 350 team members across 8 offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Mumbai, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, and Sydney. EQT Private Capital Asia has invested over USD 29bn in over 150 private equity transactions, with a portfolio that currently employs more than 400,000 people.
EQT and Mr. Salata are active in philanthropy and have long supported many organizations globally, including in Hong Kong, the Asia Pacific region, the UK, and the USA. Their efforts focus on sustainability, education, youth, and the arts.
In 2022, Mr. and Mrs. Salata established The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University, which brings together Harvard’s university-wide resources to address climate and sustainability through scientific and intellectual leadership. In 2022, Forbes Asia included Mr. and Mrs. Salata in its Heroes of Philanthropy list.
Mr. Salata has lived and worked in Hong Kong since 1989, and graduated magna cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Finance and Economics.
Christian Sinding joined EQT Partners in 1998 from AEA Investors Inc., a leading U.S.-based private equity firm, and is CEO and Managing Partner.
Christian holds a Bachelor of Science (in Commerce) degree from the University of Virginia, which he received with Distinction in 1994.
Prior to joining AEA, Christian was employed as a financial analyst with Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. investment bankers in the U.S.
Christian has worked in the Stockholm-, Munich- and Copenhagen- offices of EQT Partners and opened the Oslo office in 2007. He has been involved in a number of investments including Plantasjen, Symrise, Gambro, Vaasan&Vaasan, Findus, ISS, XXL, and InFiber. Christian was appointed Head of EQT Equity in January 2011. As from January 1, 2019, Christian is CEO.
Christian is Chairman of the Executive Committee and member of the Equity Partners Investment Committee.
Torsten Slok is Partner and Chief Economist at Apollo. Prior to joining in 2020, Torsten worked for 15 years on the sell-side, where his team was top-ranked by Institutional Investor in fixed income and equities for ten years. Previously, he worked at the OECD in Paris in the Money and Finance Division and the Structural Policy Analysis Division. Before joining the OECD, Torsten was with the IMF in the division responsible for writing the World Economic Outlook, and the division responsible for China, Hong Kong, and Mongolia.
Torsten studied at University of Copenhagen and Princeton University. He frequently appears in the media and has published numerous journal articles and reviews on economics and policy analysis, including in the Journal of International Economics, Journal of International Money and Finance, and The Econometric Journal.
Adam Goldberg is Co-Founder of Standard Crypto, a venture capital firm that combines deep technical expertise, company-building experience, and a decade-long track record in crypto to partner early with crypto/blockchain-focused founders. He previously led blockchain and crypto investing at Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Adrian is Founder & Managing Partner at AC Ventures, formerly Convergence Ventures. ACV is an early stage Indonesia focused technology venture capital fund. ACV managed 3 funds with a portfolio of over 80 businesses. Notable investments include, Payfazz, Koinworks, Julo, Carsome and M17.
Previously, he co-founded several ventures in China and Indonesia. Adrian’s 1st Internet venture was Idapted where as CEO & cofounder he raised 2 rounds of venture financing and led the company to be the largest live 1:1 online English test preparation service in China. Idapted was acquired by Eleutian in 2011. He then joined Rocket Internet as a Managing Director where he worked on new technology ventures in China and South East Asia. At the end of 2014 he launched Convergence Ventures.
Adrian is also involved in non-profit work. He founded and chairs a UK Charity called CNYTrust, which supports children in rural China continue schooling. He is a business mentor at several organisations including Endeavour, Founders Institute and Antler. He has served on the board of Entrepreneurs Organisation is several roles including Beijing Chapter President and Regional Communications Director. He is also a member of Young Presidents Organisation (YPO) in Indonesia.
Alejandro is Head of Private Equity EMEA APAC at SESAMm, a leading alternative data and AI company specializing in data-driven insight and investment analytics working with prominent hedge funds, banks, private equity firms, and asset management clients.
Alejandro is in charge of communicating to clients how alternative data investment appraisal methods can help them gain an edge.
Previously, Alejandro worked in M&A for various multinationals in the Food&Beverage and Energy sectors and in a top-tier investment fund using traditional investment appraisal methods.
He graduated with honors from CEMS Master in International Management in 2017.
Alex is a member of Bain & Company’s Private Equity and Healthcare practices.
Since joining Bain in 2010, Alex has led numerous investment strategy, commercial due diligence and portfolio value creation initiatives across sectors, with a client portfolio that encompasses growth and buyout funds, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, infrastructure funds and asset management firms.
He has extensive experience across the Asia-Pacific healthcare sector and is deeply versed in mergers & acquisitions (M&A), full potential strategy and performance improvement.
He holds a BSc in economics, with First-Class Honours, from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Alex Wilmerding is a member of the Pantheon global investment team and the Pantheon Asia Regional Investment Committee. He also manages Pantheon’s Asian investor relations. Prior to joining Pantheon, Mr. Wilmerding was a Director at Citi Private Bank with a focus working with financial sponsors including private equity and venture funds and distribution of alternatives. He previously spent nine years as a Partner at Boston Capital Ventures where he sourced, structured, and managed growth and venture investments. Prior to working for Boston Capital Ventures, he served as Commercial Manager Eastern China for the Fednav Group, as well as in executive management positions for the Swire Group in its subsidiaries Cathay Pacific Airways and Cathay Dragon based in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Jakarta. Mr. Wilmerding has a BA from Yale University and MBA from Columbia Business School.
Alexis joined BC Partners in 2021. He is responsible for the fundraising and business development efforts for the firm across strategies. Previously, Alexis worked at Citigroup, where he was a Managing Director and Head of the Financial Sponsors Group. Alexis brings over two decades of investment banking experience having spent the first decade of his career as an M&A practitioner advising across a broad range of industries & geographies and latterly advising private equity firms, sovereign-wealth funds, pension funds and family office clients across a broad range of M&A and capital markets transactions. Prior to Citigroup, Alexis held leadership positions at HSBC, where he was Global Head of the Financial Sponsors Group, and Deutsche Bank. Alexis holds a BEng in Mechanical Engineering and is a qualified Chartered Accountant by the ICAEW.
Amit Gupta is a founding Partner of TPG NewQuest based in Singapore and oversees the India and Southeast Asia businesses. Amit has more than 20 years of industry experience.
Prior to co-founding TPG NewQuest, he was a Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s (BAML) Asia Private Equity group where he led the India business and oversaw investments in the energy and financial services sectors across the Asia Pacific region. Amit has also served in other roles in BAML, including Corporate Principal Investments based in Hong Kong and Investment Banking based in Mumbai.
Prior to working at BAML, Amit was a software engineer based in Mumbai and the United States. Amit has an MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, where he was placed on the Director’s Merit List for his performance, and an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from REC Kurukshetra, where he received the University gold medal. Amit is fluent in English and Hindi.
Amit Kunal is the Managing Partner at Growtheum Capital Partners (GCP, https://GrowtheumCapital.com/). GCP is a private equity firm targeting investment opportunities primarily in Southeast Asia. Previously, Amit was a Managing Director at GIC where he led Private Equity Direct Investments in SE Asia. Amit also served as a Vice President in the Investment Banking Group of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Singapore and in New York.
Amit Rajpal is Chief Executive Officer of Marshall Wace Asia and the Portfolio Manager responsible for the Digital Finance and Blockchain Technology strategy as well as the Global Financials strategy. He joined the firm in 2008.
Prior to this, Amit was Head of Asia Proprietary Trading and Global Financials Portfolio Manager at Morgan Stanley, having formerly been Head of Global FIG Research from 2006 to 2007 and Asia FIG Research from 2002 to 2007 at the firm.
In 2003 Amit was appointed one of the youngest Managing Directors of the firm at the age of 30. During his tenure in research, the Morgan Stanley Banks team in Asia was consistently rated as one of the top teams in the Institutional Investor (II) survey for institutional clients1.
Amit is also the founder and chairman of Niyogin Fintech, a platform serving micro businesses across India with a focus on rural areas.
Amit graduated from Mumbai University with a Bachelors in Commerce, holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C) and has also completed a degree in Costs and Works Accountancy (ICWA).
1Ranked as First Team in the Institutional Investor Survey from 2003-04, Second in 2005, Third in 2006 and First Team in 2007.
Dr. Amit Varma is a critical care physician having practiced for almost 30 years in the United States and Asia. He has been on the founding team of large Asian healthcare companies like Narayana Hrudayalaya and Fortis healthcare. He has served on the board of various companies around asia in healthcare delivery, life sciences, medical tech and consumer healthcare including Parkway healthcare in Singapore. He currently co-manages Quadria Capital the largest healthcare focused private equity firm with almost 2 Billion USD in AUM. In addition he has sponsored a dedicated venture healthcare firm HealthQuad with a 200 million USD AUM to work with start ups and early stage companies. He continues to be involved in academics and research and works hard to demystify problems in healthcare.
Dr. Varma is currently the founding managing co-founder of Quadria capital one of the largest healthcare dedicated private equity funds in Asia.
O Sr. Maciel trabalha no J.P. Morgan há 13 anos, onde ocupou posições em private equity e como Head of EquityCapital Markets Latin America e Head of M&A and Equity execution do Brasil. O Sr. Maciel ocupa atualmentea posição de Head para os setores de Tecnologia, Mídia e Telecomunicações, bem como o setor de infraestruturapara América Latina. O Sr. Maciel recentemente assessorou a Telefónica na aquisição da GVT, a AT&T nas aqusiçõesda Iusacell e Nextel no Mexico, o Decolar.com na venda de uma participação minoritária para a Expedia. O Sr. Macielparticipou em mais de 200 operações de equity capital markets e M&A.
Andreas Huber joined EQT Partners in October 2007 and is Vice Chairperson of Asia.
Andreas graduated from Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich with distinction in Economics, Sinology and Political Sciences.
Prior to joining EQT Partners, Andreas held various positions with Unicredit and HVB in Munich and Singapore, where he spent most of his career working on transactions related to the infrastructure sector.
Andreas is a member of the Infrastructure Partners Investment Committee.
Directorships
Previous: Koole Terminals. EEW Energy from Waste, Parkia, Unilode
Andrew Harline is based in Cooley’s Singapore office, he represents both public and privately held companies in a wide range of corporate and securities matters, including private financings, mergers and acquisitions and public offerings. He also represents venture capital and private equity funds in connection with financings and other transactions. Andrew is counsel to companies across a broad range of industries and ranging from start-ups to well established companies. He is ranked as a leading start-up and venture capital lawyer by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific.
Prior to joining Cooley, Andrew was a corporate associate at a leading law firm in Southern California. Prior to attending law school, he held various positions in the investment and finance industries, including as an equity trader and an investment banking analyst. While attending Vanderbilt University Law School, he was a member of the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law.
Andrew received his JD from the Vanderbilt University Law School, and BA from Brigham Young University. He is admitted to practice in California.
Andrew is the Chief Investment Officer of MSPE Asia and a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley. Mr. Hawkyard joined the Firm in 1999 and has been investing in Asia private equity for 23 years, including 22 years managing MSPE Asia’s five private equity funds to date: MSGEM (1999), Fund II (2005), Fund III (2007), Fund IV (2013) and Fund V (2018). Mr. Hawkyard currently leads the group’s private equity activities in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, and prior to that he played a lead role in establishing MSPE Asia’s private equity business in South Korea. Mr Hawkyard is also leading the establishment and oversight of the Thailand private equity business and is a member of the Thai Fund Investment Committee. Mr. Hawkyard is a director of Microlife and was previously a director of ACR, Landmark, Jinbang and CTCI and an observer to the boards of Itest and eAccess. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Hawkyard worked in the Merchant Banking and Investment Banking divisions of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette in Hong Kong and New York. Mr. Hawkyard is a native of New Zealand and is based in Hong Kong. Mr. Hawkyard received a B.A. with First Class Honors in applied mathematics and a B.C.A. in finance from Victoria University.
Background
Andrew has 23 years of experience with KPMG principally focused on major IPO and corporate M&A transaction deal execution and project management in multiple major locations including London, New York, Sydney and Singapore.
His principal sector experience is on transactions in the Private Equity and Services sectors.
Andrew has acted as Lead Partner for KPMG on more than 350 significant transactions with an aggregate deal value of more than $150 billion. He has led many of the more complex and demanding projects KPMG has been involved with in Asia over the last ten years.
Professional and industry experience
Private Equity: As Head of Private Equity, Andrew has led projects with most leading financial sponsors including KKR, Blackstone, CVC, Carlyle, TPG, Northstar, CHAMP, CHAMP Ventures, L Capital, Catalyst, TA Associates, Goldman Sachs PIA, TH Lee, and Macquarie Bank Principal Investments.
Complex transactions: Andrew has led the project management and due diligence for many landmark public and private transactions including KKR’s acquisition of Goodpack (SGX), the Seven / Westrac Merger, KKRs acquisition of GenesisCare, the CPPIB acquisition of Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group, Macquarie Media Group IPO, DUET’s IPO, AUSTAR’s refinancing, the global consortium acquisition and listing of Dyno Nobel, the global consortium acquisition of Boart Longyear, the consortium acquisition of the DBNGP, the acquisition by AGL of both Southern Hydro and Powerdirect.
Direct / co-investments: Andrew has assisted SWF, major pension funds and fund of funds on direct or co-investments including CPPIB, Temasek, GIC, Ontario Teachers, CalPERS, CalSTRS and HarbourVest.
Location experience: His major location experience include: London (5 Years), Sydney (13 Years) , New York (2 Years) and Singapore. In addition he has led transaction teams in across South East Asia, China, Japan, India, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
Andrew Tymms is the leader of Bain’s Asia-Pacific Private Equity practice.
He has more than 23 years’ experience with Bain across the UK, Europe, Africa and Australia, focused on supporting private equity and alternative investment firms across the investment value-chain.
His deep experience in all aspects of private equity and M&A include:
- Deal sourcing and screening
- Integrated (commercial and operational) due diligence
- Post-acquisition (growth and performance acceleration, developing and driving value creation plans (VCPs), post-merger integration (PMI)
- Exit planning and sell-side support
- PE and alternative investment firm strategy development
Andrew has led more than 300 commercial reviews, M&A and both post-acquisition and portfolio company projects for leading private equity investors and hedge funds.
He also holds significant industry experience in tech, media and telecom (TMT), financial services, business services, retail, healthcare and digital.
Andrew is an honors graduate of the University of Melbourne in electrical and electronic engineering.
Ankur Meattle is Head of Asia Private Equity Funds & Co-Investments at GIC. As part of this role, Ankur oversees our Asian private equity funds programme, as well as co-investment deals alongside GPs. In addition, Ankur co-chairs the ASEAN Business Group (ABG), which helps coordinate overall ASEAN investment strategy across GIC.
Ankur joined GIC in 2004 and has been part of various teams within the GIC Asia Private Equity organisation. Before joining GIC, he was a Manager with Arthur D Little, a strategy consulting firm, in Singapore. He has also worked with PwC and KPMG in India.
Ankur is an Advisor to the Investment Committee of the Singapore Management University (SMU).
Ankur holds a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi) and a Master of Business Administration from Duke University.
Atiff joined CVC in 2014. Atiff is a member of CVC's private equity operations team in Asia and is based in Singapore. He is on the Board of 5 portfolio companies spanning FMCG, Retail, QSR and Healthcare across SEA.
He has worked in the retail and consumer goods field in Europe and Asia for 25 years, and as a CEO of 3 companies. Prior to joining CVC, he worked as CEO of Lacoste (China) based in Shanghai. Prior to that, he worked for Kingfisher plc, Kurt Salmon Associates, Metersbonwe, and Williamson-Dickie.
Atiff holds a BSc Degree from London University and is a Post-Graduate from Oxford University.
Ben Hart is a Partner and Head of Investor Relations (Asia) at Adams Street Partners, where he focuses on the firm’s institutional and private wealth relationships across the region. Ben is a 25-year Asia resident with over 20 years’ experience in the venture-backed tech and private equity markets.
Prior to joining Adams Street, Ben worked at Swiss-based private equity firm Capital Dynamics, where he served as Managing Director and COO, Asia, overseeing the firm’s business development efforts in Asia and North America.
Before joining Capital Dynamics, Ben spent over a decade working with VC and PE-backed tech firms in China and across Asia on their market development strategies. He served as Managing Director, Asia, at Aircom International, and also held senior positions at Convergys Corporation, Alliance Digital, Inc., and the JM Network.
Education:
University of Colorado, BBA
Investment/operational experience: 21 years
Languages: English, Mandarin Chinese
Bonnie Lo is a founding Partner and COO of TPG NewQuest based in Hong Kong. Bonnie oversees the finance, investor relations, operations, and administrative functions of TPG NewQuest. Bonnie has more than 20 years of experience in finance and investing. Prior to taking on the COO role, Bonnie was co-head of TPG NewQuest’s China investment business. Prior to co-founding TPG NewQuest, Bonnie was a Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s (BAML) Asia Private Equity group focusing on investments in Greater China.
