Tim Burroughs Managing Editor ASIAN VENTURE CAPITAL JOURNAL

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.

Kirk M. Beaton Partner LEXINGTON PARTNERS

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.

James Coulter Executive Chairman and Founding Partner TPG

James (“Jim”) Coulter is the Executive Chairman and a Founding Partner of TPG, the Co-Managing Partner of The