Bonnie has also held other positions within BAML including in the Corporate Principal Investments and Investment Banking groups. She also previously worked at 3i Group plc focusing on growth capital investments in Greater China. Bonnie has an Executive MBA from EMBA-Global Asia, a joint program between Columbia Business School, University of Hong Kong Business School and London Business School. She received her undergraduate degree in Economics and East Asian Studies, magna cum laude, from Brown University in Providence, RI.
Bonnie also serves on the Board of the Hong Kong Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (HKVCA) and is the Chairwoman of the Technical Committee of the HKVCA. Bonnie is fluent in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin.
Brenda Lau is the Director, Private Equity Product Specialist at IFM Investors, based in the Sydney office. She is responsible for managing client relationships, and building and deepening technical knowledge across investors and consultants globally.
Prior to this role, Brenda was the Head of Asset Management Asia, Private Markets & Alternatives at CA Indosuez (Switzerland) SA, which is part of the Credit Agricole group, based in Hong Kong. She was responsible for managing all Asia Pacific private markets investments as well as advising on the allocation of strategies for the private clients’ portfolios globally. Previously, she held senior relationship management and business development roles at EntrustPermal and Hamilton Lane, where she covered institutional clients including sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, provident funds, and private banking clients in the Asia Pacific region.
Brenda holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance and Management of Organizations from the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. She is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst and a member of the CAIA Association.
Partner, joined CVC in 2006. Based in Hong Kong, Brian is co-head of CVC's private equity business in Southeast Asia and also leads our regional industry groups.
Prior to joining CVC, Brian spent nine years working in JP Morgan's M&A department in New York, Hong Kong and Korea offices,
advising on a wide range of M&A and corporate finance transactions. Brian holds a BA degree in business economics and political science from Brown University, US.
Mr. Lau is a Managing Director and Partner at ShawKwei & Partners. He is involved in all aspects of deal flow & investments and leverages his operating, sales and strategy background to manage portfolio companies at the board level. He is a member of the investment committee of ShawKwei and sits on the boards of portfolio companies Beyonics and ICONS Beauty Group.
Brian has more than 30 years of strategy, sales and operations experience across the industrial supply chain and investment banking industries including with multinational corporations Celestica and Texas Instruments.
Brian received an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, York University and a BA from the University of Waterloo and holds the CPA designation (Chartered Professional Account) from Canada.
Brian Lim, Partner at Pantheon, joined the firm in 2009 and has 20 years of private equity experience. Brian is Pantheon’s Head of Asia and Emerging Markets Investment teams and is involved in all aspects of investment activity in those regions. Prior to joining Pantheon, Brian was a Portfolio Director at CDC Group where he helped build their Asia and Emerging Markets portfolio, and before that worked at Watson Wyatt. Brian is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, holds an MBA from the London Business School, and a BSc in Actuarial Science from City, University of London. Brian is a member of the EMPEA Board and the Chair of its Asia Council. Brian is based in Hong Kong.
Brian O’Connor co-founded Falcon House Partners in 2011 and has more than 30 years of professional experience, including more than 20 years of experience in private equity. Prior to Falcon House, Mr. O’Connor spent more than 18 years at Lehman Brothers, almost entirely in Asia. He started his career at Lehman in Hong Kong and Shanghai before relocating to Tokyo and then to Jakarta as Head of Lehman Brothers Indonesia. Returning to Hong Kong, Mr. O’Connor served as Head of Asia TMT and Head of Asia (ex-Japan) Corporate Finance and M&A. Returning to Tokyo, Mr. O’Connor became CAO (COO) of Lehman Asia-Pacific and a member of the Asia-Pacific Executive Committee. He played a key role in the sale of Lehman Asia-Pacific to Nomura, and served as Vice-Chairman of Nomura Asia. Originally from the U.S., Mr. O’Connor earned a BA in Asian Studies & Economics from the University of California, Berkely; he speaks Bahasa Indonesia and Mandarin Chinese.
Brooke Zhou is Partner of LGT Capital Partners, she leads LGT CP’s secondary investment activities in Asia. LGT Capital Partners is a leading institutional alternative asset and fund of funds manager, currently managing over USD 100 billion AuM on a global basis and over 600 private equity professionals worldwide. The firm is headquartered in Pfäffikon, Switzerland (near Zurich) and has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney, New York, Raleigh, Dublin, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Vaduz and Dubai.
Prior to joining LGT Capital Partners in 2010, Ms. Zhou was with CDH Investments, a leading Chinese private equity manager, based in Beijing. Prior to CDH Investments, Ms. Zhou spent her career at Bain & Company in Shanghai, as well as Oracle Corporation in Redwood Shores, California.
Ms. Zhou earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ms. Zhou grew up in Shanghai and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
Charles leads the Asia business for Rede encompassing Asian investor coverage and secondaries advisory. He brings over 18 years’ experience in financial services with the majority of his career in Asian private equity.
Prior to joining Rede in 2022, Charles was a Partner at Atlantic-Pacific Capital, a global placement advisor, between 2013 to 2021 where he co-led Asian advisory and investor coverage for the firm. He was previously an investment professional at Pomona Capital, a global secondaries and private equity fund of funds manager, where he spent five years investing in managers across Asia-Pacific.
Charles commenced his career at Merrill Lynch as an Equity Research Analyst covering the Greater China consumer sector and Asian small-mid-cap equities. Prior to that at KPMG as an audit accountant. He holds a BA in Finance and International Management from Boston University.
Rede Partners is an independent private equity fundraising advisory firm focused on primary fundraising, secondaries, strategic advisory projects and investor relations advisory. The firm has offices in London, Hong Kong and New York with a global team of over 110 professionals.
Rede Partners was established by Founding Partners Scott Church and Adam Turtle in 2011. The business was founded with a clear vision - to build the leading advisory practice helping outstanding General Partners address the opportunities and challenges of today's capital raising environment. Since inception in 2011, Rede Partners has raised €100+ billion across 61 primary fundraisings and 31 secondaries transactions.
Charles-A. Janssen is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of HealthQuad. He is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of HealthQuad. He has over 25 years of experience in healthcare, private equity and corporate finance advisory. He is currently a board member of UCB S.A, Tubize S.A, Medikabazaar, Qure.ai, Wysa, Regency Healthcare, OVUM, Lilac Insights, THB, Neurosynaptic Communications. He has earlier served as a board member of OPPI, IBLCCI and FOPI. In 2010, Charles cofounded KOIS S.A. with François de Borchgrave, a global impact investing firm (blended finance structuring and investment management) active in healthcare, education/skilling and living environments. Previously, he has worked at Merrill Lynch, Web Lab, and UCB S.A. He graduated from Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels with a bachelor’s in law, completed the Advanced Management Programme at the Harvard Business School and the International Directors Program with Certificate in Corporate Governance from INSEAD.
Mr. Cheng is a Managing Director of 57 Stars LLC, a boutique global asset manager owned and managed by its investment team focused on partnership and co-investment in select private equity markets outside of the United States, primarily in ‘Emerging Markets.’. Mr. Cheng is involved in identifying and monitoring investments in Asia. Prior to 57 Stars, Mr. Cheng was an Investment Manager with Allianz Private Equity Partners. Mr. Cheng holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Kyoto University and an MBA from INSEAD.
Lim Cheng Khai is the Executive Director of the Financial Markets Development Department with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which aims to promote a vibrant financial market in Singapore, with a focus on development of Singapore’s capital market, asset management and insurance sectors, and infrastructure and sustainable financing capabilities and solutions. In this role, he works closely with industry partners including key financial institutions and industry associations to support the growth of Singapore’s financial markets, and strengthen the proposition of Singapore as a gateway to serve Asia’s capital raising and financing needs.
Prior to his current appointment, Cheng Khai was involved in the regulation and supervision of banks, insurers, and capital markets intermediaries in various roles in MAS. From 2014 to 2020, he led the Capital Markets Intermediaries Department II that oversees licensing, regulating and supervising fund managers and the individual representatives who are authorised to carry out these regulated activities. In addition, the department is responsible for formulating and reviewing policies relating to the fund management sector, and harnessing the use of technology and data analytics to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of conduct supervision in MAS. Cheng Khai was also a member of the Accounting Standards Council from 2018 to 2020.
Cheng Khai has participated in several international workgroups in his career with MAS, including the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) peer reviews, FSB Standing Committee on Standards Implementation’s (SCSI) Compensation Monitoring Contact Group, and International Organisation of Securities Commissions’ (IOSCO) Fintech Network Steering Group.
Mr. Bhagat is a Managing Partner in the Asia Fund of L Catterton. In this role over the last three years, he has been responsible for driving the integration of the Asian franchise into the global firm, reshaping the strategy and focus of the firm in Asia, and leading marquee transactions in the region.
Prior to joining L Catterton, Mr. Bhagat was Head of Private Markets for South Asia and concurrently head of the global healthcare portfolio at Khazanah Nasional Berhad. Mr. Bhagat also spent 14 years at McKinsey & Company, including six years as Managing Partner of the Singapore office. He was a leader in the principal investor, healthcare and operations practices and worked extensively with private equity and sovereign wealth funds to develop strategies, execute transactions, manage risk, and implement board governance initiatives.
Mr. Bhagat received a degree in Architecture from the University of Mumbai and an M.B.A. in International Business from INSEAD.
Ms Christina Bao, Managing Director, is currently the Co-Head of Sales & Marketing at HKEX.
Ms Bao joined HKEX in 2016 as the Chief of Staff, reporting to the CE of HKEX. She was responsible for the planning and oversight of the Group’s strategic projects.
Prior to joining HKEX, Christina held a number of senior positions at Ping An Bank (previously at Shenzhen Development Bank, which merged with Ping An Bank in 2010) since 2001. At Shenzhen Development Bank, she served as the Chief of Staff to the Chairman and CEO from 2005 until 2010, and was responsible for the bank’s strategic projects, Investor Relations and Public Relations. After the merger and integration of the two banks, she headed Retail e-Banking, Service & Marketing, and the Retail e-Finance Strategic Business Unit for Ping An Bank.
Ms Bao received her Master of Business Administration (Finance, General) from the Peking University of Mainland China.
Chris Mikosh is the Portfolio Manager and Co-Founder of Tor Investment Management, a leading independent alternative credit manager in Asia with over $2.4 billion under management. Chris has over 25 years of direct credit investing and trading experience. Prior to Tor, he was Managing Director and Head Trader of the Asian Special Situations Group (ASSG) at Goldman Sachs (2000–2012). During his tenure, Chris was responsible for managing, sourcing, trading, and hedging a multi-asset class portfolio that averaged $3 billion. While at Goldman, Chris sat on the Asia Risk Committee and the Board of Goldman Sachs (Asia) Finance, the firm’s main investing entity in the region. Chris also sat on the Liquid Investing Committee for Non-Japan Asia, the Liquid Investing Committee for Japan, and the Illiquid Investing Committee in the US. Prior to Goldman, Chris spent four years at Lazard Frères as a desk analyst and then as Head Trader of the distressed and high-yield debt desk. Prior to that, he spent two years as a banker in Chase Securities’ high-yield origination group. Chris earned a dual degree BS in Finance and Computer Science/Management Information Systems from Boston College in 1994. He is a member of the board of the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation in Hong Kong.
Chulmin Lee is a founding member of VIG Partners, where he joined in 2005. Mr. Lee worked as a Senior Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group (“BCG”) for five years, engaged in numerous post-merger integration, operational improvement, strategy development, commercial due diligence, and corporate restructuring projects. Mr. Lee managed most of BCG’s M&A and post-merger integration projects in Korea, including overseas strategic investments and cross-border post-merger integrations. Mr. Lee’s experience spans various industries, including industrial goods, financial services, consumer electronics, and telecommunications. Mr. Lee holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, and graduated with a BS in Computer Science and Statistics from Seoul National University.
David Ye is an entrepreneur and investor with 25 years of experience in Internet, Financial Technology and banking in the United States, China, South East Asia and other emerging markets. He is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Rong360, a leading independent and open platform for discovery and recommendation of financial products in China and South East Asia. Before founding Rong360 in 2011, he had leadership roles with PayPal, American Express, Capital One and America Online in the U.S. and China.
He sits on the advisory board of the Stanford University Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). He is a mentor of Tsinghua University PBoC School of Finance (PBCSF) Global Entrepreneur Leadership Program. David was awarded “Entrepreneur of the Year” by The Founder in 2015.
David received a BS in Engineering from Hunan University, a Master of Science in Finance from the George Washington University and an EMBA at the PBoC School of Finance, Tsinghua University.
David is an avid endurance sports athlete, having successfully completed major marathons and Ironman triathlon events in Asia and the U.S.
Mr. Goel is a Partner in the Ares SSG Group, where he is a member of the Investment Committee and oversees the groups' investments in India. Prior to joining Ares in 2020, Mr. Goel worked as a Managing Director of the SSG Group since 2009 and was instrumental in growing the firm's India business, including identifying opportunities and structuring investments and asset management. He has deep experience in the structuring of private credit transactions, special situation investments and has led SSG's private lending strategy in the region since its inception. Mr. Goel began his career in 2002 at Lehman Brothers in Tokyo and later worked in the bank's Hong Kong office, where he focused on principal positions related to structured credit and stressed convertible bonds. Mr. Goel holds a B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in Chemical Engineering and an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management. Mr. Goel is a CFA® charterholder.
Divya is a Registered Foreign Lawyer at Morgan Lewis Stamford LLC, a Singapore law corporation affiliated with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. She is a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
Divya Thakur, who leads the firm’s investment management practice in Singapore, has an extensive background in advising both established and first-time fund sponsors and managers in the formation of a broad range of investment funds, including hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, real estate funds, and other structured fund products. She is also highly skilled in advising institutional investors on their fund investments. Her practice includes counseling clients on carried interest plans, co-investment arrangements, structuring business and ongoing operational, management, and compliance issues. Divya is a member of the firm’s India Initiative Advisory Committee.
Divya, who is qualified in New York and England and Wales, brings her deep knowledge of international fund offerings and market terms to her representation of an array of clients, including sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, investment banks, multinational companies, and US, European, and Asian companies.
She has long represented sponsors and managers focused on emerging markets, including in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Divya has particularly strong credentials in representing India-focused private equity, growth, and venture capital funds in their global fund raisings. Clients describe her as “client-oriented,” “good at problem solving,” and “technically strong.”
Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Divya worked in the London and Singapore offices of another global law firm.
Dominic is a Partner at AVP and is in charge of their fund investing activities across primary fund commitments, secondaries and co-investments. He sits on LPACs of several US and European VC funds. He joined AVP in 2017 and is based in London. Prior to AVP, Dominic was a Vice President at Adams Street Partners in the Global Primary Investment team based in London.
Dominic gained extensive experience evaluating funds ranging from technology and life sciences venture capital, growth capital and buyout funds, as well as monitoring investments as a member of Advisory Boards. Before that, Dominic worked at EY in their Financial Services Business Modelling team where he worked on transactions in the banking and asset management sub-sectors.
Dominic is a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. He holds a First Class degree in Accounting, Auditing & Finance from Lancaster University Management School.
Doug Coulter joined LGT Capital Partners in 2007 to lead its Asian private equity investment activities. Prior to LGT, Doug was a Senior Investment Officer at the IFC, responsible for direct investments in the TMT, retail & consumer and healthcare sectors. He previously worked at Nomura Securities in Hong Kong and as a lawyer at Fasken in Toronto. He holds an MBA from INSEAD, a M.Sc. from the LSE, a law degree from the University of Western Ontario and a B.A. from Queen’s University in Canada.
LGT Capital Partners is a leading alternative investment specialist with over USD 80 billion in assets under management and over 230 private equity professionals worldwide. Headquartered in Pfaeffikon, Switzerland, the firm has offices in New York, Dublin, London, Paris, Frankurt, Vaduz, Dubai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney. LGT Capital Partners was selected as Alternatives Manager of the Year in Asia in 2016 and 2017 and Alternatives Fund House of the Year in 2018 by AsianInvestor, was named Alternatives House of the Year in 2020 and 2021 by Asia Asset Management and was named Fund of funds of the year in Asia in 2018 and 2019 by Private Equity International.
Based in Singapore, Dovaldas is a Senior Director within CDPQ’s APAC private equity team and is responsible for direct investments and co-investments in India and Australia.
Dovaldas joined CDPQ in 2017 and has 15 years of experience in Private Equity and M&A.
Previously, Dovaldas worked at Antin Infrastructure Partners, a leading private equity firm focused on infrastructure investments with over €31 billion assets under management. He started his career at Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking division.
Dovaldas holds a Master in Finance from HEC Paris.
Dr Lincoln Chee has over 25 years of experience as a surgeon, executive and investor. Prior to joining CBC he was the Greater China CEO of Parkway Pantai, overseeing three hospitals and six medical centers in Shanghai and Chengdu. Dr Chee was also previously Managing Director at Vertex Ventures, a venture subsidiary of Temasek Holdings with investments and exits in biotech, medtech and services.
Past career appointments include: CEO and board member of Quality Healthcare Asia, Technical Advisor and Reviewer of Singapore’s Central Gap Fund for biomedical innovation, Operating Partner and Advisor to Advent International and Lionrock PE funds, as well as a board member of listed companies in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Dr Chee received his medical degree from National University of Singapore. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Singapore. He also attended Executive Education in Finance and Business from Ross School of Business and Harvard Business School.
Dr. Valerie Speth is the Co-Lead APAC for the Climate Infrastructure Group which invests and manages investments and portfolio companies of the Global Renewable Power Fund 3 (4.8 Billion USD) and the Climate Finance Partnership (673 Mio. USD). As a qualified mechanical engineer, she brings more than 15 years’ of experience in the renewable power sector in Europe and APAC. Prior to joining BlackRock, she was the CEO of a global wind and solar developer for APAC and hold senior leadership positions in strategy, M&A and portfolio management. Valerie was placed in the “Top 40 under 40” in 2019, 2020 and 2021 by the Capital business magazine in Germany.
Valerie holds an engineering diploma from University of Stuttgart, a Master of Engineering Management as a Fulbright Scholar from Duke University, a PhD in Business from St. Gallen University, a Personal Leadership Certificate from Stanford Graduate School of Business and an International Director Certificate from INSEAD.
Edward J. Grefenstette serves as President/CEO and Chief Investment Officer of The Dietrich Foundation, a ~$1.5 billion charitable foundation that was formed following the passing of William S. Dietrich II in October 2011. The Dietrich Foundation primarily supports higher education institutions and other civic and charitable organizations in Western Pennsylvania. Ed previously served as Treasurer/Chief Investment Officer of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Prior to CMU, he co-founded a small-cap private equity fund, following a career in investment banking and law. He earned his AB in Economics and Juris Doctor from Georgetown University, as well as an MBA in Finance and Strategy from CMU. He currently serves as a trustee and IC member of CMU; he previously served as trustee and IC chair at the University of Pittsburgh and The Hillman Family Foundations. He serves as a IC advisory board member at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). He is a past director of The Hillman Company and a former advisory board member of Commonfund Capital.
Edwin Chan joined iCapital in 2021 as Head of Asia and Head of Client Solutions APAC. He has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, including a strong track record in private markets in the Asia Pacific region.
Before joining iCapital, Edwin successfully founded and spent a decade building the Probitas Partners business in Asia. He has worked with many private market firms across different alternative investment strategies as well as with institutional and family office investors in the Asia Pacific region. Previously, Edwin worked with AIG Global Investments, Citi, and HSBC based out of Hong Kong in various regional roles covering clients across the broad Asian geography.
He holds a MBA and a BA from the University of South Australia and is a Certified Practicing Accountant of CPA Australia.
Eiji Yatagawa (Tokyo) joined KKR in 2006 and is a Partner on the Private Equity team. He is on the Board of Directors of PHC Holdings (formerly Panasonic Healthcare), Koki Holdings (formerly Hitachi Koki), Seiyu Holdings, dataX (formerly From Scratch), NETSTARS, Transphorm, and Yayoi. Mr. Yatagawa was also previously involved with KKR’s investments in Unisteel (Singapore), Intelligence, AlphaTheta (formerly Pioneer DJ), Marelli Holdings (formerly Calsonic Kansei), and Kokusai Electric (formerly Hitachi Kokusai Electric). From 2010 to 2012, he worked in KKR's Hong Kong office. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Yatagawa was with Goldman Sachs & Co.'s investment banking team, based in New York and Tokyo, where he focused on the telecommunications, media, and technology sector and was involved in a number of mergers and acquisitions as well as financing projects. He holds a B.S. and an M.S. from the University of Tokyo.
Emre is General Partner at Globis Capital Partners, leading investments in IT startups targeting digital transformation of various industries. His portfolio includes Photosynth (TSE 4379), GLM (electric vehicle startup, acquired), Sensyn Robotics (drone software), MFS (mortgage technology platform), New Standard (digital media agency), Global Mobility Service (auto loan, IoT), Shippio (digital freight forwarder), CADDi (procurement platform for manufacturing parts), Matsuri Technologies (vacation rental operator), Estie (commercial real estate database), Leaner Technologies procurement and spend management SaaS）, Ascend (vertical SaaS for trucking companies), and Facilo (vertical SaaS for real estate brokers).
Prior to joining Globis Capital Partners, Emre worked for Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting (Tokyo) and KPMG Management Consulting (Tokyo), where he specialized in overseas expansion and Post Merger Integration.
He teaches at Globis University Graduate School of Management (MBA). Emre graduated from Harvard Business School (MBA) and Ohio State University.
Mr CHUE En Yaw is the Chief Investment Officer at Azalea Investment Management Pte. Ltd. and leads the investment team. He is a key member of the team that successfully launched the Astrea transactions and Altrium programmme. Mr Chue joined the Azalea Group in 2018 and was deeply involved in the Astrea Platform since 2014.
Mr Chue joined Temasek in 2010 and was a senior member of the Private Equity Fund Investments team covering fund relationships in Asia as well as global secondaries. At Temasek, Mr Chue played a key role in the launch of the Astrea II transaction in 2014. Prior to joining Temasek, he was with Standard Chartered Private Equity and JAFCO (Asia) Investment for almost 10 years. He started his career as an auditor with Arthur Andersen LLP in 1997. Mr Chue is a Chartered Accountant and a CFA charterholder.
Ethan Koh is the Asia Research Director at GPCA, where he manages the overall Asia data and leads the production of all Asia-related research reports and presentations. Ethan is also responsible for communicating key findings and themes to members and presenting GPCA research results at conferences and events. With a dual role as the Head of the Asia Headquarters based in Singapore, Ethan supports GPCA’s broader programming and advocacy efforts in the region.
With over a decade of experience, Ethan held managerial positions in Singapore and Hong Kong, delivering strategic values to corporate decision-makers and global institutional clients. Prior to joining GPCA, Ethan was Senior Manager for Real Capital Analytics, where he led the firm’s research efforts in Asia Pacific. Before that, he was Senior Investment Writer for Partners Group and Research Manager for PEI Media.
Eugene Chan is a Director at TR Capital. Prior to joining TR Capital, he was Legal Counsel at Kerry Holdings and Head of Legal at Kenetic Capital. Before that, he was a corporate lawyer with Linklaters in London and Hong Kong, where he worked on international M&A, joint venture and ECM transactions. Mr. Chan holds an LL.B. from the London School of Economics. He is also a CFA Charterholder.
TR Capital is a leading secondary private equity investor in the Asia Pacific region. TR Capital provides liquidity solutions to owners of private equity assets through single asset and portfolio transactions. The firm makes significant investments in innovative leaders in the Technology, Next-Generation Consumer and Healthcare sectors across Asia. TR Capital is an active investor. Since its inception in 2007, TR Capital has closed four flagship funds, managed total capital commitments of US$1.2 billion and completed 39 secondary investments. TR Capital’s sophisticated investor base includes sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, asset management firms, entrepreneurs, and family offices. The firm’s 30 professionals are based in offices across Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Mumbai and Singapore. The firm is management owned and independent.
Mr. Frank K. Tang is the Chairman and CEO of FountainVest Partners, a leading Asia-based private equity firm with offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Frankfurt, Shanghai and Singapore. FountainVest actively invests in the consumer, healthcare, industrial and business service sectors.
Prior to co-founding FountainVest, Mr. Tang was with Temasek Holdings as Senior Managing Director, Investments & China, where he simultaneously led China investments as well as global telecom, media and technology investments. As a member of the senior leadership team at Temasek, Mr. Tang sat on both firmwide Senior Management Committee and Senior Investment & Divestment Committee.
Mr. Tang worked at Goldman Sachs for nearly 11 years, first in New York, and then relocated to Hong Kong. Mr. Tang worked in both investment banking and Principal Investment Area, the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs. He was Managing Director and Head of Telecom, Media and Technology investment banking in Asia Pacific for Goldman Sachs prior to joining Temasek.
Mr. Tang is a board member of Amer Sports, BMTS, and previously served on the board of Accenture (a Global Fortune 500 company), Key Safety System Technology, IMAX China, Weibo, and Pacific Pension & Investment Institute, among others. Mr. Tang has been a member of the World Economic Forum, a governor of the China Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, a trustee of Donghua University, and a board member of Columbia Business School’s Board of Overseers. He was born in Shanghai, and holds a bachelor’s degree from Donghua University in Shanghai and a MBA degree from Columbia Business School in New York.
Ganen Sarvananthan is Managing Partner, Co-Head of Asia, Head of the Middle East, Co-Managing Partner of TPG Capital Asia, Co-Head of Southeast Asia and a member of the TPG Inc Board and Executive Committee. Prior to joining TPG in 2014, Ganen served as Head of Investments at Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the Government of Malaysia’s strategic investment fund, for almost a decade. He also worked at UBS Investment Bank based in London, Hong Kong and Singapore for more than seven years. He is a Barrister-at-Law (England and Wales) and read Law at University College London.
Gaurav Ahuja is a Managing Director with ChrysCapital and has been with the firm since 2004. He is responsible for the LP Relations and Fund Raising functions at ChrysCapital. Mr. Ahuja is a member of the Investment Committee and sits on the board of Infogain, ChrysCapital’s IT Services portfolio company. Prior to joining ChrysCapital, he was in the M&A group at Lazard Freres in San Francisco and Merrill Lynch in New York.
Mr. Ahuja received an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Economics from the University of Virginia.
Gaurav joined Investcorp when Investcorp Group acquired IDFC Alternatives in February 2019. He has over 26 years of experience both in the US and India across entrepreneurship, private equity, M&A, corporate finance and investment banking.
Gaurav was previously the co-founder of Prime Gourmet Private Limited. Prior to that, he held the role of Director of Providence Equity Partners’ India office. Gaurav was also part of the Investment banking team of Deutsche Bank and Wachovia Capital in New York -covering the Telecom and Media sectors. Gaurav started his career as the Founder and CEO of TrinayanaAuto -a manufacturer of auto components in India. His current and past board positions include FreshToHome, Zolo Stays, NephroPlus, ASG Eye Hospitals, Intergrow, UFO Moviezand MediAssistHealthcare
He holds a Master in Business Administration degree from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Giovanni sits on the executive committee of ION Analytics and is responsible for engaging with Influencers in the capital market globally and across asset classes. He organizes fireside chats and exclusive closed-door events to facilitate connectivity and knowledge among the influencers. Giovanni joined the company in 2001 where it held various roles in Italy, Germany, London including managing a global team of journalists and data analysts.
Gopal Jain is Managing Partner and Co-founder of Gaja Capital, an India-focused growth & buyout firm based in Mumbai. Founded in 2004, Gaja is a leading player in India’s private equity market with an exceptional track record of 24 investments and an AUM of over US$ 750 Mn. Gopal has been investing in Indian equities since the age of thirteen and has been a professional investor in the Indian capital markets for over 30 years. He is one of the more experienced private equity investors in India having led or co-led over 26 private equity investments since 1995. He is a graduate in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi.
Gopal is an active columnist and is currently member of Alternative Investment Policy Advisory Committee of Indian market regulator. He has a deep interest in the social sector and leads Gaja Gives which supports a wide and growing number of social efforts in India.
Grace Lee is a Partner and Group COO of Qiming Venture Partners. She has extensive experience in the venture capital industry covering investment, portfolio management, fund operation and fund raising. Prior to joining Qiming in 2009, Grace was the Deputy CFO and Compliance Officer of C.V. Starr Asia. Previously, Grace was an investment professional dealing with private equities and listed securities when she worked at PAI Partners and JAFCO Asia. Grace was an auditor in the early part of her career life.
Grace was named the Top 10 Most Influential CFO in the China VC/PE Industry in 2017 by China Venture, and the Top 10 China VC/PE CFO in 2022 by Frost & Sullivan and Lead Leo Technology & Innovation Network.
She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of London. She is a fellow member of HKICPA and a CFA charter holder. Grace is a co-founder of Hong Kong Private Equity Finance Association, and a director of China Venture Capital Finance Organization.
Founded in 2006, Qiming Venture Partners is a leading China venture capital firm with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Hong Kong and Singapore. Currently, Qiming Venture Partners manages eleven US Dollar funds and seven RMB funds with $9.4 billion in capital raised. Since its establishment, the firm has invested in outstanding companies in the Technology and Consumer (T&C) and Healthcare industries at the early and growth stages.
Grainne has over 20 years’ experience in international banking and private equity. She has advised listed corporates and private equity on their investments in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. Based in Singapore for the last 12 years, Grainne currently works in Standard Chartered Bank focusing on special assets management. Prior to that, she was Director of Investments for Fine Grain Property, a PE real estate investor and operator. Before moving to Singapore, Grainne was a Director in the corporate finance boutique, DC Advisory in London where she advised on billions of dollars of complex, multi-jurisdictional restructurings and was responsible for returning numerous clients to financial health. Prior to that, Grainne worked in the Allied Irish Banks in London focusing on restructuring and portfolio management. She is also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ireland and trained as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in Dublin, Ireland.
Greg is the Global Co-Head of Private Equity at APG Asset Management US Inc.
Prior to joining APG US, Mr. Jania was a Managing Director, Partner, and member of the investment committee at WP Global Partners, a 25-person, $2 billion private equity firm founded in 2005. WP Global’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, international insurance companies, endowments, and pension plans. WP Global invested in global buyout, debt, and venture funds and was also an active co-investor.
Prior to that, Mr. Jania was a Senior Vice President in the Investment Management Group of GE Commercial Finance, which managed a $2.5 billion private equity portfolio consisting of over 230 buyout, mezzanine, and venture funds and direct equity investments. Prior to joining GE, he was Vice President at One Equity Partners, a subsidiary of Bank One that invested more than $1 billion in private equity funds during his tenure and managed a $2.2 billion private equity portfolio with over 125 fund investments. Mr. Jania started his career in credit analysis and debt underwriting at American National Bank, a subsidiary of Bank One in Chicago.
Mr. Jania received an M.B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago and earned a B.A. in political science and economics, magna cum laude, from Wabash College where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
Gwenlynne Lee focuses her practice on pan-Asian mergers and acquisitions, late-stage venture capital and growth equity transactions, as well as general corporate matters, across a diverse range of industries. Her clients include strategic and financial buyers and sellers in public and private acquisitions, and high growth emerging companies and investors in equity financing transactions.
Education
London School of Economics and Political Science
LLM
Oxford University
BA (Jurisprudence)
Admissions & Credentials
Hong Kong
Singapore
Heath Zarin is the Founder, Chair and CEO of EmergeVest, a global investment firm that seeks to build great businesses, provide innovative capital solutions and generate sustainable value for all stakeholders. Mr. Zarin is also the Founder, Chair and CEO of EV Cargo, an EmergeVest company with more than $1.5 billion of annual revenues and global operations.
Mr. Zarin began his career as a corporate lawyer with Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP in New York, where he formed and advised hedge funds and private equity funds. In 2000, he joined DLJ Merchant Banking, which was subsequently acquired by Credit Suisse. At DLJ / Credit Suisse, which had more than $100 billion in assets under management during his tenure, Mr. Zarin had broad experience across LBOs, mezzanine, growth capital and other investment strategies. Mr. Zarin relocated to Hong Kong in 2006 to form Credit Suisse’s Asian private equity business, where growth equity investments spanned China, India and Southeast Asia, and included several successful IPOs. In 2008, Mr. Zarin left Credit Suisse to form Emergent Investment Group, a Hong Kong-based private investment firm, where he completed private equity investments and advised on special situations. In 2010, Mr. Zarin joined HSBC in Hong Kong as a Managing Director and Head of Principal Investments, Asia-Pacific, with responsibility for all Asian proprietary private investment activities. In 2013, Mr. Zarin formed EmergeVest, with a vision of building a new style of global investment firm.
Mr. Zarin’s current and previous board service includes companies across Asia, Europe and North America, in diverse manufacturing and service industries.
Mr. Zarin received his JD from the Fordham University School of Law in 1998 and his BA from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1995. He has been admitted to practice law in the State of New York. Mr. Zarin is also a CFA, CMT and CAIA charterholder, and has completed Certificate programs from Harvard Business School (Investment Management, Strategy). Mr. Zarin has served as an Executive Committee Member of CAIA Hong Kong, as well as on the board of several non-profit organizations.
EmergeVest, through its Hong Kong-based subsidiary, is a licensed asset manager, regulated by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (HK SFC). Mr. Zarin is also licensed and regulated by the HK SFC as a responsible officer of EmergeVest. Certain EmergeVest investment funds are regulated by the United States Securities Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities.
Prior to co-founding AGIC, Heiko served as an Investment Director with Intel Capital for 13 years, with responsibility for all investment activities in Western Europe and Israel. Before Intel Capital, he was a consultant with A. T. Kearney for nearly four years, where he specialized in High-Tech and Telecommunications. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Munich, where he has also been a guest lecturer.
- Heng is an MD for Private Credit and Special Situations in Asia Pacific for Strategic Investment Group (SIG) , Deutsche Bank
Part of his responsibilities include sourcing, structuring, syndication and portfolio management.
- Private Credit / Special Situations includes distressed debt, rescue financings, direct lending, stressed par loans and Pre-IPO financings
- Heng has been with SIG since 2008
- Heng is on the Supervisory Board of Huarong Rongde, a JV between SIG and Huarong International (AMC)
- Prior to joining SIG in 2008, Heng was with Bank of America in London and Lehman Brothers in New York
- Heng graduated from Williams College with a BA in Economics in 2001
- Heng is fluent in both English and Mandarin
HenryCaiistheChairmanandFoundingPartnerofAGICCapital.Boastinganotablecareerthat extends over twenty years in investment banking, Henry has occupied significant roles at top financial institutions, such as BNP Paribas and UBS, and most recently as the Executive Chairman of Investment Banking Asia Pacific at Deutsche Bank. His profound experience has played a crucial role in advising more than 200 Chinese companies on their overseas IPOs, successfully raising in excess of US$100 billion in total.
Widely regarded as the leading specialist for international listings, Henry excels in refining business models, restructuring operations, and devising growth strategies for expansion into European and U.S. markets. His deep understanding of global markets and strategic acumen make him a key advisor to businesses seeking to navigate complex financial landscapes and achieve international success.
Herbert Suen is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Wealth Solutions group and is based in Singapore.
Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Suen worked at Barclays Wealth as Head of Managed Products in Asia. Prior to Barclays, Mr. Suen worked at Credit Suisse overseeing Fund-based advisory portfolio solutions for private wealth clients. Before that he also worked at Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Bank, Franklin Templeton and Mitsubishi Corporation in various capacities including financial engineering and business development.
Mr. Suen received a Master of Science (with Distinction) in Mathematics for Finance & Actuarial Science jointly from Paris Dauphine University and City University of Hong Kong. He graduated from Curtin University of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Arts (with Distinction) in Asian Studies. He is a CFA charter holder and a certified FRM. He speaks fluent English, Cantonese, Japanese and Mandarin.
Heads Japan Post Bank’s $30B private equity investment program and has been responsible for all aspects of its creation and construction. Prior to joining Japan Post Bank in January 2016, worked at Nippon Life Insurance Company, where he established and lead Nippon Life’s private equity operations in the US, and was also Head of Product Development at Nissay Asset Management Co. the asset management subsidiary of Nippon Life.
He has a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Tokyo, LL.M. from the University of Michigan Law School, has passed the New York Bar Exam and also is a Chartered Member of the Security Analysts
Association of Japan.
Irene Koh, Executive Director, Ms. Koh joined JP Morgan Asset Management Private Equity Group in 2008. Prior to joining the Group, Ms. Koh was with JPMorgan's real estate structured finance group, originating and structuring commercial mortgage backed securities for REITs in Asia Pacific ex-Japan. Previously, Ms. Koh was a senior application engineer with Soluris Inc. She holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and a MS in Financial Engineering from the National University of Singapore.
The Private Equity Group is one of the largest global private equity investment managers with assets comprising of over 350 partnerships, direct and secondary investments.
Ivan Vercoutere is a Managing Partner at LGT Capital Partners Ltd and co-founder of its private equity activities in 1998.
Bringing over 30 years of private equity investment experience, Mr Vercoutere is responsible for leading and coordinating the global private equity investment activities of LGT Capital Partners and chairs its global investment committee. Prior to LGT, Mr Vercoutere worked at Pacific Corporate Group in La Jolla, California where he was responsible for U.S. and European private equity investments on behalf of institutional investors including CalPERS, State of Oregon, World Bank pension fund among others. Mr Vercoutere serves on the advisory boards of a number of private equity funds globally and is fluent in English, French and Spanish.
Jacob Chiu is a Managing Director responsible for Asian PE manager research and co-investments for HQ Capital, a leading global independent alternative investment manager with $8 billion AUM in private equity. Previously, he was a Partner with FLAG Squadron Asia; a Managing Director with Search Investment Group; and held senior operating and financial roles with Glaxo, Kraft and TigerPack. He holds an MSc in Financial Management from the University of London.
Jai is a partner, president, and co-founder at Sapphire Ventures. He invests in startups he believes are developing ground-breaking products and services, and have embarked on their journey to become a company of consequence. He has more than 15 years of experience helping companies innovate their product and marketing strategies in order to scale and become market leaders.
Fourteen of Jai’s investments have become publicly traded companies and more than 15 have been acquired.
Jai is currently a member of the board (director or observer) at Catchpoint, CircleCI, Clari, DataRobot, OpsRamp, PubNub, Splashtop, Tetrate, ThoughtSpot, UJET, Uptycs, Verbit, yellow.ai, and Yugabyte. He also led the firm’s investments in Blockdaemon, FalconX, JumpCloud, Privacera, Netskope, Tesseract and Zesty.
Jai’s previous investments at Sapphire include: AllyO (acquired by HireVue), Alteryx (NYSE: AYX), Apigee (IPO then acquired by Google Cloud), Box (NYSE: BOX), Connectiva Systems (acquired by Mara Ison), Cloudhealth Technologies (acquired by VMware), Control4 (IPO then acquired By Hellman & Friedman), Cyphort (acquired by Juniper Networks), ExactTarget (IPO then acquired by Salesforce), Five9 (NASDAQ: FIVN), GroundWork (acquired by Parallax), Ignite Technologies (acquired by Versata), Iron.IO (acquired by Xenon Technologies), Jaspersoft (acquired by TIBCO Software), JFrog (NASDAQ: FROG), JustDial (NYSE: JUSTDIAL), MuleSoft (IPO then acquired by Salesforce), Newgen Software (NYSE: NEWGEN), Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), Paytm (NYSE: PAYTM), Punchh (acquired by PAR Technology), Portworx (acquired by Pure Storage), Socrata (acquired by Tyler Technologies), Square (NYSE: SQ), Sumo Logic (NASDAQ: SUMO), and Tealeaf (acquired by IBM).
Prior to joining Sapphire Ventures in 2006, Jai worked at Oracle, Intel Capital, Agilent Ventures, and MVC Capital. He has a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Brown University and an MBA from University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
James has over 15 years of capital raising, investor relations, fund investment, operations and consulting experience. Prior to joining CBC, he was previously a Senior Director at the Fosun Group where he was primarily responsible for fund/ project capital raising and strategic partnerships at several platforms including the venture capital team, Fosun Kinzon Capital, the internal placement agent/ partnerships team, Fosun Capital Group, as well as the TMT & Entertainment Group. Prior to joining Fosun Group, James was an Associate Director at Jade Invest in Shanghai, an independent China dedicated fund of private equity funds, where he covered fund investments, operations, legal matters and investor relations. Previously he has also worked at PwC in their corporate finance/ transactions services strategy consulting practice in Shanghai and London.
James holds a Masters Degree in mathematics from the University of Cambridge.
James E. Keenan, CFA, Managing Director, is Chief Investment Officer and Global Head of Credit within BlackRock Alternative. He leads the strategy for Global Fundamental Credit and is responsible for providing oversight of the investment process and performance, the partnerships with BlackRock's distribution channels, and the team's infrastructure as well as determining the strategic direction and growth initiatives of the platform. Jim oversees Leveraged Finance, Hedge Funds, and Private Credit businesses including opportunistic, middle market and specialty finance.
He serves on BlackRock's Global Operating Committee, BlackRock Alternative Investors Executive Committee, GFI Executive Committee, PEP and ASG Investment Committees and the Infrastructure Debt Management Committee. He is also the Chairman of the Board of the BlackRock Capital Investment Corporation.
Over the last 13 years, Jim was the portfolio manager across a variety of strategies including HY, Opportunistic and distressed portfolios and long short hedge funds. He has been responsible for building the Global fundamental credit business since 2006.
Prior to joining BlackRock in 2004, Mr. Keenan held roles within credit research and trading from 1998 to 2003 at UBS Global Asset Management and at Columbia Management Group.
He also serves on Notre Dame's Wall Street Committee & Athletic Advisory Council and the Board of Good Shepherd.
Mr. Keenan earned a BBA degree in finance from the University of Notre Dame in 1998.
James Pitt is a Partner of Lexington Partners, where he is responsible for managing the firm’s co-investment activities (Co-Investment Partners) outside North America. James joined Lexington in 2006 and is based in the London office.
Prior to Lexington, James was head of AXA Private Equity’s (now Ardian) London office and before that worked at J.H. Whitney, where he was head of European direct private equity investments. Prior to Whitney, he was a Vice President in Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley in New York and London, and earlier a strategy consultant at Arthur D. Little. He started his career as a Warfare Officer in the UK’s Royal Navy.
James holds an MBA from INSEAD in France and a BSc (Hons.) in Systems Management (Operations Research) from City, University of London. He is a Trustee of the Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity, a Board Member of the INSEAD Campaign, a Governor of Shrewsbury School and Chairman of the Shrewsbury School Foundation.
Jason Shin is a co-founding partner of VIG Partners, which was founded in 2005. Mr. Shin sits on the investment committee of the Firm and is responsible for sourcing proprietary investment opportunities and overseeing execution of new investments and exits. He also acts as the primary partner in charge of several portfolio companies where he serves as the head of their management committees and leads the close monitoring of their operational and financial performances. VIG Partners is currently in its 3rd fund and have invested in 17 companies, 15 of which have been for outright control.
Mr. Shin brings extensive experience and network as one of Korea’s leading M&A bankers during his years at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr. Shin also has significant legal experience as a lawyer with Baker & McKenzie and Kim & Chang prior to becoming an investment banker in 1995. Prior to joining VIG, Mr. Shin was a Managing Director and the Head of Morgan Stanley’s Korea investment banking group and is credited with execution of many of Korea’s landmark M&A transactions, representing the Korean government, leading Korean banks and financial institutions, top 20 chaebol groups, and numerous multinational companies.
Mr. Shin earned his JD from the University of California, Berkeley Law School and holds a BA with honors from Northwestern University.
Jeffrey is a Partner and CIO of Credit Investments at Primavera Capital Group, and chairs the firm’s Credit Investment Committee. Prior to joining Primavera, Jeffrey led and managed private investments in partnership with leading sovereign wealth funds, corporates and family offices. He was an investor and director of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group between 2012 and 2017. Previously, Jeffrey worked at Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, The Blackstone Group and Morgan Stanley. Jeffrey earned his AB in Social Studies from Harvard University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude and as a John Harvard Scholar. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Jenny Lee, is a senior managing partner at Granite Asia. She leads global investor relations and strategy, and was instrumental in setting up GGV’s first China office in 2005 and re-opening the Singapore office in 2019.
A self-starter, an investor and an entrepreneur, Jenny spent the last 23 years overseas and is frequently the first to invest in new innovative applications and products. She is best known for investments in sectors like Edtech, Fintech, Food and Agritech, Metaverse, and Energy Sustainability and Automation Technologies. Her portfolio includes 21 companies valued at over $1 billion each. She has had 16 IPOs up to date, including one in 2023 and two in 2021 across five different global exchanges, and numerous portfolio companies exits via M&A. Jenny’s global investment track record over two decades and early operation and finance work experience with Singapore Aerospace in Singapore; Morgan Stanley, and JAFCO Asia in Hong Kong enhanced her role as a preferred board member with deep domain expertise and global investment experience.
Born and raised in Singapore, Jenny is highly respected in the Asia business community and serves as a board member of Temasek. She serves on the governing boards of both Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Duke-NUS Medical School. In addition, she is a member of Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council; Singapore Business Federation; Asia Business Council; and Future Economy Advisory Panel.
Jenny has been a member of the Forbes Global 100 VC Midas list since 2012 and was the first woman to break the top 10 in 2015. She was also recognised by Forbes as one of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women in 2023 and 2022 and in 2019 was named to the Forbes Asia Power Businesswomen 25 list and received the Business Times’s Outstanding Overseas Executive Award. In 2016, she was named to the Vanity Fair New Establishment list, Fast Company Most Creative People in Business list, and is consistently recognised by The New York Times and CB Insights among the top 100 venture capital investors worldwide, ranking #8 among top venture capitalists in Asia.
Jenny graduated from Cornell University with an M.S. and a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.
Jenny Zeng is the Founder and Managing Partner of MSA Capital, where she oversees all China investments. Jenny has over 20 years of investment and operational experience.
Jenny was the first Executive Director of China Venture Capital and Private Equity Association and founded one of the first boutique investment banking firms in China. She was an early investor in many sector leading companies in China, such as Nio (NYSE: NIO), Yidu Cloud (SEHK: 2158), BOSS Zhipin (NASDAQ: BZ), Pyrotech and Sironas. Jenny was recognized as one of China’s Top 20 Healthcare Investors and Top 30 Most Influential Investors in China in 2022 by Forbes. Under her leadership, MSA was awarded “2021 Firm of the Year - China” and “2021 Exit of the Year - Asia” by Private Equity International.
She is a member of the Council of The Future Forum and a member of the Strategic Cooperation and Development Committee of Institute for AI International Governance at Tsinghua University. She is also a member of the Brookings China Council and the Greater China Council of The Nature Conservancy.
Jerry is an investment director and covers equity investments and strategic M&A at Binance. Before joining Binance, Jerry was an investment professional at the venture arm of GenesisCare, and an investment banking associate at Morgan Stanley. Jerry graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with degrees in Applied Maths and Operations Research & Management Science.
Jessica Espinoza is CEO of the 2X Collaborative, a global industry for gender lens investing convening the entire spectrum of capital providers. She is also Chair of the 2X Challenge that has raised more than US$ 11 billion of gender lens investments since its launch at the G7 Summit in 2018. Jessica has a track record in originating, structuring and executing debt, mezzanine and equity deals in emerging and frontier markets with a strong focus on inclusive innovation. The latest innovation she is spearheading with 2X colleagues is 2X Ignite, a bold facility to unlock capital for gender-smart business at scale by backing female-led fund managers.
Jessica serves on the Board of Directors of AlphaMundi Foundation and previously of the Mexican financial institution Mega as well as the Advisory Board of several private equity funds. As a mentor for Endeavor, she supports high impact companies as they scale up. Jessica is the Founder of XOCO, an inclusive edtech venture and a fellow at Columbia eLab. Jessica was selected for the Leaders Europe 2022 program of the Obama Foundation and awarded the Digital Female Leadership Award of Global Digital Women 2019.
Prior to her current role, Jessica was Vice President for Private Equity & Venture Capital Investments at DEG/KfW. She was also a Member of the Management Board at ProCredit Bank Nicaragua responsible for the Business Clients Division and managed the Africa Regional Office of MicroFinance Transparency.
Jessica holds a double degree in International Business Management from ESB Business School and Dublin City University. She is a PhD candidate at University of Siegen, researching the transformative potential of gender lens investing under the supervision of Prof. Friederike Dr. Welter.
Jie is a Partner in Pantheon’s Asia Investment Team. Jie is a member of the ESG Committee and Inclusion & Diversity Committee, and co-leads Pantheon’s ESG initiatives and industry engagement. Jie joined Pantheon from Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners’ private equity fund of funds group, where she was head of Asia, and before that she worked at JP Morgan in leverage finance. Previously she worked at the International Finance Corporation on emerging market debt and equity investments. Jie received a Masters in Finance from London Business School, an MA in Economics from University of Miami and a BA in Economics and International Trade from Shanghai International Studies University. Jie is Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (HKVCA) and serves on its board. She founded and chairs HKVCA’s ESG committee, and co-chairs its LP committee. She also served on the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment Private Equity Advisory Committee (UNPRI PEAC) in 2017-2019 (maximum tenure).
Joe is a Partner and has been with Cambridge Associates since 2006. In his role as Global Head of Digital Assets Investing, Joe specializes in discovering blockchain-related funds, building portfolios of digital asset funds for client portfolios, and publishing on digital assets. Joe is a thought leader in the digital assets sector, leading the firm’s research on digital assets in institutional portfolios. Joe is based in our San Francisco office and heads our California offices. Prior to CA, Joe was the CEO of a Japanese financial services-oriented dotcom in Tokyo during the Internet bubble and its aftermath.
Mr. Knox is a Partner and Head of Australia and New Zealand at Ares, where he is primarily responsible for driving business expansion opportunities across Australia and New Zealand. Prior to joining Ares in 2020, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse Australia, where he oversaw all of Credit Suisse Australia's businesses, including investment banking, private banking, equities, asset finance, fixed income, debt financing and shared services. Mr. Knox was also a member of the Credit Suisse APAC Operating Committee. Previously, Mr. Knox served as Head and Co-Head of Credit Suisse's Investment Banking Teams in Australia, where he led and originated many investment banking transactions across all industries. Mr. Knox served as Chairman of the Australian Financial Markets Association from 2016 to 2019. He is currently Chairman of Cricket NSW, the body responsible for running cricket in Australia's most populous state. Mr. Knox holds a B.Com. (Hons) from the University of Melbourne in Economics
Jolie Chow is a Managing Director at PJT Partners and Asia head of PJT Park Hill’s Secondary Advisory Group, based in Hong Kong. Prior to joining PJT Partners, Ms. Chow spent 14 years at Morgan Stanley, where she leads Greater China financial sponsors coverage for the Investment Banking Division. She is experienced across secondary advisory, M&A, equity and debt financing in Asia Pacific.
Ms. Chow received an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA with distinction from Yale University in Economics and International Studies.
Mr. Park joined Legend Capital in 2005, and is now Managing Director of the firm in charge of cross border investment.
Mr. Park focuses on TMT and consumption investment, especially overseas investment centered on Korea, Japan and India. Mr. Park led investments of HYBE (KOSPI: 352820, the management agency of K-pop sensation BTS boy group), Any Color (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 5032), Zinus (KOSPI: 013890), Dexter Studios (KOSDAQ: 206560), Wipam (KOSDAQ: 332570), C-Channel (Tokyo Pro Market: 7691), LUNIT, L&P Cosmetics, Bespin Global, Healing Paper, PPB Studio and Vedantu.
Before joining Legend Capital in 2005, Mr. Park worked with Accenture Tokyo office.
Mr. Park holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Yonsei University in Korea, and MBAs from Keio University Graduate School of Business in Japan and Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in China. He is a Kauffman Fellow.
Josh Stern joined the Investment Office of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in January 2012. At the Foundation Mr. Stern is part of the group overseeing all private investments. Mr. Stern came to the Foundation from Rockefeller University where he was responsible for the private investment portfolio. In that role he oversaw a portfolio of Venture Capital, Buyout and Growth Capital and Real Assets investments. Previously he worked at Standard & Poor's as a director in the Higher Education and Not-for-Profit Group, which was part of the Public Finance Department. At S&P Mr. Stern worked closely with a large number of universities and foundations across the United States. Over the course of his career he also worked as an investment banker, focusing on higher education institutions. Mr. Stern received an M.P.A. in public finance from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, an M.S. in non-profit management from New York University and a B.A. in history and sociology from Binghamton University.
Joshua leads our Corporate Development & Communications team and is a co-founder of Third Bridge. He is responsible for our strategic partnerships and future growth opportunities.
Joshua began his career at Goldman Sachs Asset Management and later joined Bank of America as an Equity Research Analyst. After three years building the European operations for Gerson Lehrman Group, he joined Fidelity Ventures to concentrate on early-stage European technology investments.
Joshua led the Third Bridge sales and account management team for ten years before transforming our marketing function. Joshua has a PhD from the University of Bath and is a CFA charter holder. When not at work, Joshua can often be found on the water or snow, fuelling his passion for yachting, water-skiing, skiing and snowboarding. He is also an avid music producer.
Ms Joyce Ng is a Partner at iGlobe Partners. She has over 20 years of experience in venture capital, fund management, insurance and financial services.
Ms. Joyce held several board seats of iGlobe’s investee companies in Singapore and US. In Singapore, she is currently a Board Member of SWAT Mobility and has been instrumental in helping and syndicating the company’s Series A fund raising round. She led investments in MindFiand Partipost. Currently, she also sits on the board of Partipost and Sourcesage. She was a Board Observer of Tonik Financial (a digital bank).
In the United States, she has been actively involved in overseeing iGlobe’s investment in Unity Software Inc. (a 3D real-time development tool company) (NYSE: U). Other listed portfolios under her charge include Nerdwallet Inc. (a fintech company) (NYSE: NRDS), Matterport Inc. (solutions for 3D scanning of spaces) (NASDAQ: MTTR) and Hippo Holdings Inc. (data-driven online home insurance) (NASDAQ: HIPO). She was a Board Observer of Starmaker Interactive Inc. (acquired by a Chinese entertainment company in 2016).
Ms. Joyce worked from 1996 to 2003 with Vertex Management Pte. Ltd. In 1996, she joined as an Analyst responsible for portfolio monitoring of Vertex European investment. She was later promoted to Assistant Manager in charge of fund of fund investments.
Ms. Joyce comes with diversified experience. She was previously a team leader & trainer at ACE Insurance (acquired by Chubb), responsible for all training needs of the call centre staff. She started her career in the Credit Admin Department of Bank Indosuez.
Ms Joyce was a Mentor with CRIB and was serving as Mentor at Ulu Pandan Stars (a non-profit organisation providing tuition to children from low-income families).
Kaitlin Miles is a Director on the Private Equity team for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. She manages a number of buyout and growth equity relationships across the Private Equity portfolio.
Prior to joining TRS in 2015, Kaitlin worked at Altius Associates, a private equity advisory firm. Previously, she worked in the investment banking group at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a Stifel company.
Kaitlin received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, summa cum laude, from the University of Richmond.
Mr. Kei Chua joined Bain Capital Credit in 2016. He is a Managing Director based in Bain Capital Credit’s Hong Kong office and is a member of the Distressed and Special Situations team focused on special situations and portfolio investing. Previously, Mr. Chua was the co-head of Asia for Mount Kellett Capital focused on special situations and distressed investing. Prior to that, Mr. Chua was a partner with Unitas Capital (fka J.P. Morgan Partners Asia) where he was responsible for investments in Greater China and Southeast Asia. Prior to that, Mr. Chua worked at Cerberus Capital and DLJ in Hong Kong and New York.
Education: Mr. Chua received a B.A. from Columbia College.
Kelvin Yap joined HarbourVest’s London office in 2006 to focus on growth equity and buyout co-investments in Europe and Asia Pacific. In 2009, Kelvin transferred to HarbourVest’s Hong Kong team to focus on primary partnership fund investments and direct co-investments in Asia Pacific, Kelvin relocated to Singapore in 2021 to assist with the opening of that office.
Kelvin joined HarbourVest from Deloitte in London, where he managed merger and acquisition (including demergers and IPOs) due diligence for both private and public transactions. Prior to that, Kelvin was a senior associate at PwC in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
He received a BC with a double major in Accounting and Finance from Monash University in Australia in 2001. Kelvin is a Chartered Accountant with The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia. In addition, he received the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2007 from the CFA Institute. He speaks fluent Cantonese, Indonesian, and Malay.
Mr. Beaton is a Partner of Lexington Partners where he leads the firm’s Asian activities. Mr. Beaton is engaged in the origination and evaluation of secondary purchases of non-U.S. private equity and alternative investments, as well as the firm’s fundraising efforts in the region. Mr. Beaton joined Lexington in 2003 as an investment professional in London and moved to Hong Kong in 2011 to open the Lexington office. Mr. Beaton was previously an analyst in investment banking at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Beaton graduated from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow with an LLB (Honors) and Universität Hamburg and Universidad Complutense de Madrid with a European masters in economics and law.
Mr Tang is the Chairman and Managing Partner of Affinity Equity Partners following its spin-off from UBS in 2004. Prior to that, he was the Chairman of UBS Capital Asia Pacific, the private equity arm of UBS since 1999. Before UBS Capital, he was the Chief Executive for Investment Banking, East Asia at Union Bank of Switzerland since 1995. Following the merger of Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation to form UBS, Mr Tang became Chief Executive, Hong Kong, of UBS Group and Asia Regional Head of Investment Banking for UBS Investment Bank. Prior to Union Bank of Switzerland, he served as President and CEO of Banque Indosuez's Asian investment bank and Chairman of WI Carr (Far East) Limited, one of the leading stockbroking firms in Asia. Mr. Tang began his financial career with Chase Manhattan Bank. During his 17 years at Chase, he served in a number of senior roles in Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Kosei joined the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, in 2005. Before joining the current team in Singapore, he was Deputy Representative in Tokyo and Investment Officer at Private Equity and Investment Funds Department in Washington DC. Previously, Kosei worked at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and the Sumitomo Bank (currently Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation) in New York, Osaka, and Tokyo. He holds an MBA from Yale School of Management and an LLB from Kyoto University.
Kyle is the Founder and Managing Partner of ShawKwei & Partners, a private equity investment firm established in 1998. ShawKwei & Partners has offices in Hongkong, Singapore, Shanghai and San Francisco managing investments in Asia, Europe, and the USA. Kyle’s private equity experience before ShawKwei & Partners included managing Asian private equity businesses for Security Pacific National Bank and then the Tudor Group. Kyle has served as a director of several Asian and European industrial and service companies including as founder and director of Flex Ltd. (formerly known as Flextronics International Ltd).
Kyle received an MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, a BS in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia, as well as studied Mandarin Chinese at Taiwan’s National Normal University.
Liam is based in Hong Kong and is responsible for leading Manulife’s private equity investment activities in the Asia-Pacific region. He joined Manulife in 2006 and was based in Toronto until relocating to Hong Kong in 2016. Liam is a CFA Charterholder and graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree.
Lincoln Pan is a Partner of PAG, a leading Asia-based alternative investment fund managing over US$50bn in capital. He is a co-head of the Private Equity strategy where he leads the non-China Investment Team and the Operations team and is a member of the Investment Review Committee. He is also a member of the PAG Group Management Committee.
Lincoln has led work for many of PAG’s overseas investments, including Patties and Vesco, Cordina Foods, Unispace, Edelweiss Financial Group, Rex Airways, Acme Formulation, Gamot API, Craveable Brands, Joyson Safety Systems, Cushman & Wakefield, Lexmark International, Home Credit China, Fenix Technologies, Food Union Group, The Cheesecake Shop and Young Toys. He is on the public board of Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) where he chairs the Nomination & Governance Committee and is a member of the Compensation Committee and Regional Express (ASX: REX) where he sits on the Audit Committee.
Prior to joining PAG, Lincoln was Regional CEO, Greater China for Willis Towers Watson. He previously worked with Advantage Partners, the leading private equity firm in Japan, GE Capital, McKinsey & Company and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Lincoln holds a JD from Harvard Law School and a BA from Williams College. He has previously qualified to practice law in the State of New York.
Ling Yang is a Managing Director at Carlyle. She is co-head of Carlyle Asia Healthcare and is primarily responsible for Carlyle’s healthcare investment and portfolio activities in China. Ms. Yang began her career at Carlyle focusing on healthcare for the U.S. Buyout group and joined Carlyle Asia in 2011. Since joining Carlyle Asia, Ms. Yang has led investments into leading healthcare companies in China including Hutchmed, Adicon Clinical Laboratories, Ambiopharm, Microport Scientific Corporation, Meinian Onehealth, and Shenzhen Salubris Pharmaceuticals. She chairs the board of Adicon Clinical Laboratories and is a member of the boards of Ambiopharm and Shenzhen Salubris.
Prior to Carlyle Asia, Ms. Yang worked in private equity at KKR in Asia and in investment banking at Goldman Sachs in the U.S.
Ms. Yang graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in economics and computer science from Smith College and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Luc has over 20 years of experience as a financial journalist in Asia covering fixed income, credit derivatives and distressed debt markets. He joined Debtwire in 2006 as Managing Editor for the Asia-Pacific region and now is responsible for a team of 14 journalists and five analysts that cover primarily the stressed/distressed debt, high yield and primary debt markets. Luc first started covering distressed debt markets in 1989 as a reporter for IFR in Japan. In 1998 he initiated and developed coverage of the Asian distressed debt markets for IFR Asia.
Lydia Hao joined HarbourVest’s primary partnership team in 2021 as a Managing Director based in Hong Kong and focuses on Asia-Pacific investments.
She was previously a Principal in Neuberger Berman’s private equity team, where she led the firm’s primary funds, co-investments, and secondary investments in the Greater China region. Prior to joining Neuberger Berman in 2017, Lydia spent seven years at CPP Investment Board in Hong Kong as one of the founding members of the Private Equity Asia team, building its direct investment portfolio across the Asia-Pacific region. Previously, she was based in New York where she worked at Apax Partners focused on US private equity buyouts in the consumer and TMT sectors, and worked at UBS Investment Bank in the Mergers and Acquisitions group advising clients across various industries.
Lydia received a Bachelor of Science (summa cum laude) in Hotel Administration, from Cornell University. She speaks fluent Mandarin.
Manas Tamotia is a Managing Director at Alvarez and Marsal Southeast Asia & Australia. He heads the firm’s Private Equity Performance Improvement practice in the region. He brings 20 years of strategy and M&A experience across ASEAN, Americas and Australia, New Zealand both as an adviser but also as an operator.
Manas has worked extensively with private equity, venture capital, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices, as well as corporate buyers undertake pre-deal diligence and target identification, and post-deal value creation efforts. His main sectors are consumer & retail, technology, industrials and social infrastructure e.g., healthcare and education. Prior engagements have involved buy-side commercial due diligence and sell-side “storytelling” on 120+ transactions including >40 completed transactions.
In addition to support transactions, Manas has worked with PE-owned portfolio companies and corporates on >50 strategy assignments. These include answering critical questions on “where to play”, “how to win”, and “how to organize”.
Prior to A&M, Manas was Chief Strategy Officer at a Southeast Asia e-commerce company and before that was instrumental in building L.E.K. Consulting’s Southeast Asia practice as head of its Singapore office.
He has an MBA from the Wharton School and bachelor’s degree in finance and information systems from the University of New South Wales.
Marcia Ellis is the Global Co-Chair of the firm’s Private Equity Group, a member of our global board of directors, and a member of our global Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Steering Committee. Her practice focuses on private equity transactions and complex mergers and acquisitions involving companies, real estate, and other assets located in Asia. Marcia also assists PE clients in integrating ESG considerations throughout their entire investment cycle, including deal selection, pre-investment diligence, investment documents, and portfolio management.
Having practiced in Asia for more than a quarter of a century, Marcia is one of the most experienced M&A lawyers active in the Asian market. In the past three years, she has advised clients on deals with a total aggregate value well in excess of US$265billion.
Marcia has extensive experience advising leading investors on M&A transactions, , including SoftBank Vision Fund, Alibaba, GLP, Bain Capital Credit, BlackRock, Farallon Capital, Ascendent Capital Partners, Silver Crest Acquisition Corp., Macquarie Asset Management, Hillhouse, Hony Capital, and Celadon Partners. In addition, she is experienced in representing U.S., UK and Asia based institutional investors in the acquisition, financing and disposition of real estate in China, Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia, including numerous logistics and internet data center projects, and investment in and acquisition of real estate developers.
From 2008–2011, she was the Chief Legal Officer for Asia of D. E. Shaw, where she assisted various group entities in making, restructuring, and exiting investments in various countries in Asia, including a number of significant and highly structured investments in China and India.
Marcia has recently been awarded by the Financial Times as the Most Innovative Legal Practitioner in the Asia-Pacific region at the FT Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyers 2023 Awards. She has been named to Law360’s 2022 and 2023 Private Equity Editorial Board and elected as the Co-Chair of AmCham Hong Kong’s Women of Influence Committee. Clients consider her as “a lawyer whose judgement you trust and who knows how far they can push the boundaries” and a “super skilled technical lawyer” who offers “incredible problem-solving skills on all aspects of matters, both legal and commercial.”
Mark Chiba is Group Chairman and Partner of The Longreach Group. The Longreach Group is an established independent private equity firm with offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo. The firm focuses on Japan and related Greater China control buyouts in the mature industrial and technology, consumer, business services and financial services sectors. The firm manages three Funds which have accumulated approximately US$2.1 billion of committed limited partner and co-investment capital.
Mark co-founded The Longreach Group in late 2003. Mark's lead responsibilities at Longreach include firm management, senior relationship driven deal sourcing and execution, investments in the financial services sector, and building the firm's capital base and global networks.
Before co-founding Longreach, Mark served as Chief Executive Officer and President of UBS Securities Japan, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Investment Banking Management Committee, Head of Japan Investment Banking and as a member of the UBS Global Investment Bank Board. Previous to this role in Japan, Mark headed the UBS Asia-Pacific Financial Institutions Group.
Mark is an Australian citizen, resident in Hong Kong. He holds First Class Honours degrees in Economics (University of Melbourne) and Law (University of Sydney). Mark is a Rhodes Scholar with a Master of Philosophy degree in International Relations (with Distinction) from Oxford University.
Mark Wiseman is a Canadian investment manager and business executive and an industry-leading expert in alternatives and active equity investments. Among his advisory roles with various organizations, Mark serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, and as a Senior Advisor to Lazard, Hillhouse Capital and Boston Consulting Group.
Previously, he was a Senior Managing Director at BlackRock, Global Head of Active Equities, Chairman of its alternatives business, and Chairman of BlackRock’s Global Investment Committee. He also served on BlackRock’s Global Executive Committee.
Prior to joining BlackRock in 2016, Mark was President & CEO of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). Mark joined CPPIB in June 2005 as the organization’s Senior Vice-President, Private Investments. He was later named Executive Vice-President, Investments, responsible for managing all of the investment activities of CPPIB. He was named President & Chief Executive Officer in 2012.
Prior to joining the CPPIB, Mark was responsible for the private equity fund and co-investment program at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Previously, Mark was an officer with Harrowston Inc., a publicly traded Canadian merchant bank and a lawyer with Sullivan & Cromwell, practicing in New York and Paris. He also served as a law clerk to Madam Justice Beverley McLachlin at the Supreme Court of Canada.
Born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Mark holds a Bachelor of Arts from Queen’s University and a law degree and Masters in Business Administration from the University of Toronto. He was also a Fulbright Scholar at Yale University, where he obtained a Master of Laws. Mark also serves on the board of several non-profit organizations, including Alpine Canada, the United Way of Greater Toronto, Sinai Health System,, the Capital Markets Institute and the Dean’s Advisory Board at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
Matthew Michelini is Partner, CEO of Asia-Pacific at Apollo and a member of the Firm’s Leadership Team. Matt joined Apollo in 2006 in Private Equity and has played a pivotal role in the creation and success of many of Apollo’s largest growth initiatives, including Athene, Hybrid Value, Apollo Dedicated Insurance Program, Natural Resources, and the development of the Financials Group. Matt serves as Investment Chair for Apollo’s Hybrid Value business and on the board of directors of Athene Holding Ltd. and Venerable Holdings, and previously served on the boards of Aleris Corporation, Metals USA, Noranda Aluminum, One Main Financial, and Warrior Met Coal. Previously, Matt was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Lazard Frères & Co.
Max Hui is a managing director and an investment committee member of the private equity division of CDH Investments. He joined CDH’s Beijing office in 2003 and had been the chief executive officer of the Singapore office from 2013 till 2022.
Max focuses on cross-border investments with China nexus. Some of the notable acquisitions include Smithfield (by Shuanghui), SharkNinja (together with Joyoung’s shareholder), Go Healthy (#1 nutrition supplement company in New Zealand), Aver Asia (leading general equipment leasing company in SE Asia) and Mobile World (largest mobile phone and consumer electronics retailer in Vietnam). Previously, Max worked for Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia in Hong Kong and Schroders & Co’s investment banking unit in New York. Max holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Engineering in Financial Engineering from Princeton University.
Ms. Mengyang Yang is an Executive Director and Head of Hong Kong PE Business at CICC Capital, the PE arm of China International Capital Corporation （“CICC”）. Ms. Yang initially joined CICC in 2015 working on investments in mid-cap PE funds in the US and Europe and co-investments. Upon re-joining CICC in 2022, she is responsible for all aspects of the business of CICC Capital in Hong Kong and leads CICC Capital’s expansion into international markets.
Ms. Yang received her BA in finance and LLB from the University of International Business and Economics, and her LLM from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Michael is a partner at Golden Gate Ventures. He joined the firm in 2013 and is currently leading the Growth venture fund. His entrepreneurial journey began in 2000 when he co-founded an IT managed services startup that was acquired in 2006. In 2007, Michael founded a venture fund focused on Dutch small- and medium-sized enterprises to help them with capital financing, business development, and strategy. During the same period, he was invited to join the Economic Development Board Rotterdam as vice-chairman. In that role, he launched the Young Economic Development Board. He brought together a highly influential Dutch network to increase public-private relationships to ensure business leadership invested in local while leveraging the public infrastructure.
Michael was introduced to Golden Gate Ventures in 2013 and relocated with his family to Singapore to join as a Venture Partner in 2013, helping with fundraising, strategic partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions. Since then, Michael has helped to raise over USD $60M for Golden Gate Ventures and its portfolio companies, including helping to raise later stage rounds from external investors as well as leading two early strategic acquisitions.
Sport is an essential part of Michael’s life. He is a former member of the Dutch karate team and the former ambassador for Treknology ( Trek bikes distributor in Singapore). Michael actively participates in Ironman 70.3 races and marathons. Besides sport, Michael is an active writer and writes articles regarding life, balance and venture capital on michaellints.com
- 12 years of prior investment experience with Sequoia in TMT and consumer sectors, sector leader in fintech
- Strong track record in technology, fintech and artificial intelligence (AI), including Bairong, BOCCF, Guiji AI, SCCF, Souche, Welab, etc..
- Prior to joining Sequoia, Michael was with Citigroup and A.T. Kearney
- MBA, Columbia University
Dr Michelle Deaker is a Managing Partner of OneVentures, Australia’s leading technology and healthcare multi-strategy investment firm. The firm now has circa US$330M in funds under management and raising its fifth fund, 1V Growth Fund V (US$150M). Dr Deaker has been primarily responsible for the foundation of OneVentures firm and capital raisings of OneVentures Funds. Dr Deaker serves on the investment committee of OneVentures Funds, leads the technology practice within the firm, is a Director on OneVentures portfolio companies Employment Hero (Chair), Phocas Group, My Mobile Data and 8i and is responsible for investor relations. Dr Deaker founded multiple businesses prior to her move into venture capital including one of Australia’s first fintech companies (E Com Industries/giftvouchers.com) sold to UK publicly listed company Retail Decisions (ReD). She has over 20 years’ experience in the development of high growth technology companies in Australia and the US, has served on the boards of large and small listed and unlisted companies and expertise in global business expansion. Her previous board appointments include NICTA (now CSIRO’s Data61) and Seven West Media (ASX: SWM). She has also served in advisory board roles with NSW Government’s Taskforce for the Digital Economy, Heads over Heels and Australian Investment Council Venture Capital Working Group. Dr Deaker holds a Bachelor of Science with first class honours, Master of Science and a PhD (Applied Science). She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Chief Executive Women (CEW).
Nainesh Jaisingh is a Founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer at Affirma Capital. He is based in Singapore and also directly manages the Private Equity business in South East Asia.
Prior to leading the MBO of Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE) to form Affirma Capital, Nainesh was a founding member of the business within Standard Chartered Bank in 2002, and most recently the Global Head of the Principal Finance business of the Bank.
Nainesh’s early career was with ANZ Investment Bank and ANZ Grindlays.He is an Engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), BHU, and holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore.
At Navis, Mr Bloy leads investment teams in making, monitoring and exiting investments, sits on Navis’ Investment Committee and sits on the boards and/or executive committees of several Navis portfolio companies.
Prior to co-founding Navis, Mr Bloy worked at Boston Consulting Group in Asia from 1989 to 1999 after spending 3 years with Bain & Co. In London.
He holds a BA Hons degree from University College, London and an MBA from INSEAD, France.
Nick is based in London and is responsible for the management of the Asia and Europe portfolios. Prior to joining MetLife, Nick was Founding Partner at Integrity Capital Partners, a Beijing-based Private Equity firm focused on making cross-border direct private equity investments between China and Europe. Previously he was Vice President in the Beijing office of Schroder Adveq, the PE investment arm of Schroders PLC, focusing on primary, secondary fund investments and co-investments. Nick began his career in Schroder Adveq's Swiss headquarters where he covered European investments. Nick holds an MBA from HKUST Business School, Hong Kong, an MPhil in Finance from Cambridge University, UK, and a BEng in Electronic Engineering from Cardiff University, UK. He is a CFA and CAIA charterholder. In 2023, Nick was included on PEI’s annual 40 under 40: Future Leaders of Private Equity list.
Nicole Goh joined GIC Infrastructure in 2008. As Head, Infrastructure Asia ex-China, she has investment coverage responsibility for opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region, with prior experience investing in the US and Europe. She represents GIC Infrastructure on the boards of its portfolio companies in the region.
Nicole has a BSc in Mathematics with Statistics for Finance from Imperial College London, and an MSc in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.
Nisa Leung is Managing Partner of Qiming Venture Partners, leading its health care investments. Qiming Venture Partners is a leading investment firm in China with USD9.5B AUM raised and over 530 portfolio companies.
Nisa has been recognized by the Forbes Global 100 VC Midas List in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 and named Best Women VCs List by Forbes China #1 in 2022 and Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune China in 2022.
She currently sits on the board of Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB; HKSE:9688), CanSino Biologics (SSE:688185; HKSE:6185), Caidya, Chain Medical Labs, Belief BioMed, Zencore Biologics, Valgen MedTech, Alamar Biosciences among others.
Nisa earned her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS from Cornell University. She is currently visiting lecturer at Harvard Law School, member of Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council and serves as an independent non-executive director of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (“HKEX”) and Hong Kong Palace Museum.
Oliver Stratton is a Managing Director for Alvarez & Marsal's Asian practice in Hong Kong. With 30 years of experience in consulting and private equity in Asia, his primary areas of concentration are business strategy, performance improvement, operational turnarounds and M&A. Mr. Stratton has worked with private equity and corporate clients across a range of industries including financial services, telecommunications, consumer goods and retail, industrial products and services, education, transportation and logistics and energy and resources.
Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Stratton spent 20 years with Bain & Company, including 10 years as a Partner. Mr. Stratton also spent two years as a Managing Director with Candover as part of its Asia leadership team.
In these roles Mr. Stratton has served many of the global, regional and major local country funds operating in Asia. Working with those clients, he has led operational and commercial due diligence and portfolio company performance improvement assignments across a range of industry sectors in Greater China, Korea and Southeast Asia.
Mr. Stratton earned an MA in engineering from Cambridge University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. A British national, Mr. Stratton has been based in Hong Kong since 1988.
Pang Lee is based in Cooley’s Hong Kong office, his practice includes all areas of partnership, corporate and securities law with a concentration on the organization and investment in private funds and strategic investments in the tech industry. Pang has worked closely with members of the Hong Kong start-up community cultivating its emerging companies ecosystem, with a particular focus in healthcare and emerging technology companies. Pang regularly advises private fund managers and institutional investors on United States and Hong Kong regulatory and compliance matters.
Pang brings a global perspective in his work, having worked in New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong and Shanghai in over two decades of legal practice. Pang regularly speaks at regional industry conferences in China and Southeast Asia, including serving as a moderator at the AVCJ for well over a decade. He is a member of the firm’s pro bono committee.
He is ranked as a leading investment funds lawyer by Chambers Greater China, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific and IFLR1000 Asia Pacific.
Pang received his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and a BS from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is admitted to practice in New York and is a solicitor of Hong Kong.
Patrick Sixsmith is a Managing Principal in the HAIL Private Markets team and a member of HSBC Alternatives’ Investment Committee. He has a particular focus on managing and expanding the business’ co-investment vertical. He also leads the team’s coverage for North America, Asia, as well as Venture Capital. He started his career in HSBC’s Investment Banking division in 2005 before joining HSBC’s Principal Investments team in 2007, helping to create the team that focused on lower mid-market direct buyouts, becoming a Managing Director and running its direct Private Equity investment programme in UK & Europe and, later, Asia. Patrick represents and has represented HSBC on numerous Company Boards.
Paul is a Portfolio Manager with Allianz Global Investors’ Asia Private Credit team. He has over two decades of private credit experience – 16 years of which have been in Asia. Prior to joining AllianzGI, Paul was Head of Structured Lending & Special Situations Legal at Nomura. Paul holds a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, a M.A. from Georgetown University’s Graduate School of Foreign Service and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.
Ms. Pratibha Jain is the Head of Strategy and Group General Counsel at Everstone Group. Prior to Everstone, Pratibha was a Partner at Nishith Desai Associates where she founded their New Delhi office, and lead their Funds and Regulatory practice. She’s an alumnus of Harvard Law School, Oxford University and Delhi University. She brings with her a breadth of international and Indian experience having worked with Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong, with Skadden Arps Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP in Hong Kong and Goldman Sachs in Mumbai.
She has worked on some of the most challenging projects in financial services and regulatory sector globally and in India, including representing Ministry of Finance in setting up of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and designing USD 1.3 billion special ‘window for funding stalled affordable and middle income housing projects’ as an AIF fund, listing of companies on US exchanges, representing private equity investors in some of the biggest investments into India such as Mubadala’s investment in Reliance Jio and reliance Ventures, Softbank’s in its investment of USD 1.4 billion in PayTM, , representing investors for facilitating listing of stock exchanges in India including BSE, IEX and NSE, representing investors in investigations by the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and Reserve Bank of India.
She enjoys working and writing on public policy issues and is regularly quoted in news on various public policy issues. She sits on various important committees including IVCA Executive Committee, FICCI Capital Markets Committee and CII Financial Markets Committee.
She is a Fellow of the Seventh Generation Class of Ananta Aspen’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and member of Aspen Global Leadership Network. She received the “Woman Lawyer of the Year Award 2019” by Business World magazine. Recently, she has been recognized as a Top Individual Lawyer by Forbes Legal Power list 2020
Puneet Bhatia is Co-Managing Partner of TPG Capital Asia and Head of India. Prior to joining TPG in 2002, Puneet was the Chief Executive, Private Equity group, for GE India, and before that, a member of the Project and Corporate Finance group at ICICI Ltd. Puneet holds a B.Com Honors degree from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
Raymond joined BC Partners in 1992. He is Chairman of the Firm, chairs the Management Committee, and is a member of the Private Equity, Private Credit, and Real Estate Investment Committees. Raymond plays an active role in shaping the Firm’s strategy, recruiting talent, sourcing new investment opportunities, and portfolio company operating reviews. He has over three decades of investing experience across a range of sectors and geographies and has led several of the Firm’s marquee transactions including UnityMedia, Suddenlink/ Cablevision, Petsmart and Chewy.
Previously, Raymond worked in investment banking at Wasserstein Perella in New York and Paris, and prior to this as a Management Consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in Chicago. He holds an MBA from Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business, an MSc in Electrical Engineering from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications, and an MSc in Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique.
Raymond is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestSummit Capital, the leading global technology growth capital firm with global team and investment across China, Silicon Valley and Europe.
In the ten years since its establishment, WestSummit Capital has invested in a series of successful technology companies and unicorns, including GigaDevice (China #1NOR flash storage chip design company, IPO in 2016), and AnJi ( China #1 Semiconductor manufacturing high-end chemical materials, IPO in Sci-Tech Innovation Board 2019), United Optech(China #1 optical lens and sensors system, IPO in GEM 2017), Segway-Ninebot (World #1 last mile robot service Platform), Ximalaya (China #1 mobile audio social platform), Silicon Valley portfolios like Unity (World #1 game engine and real-time 3D development platform), Twitch (World #1 online gaming video live platform), and Europe portfolios like Movidius (Wolrd #1 AI visual image processing technology), Decawave (World #1 UWB-based technology chip supplier) and so on.
Prior to WestSummit, Raymond was the Founding Partner of Taishan Invest AG, one of the pre-eminent institutional angel investment funds in China, where he led the first round in several successful investments in the Internet, new media and mobile space. Prior, Raymond was the Managing Partner of Navi Capital Partners, a VC fund dedicated to growth stage companies in China, and a Venture Partner at Northern Light Venture Capital, a leading technology venture capital fund in China. Raymond Yang is best known for leading the turnaround of Linktone, a Shanghai-based wireless value-added services company.
From 2003 to 2006, Mr. Yang served as Linktone’s CEO, growing the company from $16 million to $71 million in revenue, and to a successful IPO on the NASDAQ. Linktone was the 1st to list on NASDAQ from the mobile entertainment industry in China, a milestone industry IPO, and marked the 8th company from China to ever list on NASDAQ. Raymond was awarded as a “Top 10 CEO” in China from CPMC, “Top 10 Chinese IT Leaders” from the China Business Post and “2005 China New Economy Entrepreneur” by the China Ministry of Science and Technology. Linktone was awarded as the “Best Employer in China” by Fortune China and Watson Wyatt Worldwide in 2005.
Previously, Mr. Yang was the Founder and CEO of RivalWatch, a Silicon Valley-based, venture-backed online market intelligence company, and the Founder and CEO of Saratoga Technology, a Beijing-based voice messaging services firm that was funded by a NASDAQ-listed technology company. Prior, Raymond worked at technology leader ABB Group and Centigram Communications in Silicon Valley, and at the Ministry of Energy in China.
Raymond is a distinguished Delegate to the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council.1 Raymond is also former Chairman of the prestigious Tsinghua University Entrepreneur and Executive Club (TEEC)，Vice Chairman of China Venture Capital & Private Equity Association, Chairman of SVEIF (Largest Chinese entrepreneur organization in Silicon Valley), Head of Tsinghua North America Education Foundation etc.
Raymond led WestSummit’s investment in Twitch Interactive, Inc. (acquired by Amazon for $1.1B in 2014, 8.3x return and 615% IRR for WSC) and Maginatics (acquired by EMC for $175 million, 80% IRR for WSC). Raymond also serves on the Boards for WestSummit companies: Unity Technologies, Couchbase, Ximalaya and Ninebot. Prior to WestSummit, Raymond’s notable investments included Lashou, VIPStore, Hudong, Innofidei, Xishiwang, C-Platform and ChineseAll.
Raymond graduated with a Bachelors of Science from Tsinghua University and Masters of Science from the Graduate School of the China Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
Rishi joined the Aware Super Private Equity team in 2019. His experience includes manager research, co-investment assessment, portfolio analysis and investment strategy development. Aware Super is one of Australia's largest superannuation (pension) funds, with more than $150bn in funds under management. Prior to Aware Super, Rishi worked in the Private Equity team at the Future Fund, where he helped manage its private equity portfolio. Rishi started his career in the Corporate Finance team at KPMG primarily focussed on Mergers and Acquisitions. He holds a Bachelor of Laws and Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in Chartered Accounting.
Rodney Muse. Mr. Muse is one of two Managing Partners of Navis and an Investment Committee member. At Navis, Mr. Muse leads investment teams in making, monitoring and exiting investments and sits on the boards and/or executive committees of several Navis portfolio companies. He has been active in many of Navis’ investments in consumer goods, food, business services, industrial goods and services.
Mr. Muse co-founded Navis in 1998 with Mr. Bloy and Mr. Foyston, with whom he worked while at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). At BCG, he worked in Sydney and Kuala Lumpur, where he gained experience in a number of industries including consumer goods, retail, oil and gas, distribution, primary resources and more. He started his career with Chase Manhattan Bank in 1985 in New York and Hong Kong.
Mr. Muse has been a resident in Asia since 1993, having been raised and educated in the US. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Hons degree from St. Lawrence University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Saiful joined KWAP in 2012 and currently leads the organisation’s Private Equity and Infrastructure activities. Prior to joining KWAP, Saiful worked for the Malaysia Venture Capital Management Berhad (MAVCAP) as the Vice President of Investments.
Saiful holds a Master’s Degree in Management from the International Islamic University, Malaysia and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, USA.
Sandra Lee is the CEO of BMS Asia. She brings with her more than 19 years of legal and insurance experience spent advising international PE and corporate investors on the legal aspects of M&A transactions as well as various M&A insurance solutions. Prior to joining BMS, Sandra was responsible for building and leading the Asian M&A insurance practice of one of the largest global insurance broking firms. Sandra is widely regarded as having played a key role in the development and growth of the M&A insurance business in Asia.
Sang Han is a Partner at Cento Ventures, overseeing investments and investor relations. He has over 20 years of professional experience in venture capital, incubation, and entrepreneurship spanning Korea, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, US, and Europe.
Before Cento, Sang was Managing Director of Temasek Lifesciences Accelerator, and prior to that, Senior Executive Director of Vertex Holdings, a venture capital investment entity wholly owned by Temasek Holdings. He started his venture capital career at Walden International, a US-based international venture capital firm which he joined after serving for a number of years in various software engineering roles at enterprise software startups in Korea.
Sang received a BSc in Computer Engineering from Seoul National University and an MBA from INSEAD.
Golden Vision Capital (Singapore) is a new Single Family Office set up in Aug 2021 to make PE and VC direct investments in Southeast Asia, leveraging on the family and team’s strong business connections in the region. It also invests in leading PE Funds, and co-invests alongside them. Its CEO Sean Low, CFA is an industry veteran with 25 years of deal sourcing, investment and business development experience, including 17 years in the PE & Infrastructure department of GIC, Singapore's SWF, where he helps to oversee GIC's PE, Infra, Private Debt & VC investments in US, Europe and Asia at different times, and took part in some of GIC’s landmark deals in each region. He played a leading role in expanding GIC’s private debt program, and last served as an active member in GIC Credit Business group which help review GIC’s overall credit investment strategy across public and private markets. Sean was also senior advisor to Yangzijiang Financial Holdings Limited (ww.YZJFIN.com), an investment management Firm listed on SGX with NAV in excess S$4b. He advised its Investment Committee on PE and Private Credit portfolio construction, funds and deals selection and risk management.
Sean began his career in Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), after he was awarded the EDB Scholarship in 1993. He served first as Assistant Head of InfoComms & Media group, and then as Director of Chicago Centre. Sean currently chairs the Investment Committee at CFA Singapore, and was elected the Treasurer of Singapore's VC & PE Association in 2021. He graduated from Trinity College, University of Cambridge with BA (1st Class Honours), MA and M Eng. (Honours). He completed National Service in Singapore as a commander of a Brigade Reconnaissance Team in the Singapore Army.
Sean Murphy is a fund formation partner in Cooley’s Singapore office. Sean’s practice focuses on the formation and operation of private funds across venture capital, growth equity, buy-out, special situations, real estate and infrastructure strategies. First resident in Singapore in 2004, he has advised fund sponsors and investors for more than a decade from offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and New York. Sean also regularly advises clients on co-investments, managed accounts, feeder funds for HNWIs, carried interest plans, strategic partnerships and US securities and investment advisory laws.
Sean has a JD from the George Washington University Law School with honors, and a BS from University of Pennsylvania.
Shane is a Principal and leads the Portfolio Group in Asia for Permira, where his primary focus is on value creation and due diligence of new investment opportunities from a commercial and operational perspective. Shane has worked on a number of transactions including I-MED, Tricor, Topcast, and EF Kids & Teens. Prior to joining Permira in 2017, Shane worked for KKR Capstone for six years and previously worked with McKinsey and Company in Japan and Australia. Shane holds degrees in Computer Engineering and Japanese Language from the University of Wollongong, Australia, and has an MBA and MS from Stanford University, USA.
Shannon joined Pacific Equity Partners in 2006. Prior to joining PEP, Shannon was with Bain & Company in Australia and SE Asia.
Shannon was a University of Sydney Scholarship holder where he received a first class honours degree (BEcon) and the University Medal.
Shin is Managing Partner at GLOBIS Capital Partners. Shin leads GLOBIS’s digital and healthcare investments. Ranked by Forbes Japan’s “Midas List Most Influential Venture Investor”1st in 2018, 7th in 2015, 10th in 2020.
His track record includes: IPO iStyle, Aucfan, Kayac, Pixta, Mercari, and Lancers; M&A Shimauma Print System (acquired by CCC), nanapi (acquired by KDDI), and Coubic (acquired by hey). His current portfolio includes Timers, Mirrativ, FastDOCTOR, TANP, alu, Alp, Josys, AnotherBall, and newmo etc.
Prior to Globis, Shin led management consulting projects at Arthur D. Little. He received BA in Economics from University of Tokyo (graduation thesis with Honor), and MBA from Harvard Business School (Second Year Honor). Shin has 8+ years of overseas experience in England, Holland, and the US.
Mr. Kita joined Advantage Partners in 2003 and leads all activities for the Japan Buyout team. Mr. Kita has also directly led many investments including CommunityOne, Katitas, Net Protections, Yaruki Switch Group and Cosmolife. He currently serves as a Director on several investments including Material Group, Energywith, NFC Holdings, Net Japan and Daiho Industrial.
Prior to joining Advantage Partners, Mr. Kita was at Bain & Company Japan and focused on projects in the auto, finance, telecommunications, food products, trading houses, and healthcare sectors. Mr. Kita holds an undergraduate degree from the Faculty of Economics, the University of Tokyo, and an MBA from University of California, Berkeley.
Simon Pearson is a Managing Director of EmergeVest, where he has led the development of the EmergeVest Operating System (EVOS). He is also the Chief Strategy Officer of EV Cargo, an EmergeVest company with more than $1.5 billion of annual revenues and global operations.
Mr. Pearson has more than 30 years of logistics industry experience as an international supply chain executive, consultant and investor, operating at every stage of the global retail value chain across product categories and multiple geographies. Starting at a mid-size UK transport business in 1990, Mr. Pearson then joined NFT Distribution, a leading UK temperature-controlled logistics provider, where he rose through the organization to a board position. He then spent 10 years in senior supply chain leadership roles at ASDA Stores (Walmart UK), with a remit spanning global inbound logistics, freight procurement, outbound transport and DC operations, network optimization, and supply chain planning and strategy, while also working on global leverage projects across the international Walmart business. In 2012, Mr. Pearson relocated to Shanghai to join Cargo Services, a global logistics business, as Group Strategy and Development Director. He also founded a boutique supply chain consulting business, Simon Pearson & Associates, advising many leading fashion brands and retailers on optimization of their international supply chain operations.
Mr. Pearson joined EmergeVest in 2013, initially as an Operating Partner and then as a Managing Director based in Hong Kong.
Mr. Pearson’s current and previous board service includes logistics and technology companies across Asia and Europe. Mr. Pearson received his Honours degree in Business Management from Coventry University.
Sophia Tsai is Managing Director of Investments at Trinity Church Wall Street, a $7 billion endowment that invests globally. Sophia has more than twenty-six years of experience in asset allocation and manager selection across alternative and traditional asset classes, and direct and fund investing in North America and Asia.
Prior to joining Trinity Wall Street in 2017, Sophia was Managing Director and Co-Head of Hedge Funds at State Street Global Advisors. She co-led the hedge fund program and was also responsible for private equity direct investments, co-investments and fund investments for GE Pension. Sophia joined State Street in 2016 through its acquisition of GE Asset Management. At GE, Sophia was based in the US more recently for eleven years, and also held several roles in Asia during 1995 to 2005 at three GE Capital divisions including GE Equity, GE Capital Asia Pacific’s M&A Group and GE Capital Finance.
Sophia holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and the University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong. She also received a BBA in Accounting from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Sophia is a CFA charterholder.
Spencer Greene has been a general partner at TSVC, a Silicon Valley-based seed-stage venture firm, since 2018. He leads the firm's digital health and medtech investing. Prior to joining TSVC, Spencer was a startup founder and tech operating executive for 30 years, with two successful exits as founder. Spencer also spent 12 years at Juniper Networks in various roles, including head of Strategy and Corporate Development.
Stephen leads financial services deal advisory in Singapore and Indonesia and has over 20 years experience in providing advice to clients on their transactions across Europe, the US and in the Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Singapore from London, Stephen led the deal advisory banking capital markets and consumer lending sectors and spent five years building the Financial Services transaction advisory business in Switzerland.
Stephen has significant experience leading transactions in Fintech, Banking, Insurance and Investment management providing advice to clients on M&A including target search, acquisition due diligence, refinancing, vendor assistance and vendor due diligence.
Professional and industry experience
Advised Altimeter Growth Corp on the largest SPAC merger with Southeast Asia’s super app Grab Holdings Inc
Advised a consortium led by Singapore Life and TPG Capital on the acquisition of Aviva Singapore
Advised a Global bank on its proposed acquisition of Citi Group’s consumer business portfolio across Asia
Advised Allianz Global Investors on its acquisition of PT RHB Asset Management Indonesia from RHB Bank
Advised a confidential PE on its proposed investment in GoTo
Advised SoftBank Ventures on its investment in an e-wallet business in South Korea
Advised a confidential client on its proposed SPAC merger with a financial product comparison platform in Asia
Advised Warburg Pincus on its acquisition of ABDA and ABDA Assistance in Indonesia from Mapfre Insurance Group
Advised Eight Roads on their Series B investment in StashAway
Advised a global VC on its potential investment in a Singapore based robo-advisor
Advised on Ant Financial’s acquisition of HelloPay in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia
Advised Warburg Pincus on their investment in Techcombank
Advised a large global private equity firm on their proposed investment into a new Buku 3 bank which was being planned based on a merger between 2 Buku 2 banks in Indonesia
Advised a Middle Eastern bank on a potential investment into a Buku 3 bank in Indonesia
Sumit has more than 20 years of experience in providing M&A advisory services including acquisitions and divestments, capital advisory, strategic and financial advice and project management in multiple financial hubs across Europe and Asia including United Kingdom, Singapore, Indonesia and India. He has significant cross-border experience advising some of the leading MNCs, PEs and SMEs with principal experience on transactions within the Technology, Media, Consumer, Logistics and Financial Services verticals.
Areas of expertise
Mergers and Acquisitions, Capital Raising, Start-up Funding
Educations and Qualifications
- Master of Business Administration – Nanyang Business School, Singapore / ESSEC, France
- Bachelor of Commerce – University of Mumbai, India
- Chartered Accountant, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
Ms. Tavill is the global head of responsible investment, leading all ESG and impact initiatives across all businesses and investment strategies at StepStone Group, a global private markets investment firm focused on providing customized investment solutions and advisory and data services to some of the most sophisticated investors in the world. With more than US$548 billion of private markets allocations, including over US$127 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2021, StepStone covers the spectrum of opportunities in private markets across the globe. Ms. Tavill is also a member of the private equity team.
Prior to StepStone, Ms. Tavill was responsible for AMP Capital’s global alternative investment platform that included private equity, infrastructure and real assets. Before that she spent five years at Van Eyk Research in Sydney, the last four as head of research. Before moving to Australia, she was an executive director at Goldman Sachs Investment Management, responsible for their UK small-and mid-cap portfolios.
Ms. Tavill received a MSc in finance and economics from the London School of Economics, in addition to a BBS with honors in economics and honors in finance from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
T.J. Kono joined Unison Capital in 2002. He has managed a number of investments in Japan since Unison’s first fund, then led Unison’s expansion to Korea as its founding member. Today, he serves as a member of both Japan and Korea Investment Committee. He has been involved in Unison’s investments in Drug Eleven (Japan), Mine-Mart (Japan), UCOM (Japan), Nexcon Technology (Korea), Gong cha (Korea)/Royal Tea Taiwan (Taiwan), and Forbes (Japan). In addition to investment role, he oversees Unison Group’s investor relations functions. Prior to Unison Capital, he worked at Merrill Lynch Japan.
Mr. Kono has a B.S/B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.
Tanu is a Senior Reporter at Infralogic and responsible for the coverage of power/energy sector in Asia for the news and intelligence platform. Based in Singapore, she reports on project financing, fundraising, mergers and acquisitions and writes in-depth news analysis on the Asian power space amid an ongoing transformation. Before joining the company in 2019, she covered the Private Equity and Sovereign Wealth Funds in Asia for three years and prior to that, she spent a decade as a financial journalist across Malaysia and India. She holds a graduate degree in Commerce & Business Studies from the University of Delhi and MA in Business Journalism.
Thomas is Senior Investment Officer at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a multilateral financial institution with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia by investing in sustainable infrastructure and other productive sectors. At AIIB, Thomas is responsible for originating, structuring and executing innovative, developmental and profitable debt and equity transactions, including fund investments, across all infrastructure sectors in Asia.
Prior to AIIB, he was an adviser to the German Federal Ministry of Finance to support the establishment of AIIB and advise the German Chief Negotiator on AIIB’s institutional, operational and financial policy framework. Earlier in his career, Thomas worked at KfW Development Bank, where he was responsible for managing equity investments and structuring loans for infrastructure projects in developing countries and emerging markets in Asia, including managing a EUR450-million p.a. infrastructure investment program for China.
Thomas earned a BBA and M.Sc. in International Business Administration from European University Viadrina, Germany and an MBA from Catholic University of Cordoba, Argentina. He is also a CFA charterholder.
Tianhao Wu is Managing Director at Northwestern University, responsible for all aspects of managing the $15 billion endowment as part of its generalist investment team. Prior to joining Northwestern in 2021, Tianhao was Senior Director at The Rockefeller University, where he focused on asset allocation and manager selection primarily overseeing public equities, hedge funds, and Asian investments. Prior to joining Rockefeller in 2014, Tianhao worked at Analytical Research, where he advised endowments, pension funds, and family offices on alternative investments.
Tianhao received his Master of Financial Engineering degree from Cornell University and dual Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Michigan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Tianhao was awarded Top 30 University Endowment Rising Stars in 2017 and 2018, as well as Top 30 Investors at Next-Generation Leading Endowments in 2019, by Trusted Insight. Tianhao is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Financial Risk Manager (FRM) charterholder.
Tim Burroughs is managing editor of Asian Venture Capital Journal, having joined the publication in May 2011. He is responsible for all editorial content put out under the AVCJ brand, including Asian Venture Capital Journal, AVCJtv, AVCJ Awards and AVCJ.com. Tim previously spent five years at China Economic Review, serving as editor-in-chief and then editorial director. Located in Greater China since 2003, during which time he has lived in Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong, Tim has been a China-based contributor for publications including The Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, BBC and China Daily. Prior to moving to China, he trained and worked as a journalist in the UK. He was honored at the Society of Publishers in Asia awards in 2007, 2008 and 2010, and at the State Street Institutional Press Awards - Asia in 2012.
Tony joined Pacific Equity Partners in 2006. Before joining PEP, Tony was a Partner of Bain & Company with over 12 years of consulting experience in Australia, Asia and Europe. Tony received an MBA from INSEAD (Dean’s List) and a BCom from the University of New South Wales.
Tony Jiang is a co-founder and partner at Ocean Link. He leads all of Ocean Link's investments, and he currently serves on the board of eLong, Mafengwo, Yitiao, New Century Kaiyuan Hotels, Ruby Hotels & Resorts, and Mind Education. Prior to founding Ocean Link, Mr. Jiang was with The Carlyle Group from 2006 to 2016 focused on private equity investments in Asia. Earlier in his career, Mr. Jiang worked in the investment banking division of Deutsche Bank. He received a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University with full scholarship.
Trista leads the Finance Sector across the Asia Pacific region.
With over 15 years of experience in strategic sustainability consulting, Trista is a proven and trusted ESG advisor to clients on managing issues in transactions and enhancing value for post investment and loans.
She advises both listed and private corporate clients across industry sectors, as well as investors and private equities to effect secured investments, facilitate large-scale integration and advance ESG opportunities. Her advice on ESG risks, emerging ESG opportunities as well as potential financial impacts, equipped clients with in-depth insights on the viability and future sustainability of their investment plans. Trista also advises on EHS and Sustainability risks and opportunities associated with cross-boundary transactions involving 20+ countries.
In 2015, she was a delegate to the CEO-lead World Business Counsel for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Leader Program, to help identify the skills needed by future leaders of member companies, and to provide a unique platform for developing and testing skills in a real-world setting. Trista is currently based in Singapore. Prior to relocating to Singapore in 2021, Trista has worked extensively in Canada and in Greater China, transforming businesses to operationalise sustainability.
Troy is responsible for all aspects of the secondary business, includingstrategy, investments, fundraising and portfolio construction. In addition toleading North American opportunities, he also spends significant timedeveloping Adams Street’s secondary efforts in Asia and for our energy andnatural resource practice.
Prior to joining Adams Street Partners in 2004, Troy was a Senior Associate atNIMCO, a division of Northwestern Mutual Life, where he was responsible fordirect private equity and mezzanine investments. Troy also worked with WilliamBlair & Company as an equity research analyst.
Troy is a member of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital ofChicago Foundation. He is also a member of the CFA Institute and the CFASociety of Chicago.
Troy serves on the Advisory Board of several funds within Adams Street’sportfolio, and is a member of the Adams Street Partners Secondary InvestmentCommittee.
Tushar joined Square Peg as a Partner in 2015. Founded in 2012, Square Peg is a venture capital fund that invests in Australia, Israel and Southeast Asia with a focus on Series A and Series B. It manages more than USD1 billion in capital commitments.
Tushar leads Square Peg’s presence in SEA, and is based in Singapore. He has led several investments for Square Peg across SEA and Australia, and represents the firm on numerous portfolio company Boards.
Prior to Square Peg Tushar had more than 10 years’ experience as a lawyer and management consultant with a focus on tech, media and telecommunications. He has advised on all facets of business, including growth strategies, M&A, go-to-market, leadership development, organisational design and process improvement.
Tushar holds degrees in computer science and law from the University of New South Wales, and an MBA degree from INSEAD.
Utsav Garg is a Managing Director and Head of the Southeast Asia and Australia Business unit of Alvarez & Marsal. The Alvarez & Marsal businesses includes Private Equity services (CDDs, ODDs, FDDs and post-deal value creation, carveouts and PMI support), Corporate Performance improvement (with high results orientation and interim management services) and Restructuring and Turnarounds.
He brings more than 20 years of experience in large scale transformation programs, focused on sustained growth and profitability improvement across various industries, including consumer goods and retail, telecommunications, information and communications technology (ICT), healthcare, logistics and process industries.
Prior to joining Alvarez and Marsal, Utsav led Kearney’s ASEAN business across four offices of Singapore, KL, Jakarta and Bangkok, expanding the company’s business in the region. Prior to that, he worked with Unilever in sales and brand leadership roles across South Asia and Southeast Asia. Mr. Garg began his career at STMicroelectronics as a Semiconductor Design engineer.
Utsav earned an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is a frequent speaker and fundraiser for charitable giving.
Valerie is a Regional Managing Director at Apex Group, with over 20 years of experience in managing alternative assets servicing teams across Europe, Middle East and Asia.
Having been a qualified and practicing alternative funds lawyer for more than a decade, she has dedicated much of her career advising and supporting financial institutions, sovereign wealth funds, asset managers, and family offices with respect to structuring and managing their cross-border alternative investments.
In her current role at Apex Group, she is leading the charge on growth strategy as well as operational and digital transformation of Apex in ASEAN. She also has a focus on driving ESG and D&I initiatives and is responsible for designing and implementing Apex's ESG and D&I strategy in Asia, partnering with regulators and industry leaders.
Valerie has been an active contributor to the industry throughout her career, serving on the board of various professional organizations and committees. Currently, she is the Chair of the Association of Luxembourg Funds (ALFI) in South East Asia, as well as member of the D&I committee of the Singapore Fund Directors Association (SFDA) and the Singapore Venture Capital Association (SVCA).
Her efforts have been recognized by her peers, and she is often called upon to speak on these topics at industry conferences and events. She is also regularly invited to mentor professionals in the funds industry.
A Senior Director and Head of Blackpeak’s Singapore Office, Vanessa manages the Singapore team and works with the leadership team to further expand the business across Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Australia. Vanessa has extensive experience in risk advisory, especially in Southeast Asia. Based in Singapore, she has led a broad range of pre- and post-investment due diligence, investigations, business intelligence and dispute cases in the region. Prior to joining Blackpeak, she worked at various international risk consulting firms in Jakarta and Singapore.
Vishal is the Founder and Managing Partner at AGC (Avatar Growth Capital), a late stage VC / early growth fund focused on technology companies powered by India for the global market.
Prior to founding Avatar Growth Capital, Vishal was at Goldman Sachs for 16 years. As Managing Director, he led Goldman Sachs’ $1bn Private Equity business in India. He was responsible for successful investments across industries including in Max India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Renew Wind Power and Antuit.
In New York, Vishal was Global Head of IT Services M&A and Corporate Finance as part of Goldman's Tech, Media & Telecom Investment Banking Division. He led over 20 M&A and corporate finance transactions valued at over $15bn. In the mid-90s, he led Private Equity syndication at the investment banking joint venture between ICICI and JP Morgan.
Vishal has an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School (4.0 / 4.0 GPA), a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM, Ahmedabad and a BA (Hons) in Economics from St Stephen's College, Delhi.
His passions include scuba diving, skiing and films that power change.
Wei Zhou is the founding partner of CCV Capital. He has 11 years of successful entrepreneurship experience and 17 years of venture investment experience.
In 2007, Wei joined KPCB as a founding member of KPCB China. He then served as a Managing Partner of KPCB and led the technology investment team in Greater China. In 2017, Wei founded CCV Capital where he adheres to a visionary investment strategy. CCV Capital focuses on early-stage investments in artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous driving, and green tech. He has maintained a unicorn rate of 35% in the first ten years of operations and continues to yield at least one unicorn each year.
The companies he invested in include: JD.com (NASDAQ:JD), VenusTech (002439), CreditEase (NYSE:YRD), Rong360 (NYSE:JT),ChineseAll(300364), Arrail Dental (HKSE:06639), Perfect Corp(NYSE:PERF), KJY water (301372), Ximalaya FM, Shukun Technology, MetaApp, Cowa Robot, Transsnet Financial, IceKredit, Quicktron, PPIO, U POWER Technology, etc.
Wei is a pioneer in China's fintech payment industry. Prior to CCV Capital, Wei had more than ten years of startup experience as founding member/founder before his Venture Capital career.
Wei has been named among China's Top 30 Venture Capitalists by Forbes China for five consecutive years and included in the Top 30 Most Influential Investors of the Year by Fortune, China's Top 10 Venture Capitalist by CV Awards, China's Top 10 Influential Investors by China Renaissance, and awarded Best Investor of the Year by Zero2IPO and China Venture.
Wei also serves as the treasurer of China Venture Capital and Private Equity Association ("CVCA"), the oldest and longest-running trade group representing the venture capital and private equity industry in Greater China.
Wei holds an M.B.A. degree from Wharton, University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor's degree in Physics and Electronics Science from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. He is a long-term entrepreneurship mentor at Wharton Business School, Tsinghua PBC School of Finance, and Zero2IPO Sandhill College.
Will Cai is based in Cooley’s Hong Kong office, he is the head of Cooley’s Asia capital markets practice and co-chair of Cooley’s China Corporate practice. He represents issuers and global investment banks in US and Hong Kong capital market transactions. He also advises private equity funds and multinationals in their investments in Asia region, as well as Asia companies in their cross-border M&A activities.
Will has worked on over 70 successful IPOs in the US and Hong Kong capital markets in the last decade, with a focus on technology and new economy companies. In addition, Will has represented a significant number of leading new economy companies in their M&A transactions, including a number of landmark deals. The deals he has worked on over the years have garnered a number of rankings and accolades including "M&A Deal of the Year - Premium" by Asian Legal Business China Law Awards 2024, “Equity Securities Deal of the Year 2022” by China Law & Practice Awards, "Best IPO of 2017" by FinanceAsia Magazine, "Equity Deal of the Year for 2017" by the IFLR Asia Awards, the largest technology IPO in Hong Kong in 2017, "Deal of the Year 2015, 2016 and 2023" by China Business Law Journal, and "Deal of the Year 2015" by Asian-MENA Counsel magazine.
From 1997 to 2003, Will worked for the Supreme People’s Court of China, where he acquired extensive experience and knowledge of the Chinese judiciary.
Will received his JD from Stanford Law School and LLB from China University of Political Science and Law. He is admitted to practice in California and Hong Kong. Will is a native Mandarin speaker and is fluent in English. He is admitted to practice in California and is a solicitor of Hong Kong.
William Tang joined Backstop Solutions as Head of APAC Sales in 2021. He is responsible for leading and growing the team in the Asia Pacific region by identifying high growth opportunities and implementing go-to-market and sales strategies. Prior to joining Backstop Solutions, William served as Head of APAC Sales and led the entire sales team at eVestment, a part of Nasdaq, providing institutional investment data, analytics and market intelligence covering public and private markets. Earlier, he served in various senior sales and management positions at Fitch Solutions and SNL Financial (a division of S&P Global).
William received his bachelor degree in Chemistry with management from the University of Hong Kong and his Master degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Xiang-Dong (X.D.) Yang is a Managing Director and Chairman of Carlyle Asia, leading all Corporate Private Equity investments in Asia (ex-Japan). Carlyle has been investing in Asia for over two decades and is one of the largest private equity investors in Asia. As of June 30, 2022, Carlyle Asia (ex-Japan) has invested US$17 billion in over 95 deals in corporate private equity.
Mr. Yang joined Carlyle in 2001 as a Co-Head of the Asia Buyout advisory team and is based in Carlyle Asia’s regional headquarters in Hong Kong. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Yang spent nine years at Goldman Sachs, where he was a Managing Director and Co-Head of Private Equity Investment Asia (ex-Japan).
Mr. Yang serves on the boards of Grand Foods Holdings Limited (McDonald’s China) and Du Xiaoman Financial. He is also a member of the Global Advisory Council of Harvard University and a trustee of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C. A native of China, Mr. Yang received his B.A. in Economics from Harvard University and MBA from Harvard Business School.
Xiaying Zhang is Wellington Management’s Director of Private Investments, based in Singapore. Prior to joining Wellington, Xiaying was Head of Singapore at Hamilton Lane. Xiaying has a Masters’ and Bachelors’ degree in Finance from San Diego State University and is a member of CAIA.
Xun Zeng is based in Cooley’s Beijing office, her practice focuses on the formation, structuring and operation of a wide variety of investment funds, including venture capital, private equity, hybrid, and co-investment funds. She advises fund sponsors on the marketing, formation, and operation of their funds, as well as upper-tier arrangements, carried interest plans, strategic joint venture arrangements and various governance matters. Xun also has extensive experience in representing institutional investors in connection with investments in private funds. Xun is recognized as a leading investment funds lawyer by Chambers Greater China and Legal 500 Asia Pacific. She is also a member of Cooley’s partnership nominating committee.
Xun is a lecturer in Law on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. She teaches Private Investment Funds.
Xun is admitted to practice in New York and Hong Kong, and a member of New York State Bar Association. She received her JD and LLM from University of Pennsylvania Law School, and her LLB Sun Yat-sen University School of Law with honors. Xun is a native Mandarin speaker and is fluent in English.
Yar-Ping Soo is a Partner primarily specializing in Asian pan-regional leveraged buyouts as well as country focused funds, specifically in Greater China, Japan, Korea and Indonesia. She leads the Asian practice, and actively participates in all fund investment decisions at Adams Street and is responsible for managing relationships with several of Adams Street's managers. Ms. Soo is a member of the Adams Street Primary Investment Committee.
Prior to joining Adams Street, Yar-Ping was a Senior Vice President of GIC Special Investments (GICSI), which is the private equity arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. She spent more than a decade at GIC and worked in their New York, Redwood City and Singapore offices. Ms. Soo was the Head of Asia/Emerging Markets based out of Singapore, leading GICSI’s investments in leveraged buyout funds, growth capital funds and co-investments.
Ms. Soo is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien and Malay.
Yinwei joined East Ventures in 2019 and leads investment projects out of the Firm’s Singapore office. Yinwei has over 7 years of experience in venture capital. Yinwei previously served as an Associate at the private equity and venture capital arm of Tiger Global Management, where he worked with start-ups from India, Latin America and South Africa. Prior to Tiger Global Management, Yinwei was involved in policy planning, technology ecosystem development and venture investing at the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, a Singapore government agency. Yinwei received a Master’s in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University and a Double Degree in Systems Engineering and Finance from the University of Pennsylvania.
Yipin Ng has been in the venture capital industry for 20 years, focusing on early to mid-term investment in the fields of Infrastructure SaaS and DeepTech. He participated in multiple investments in mobile hardware, advanced manufacturing and TMT sector. Before co-founding Yunqi Partners in 2014, he spent 10 years at GGV Capital from 2004 to 2014 as a partner out of which the first 4 years he was located in the Silicon Valley office and developed GGV's smart hardware investment business in the US. Before that, Yipin also worked for GIC Singapore Government Investment Corporation and Sun Microsystems. He holds a Master's degree from Stanford University and received an MBA from Nanyang Business School in Singapore. Yipin received Forbes Midas 100 in China awards for three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019.
Yogesh Singh has an illustrious track record of advising clients on M&A, private equity, and corporate finance transactions. He has acted for international corporations, funds, and investors on several marque transactions. Yogesh actively advises foreign and Indian clients on structuring and corporate aspects of their India operations/investments, including compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and strategic employment matters. In the last seven years,
Yogesh has been intensely involved in distressed asset transactions including some first-of-their-kind restructurings/ settlements, fintech, technology, and Defence (contracting, offsets, investment, and policy) matters. In terms of sectors, Yogesh focuses on financial services, ecommerce, TMT, fintech, edutech, energy and infrastructure, manufacturing, real estate, Defence, and hospitality.
Yogesh has advised several international companies on their entry strategy and the Indian regulatory framework with Europe as a focused market. Given his involvement in cutting edge and complex transactions, he has been invited to make policy advocacy representations at various government interactions as well as to conduct trainings for senior judges and senior management of corporations.
CREDENTIALS
▪ Education: National Law Institute University
▪ Admissions: Member, Supreme Court of India and Solicitor England and Wales.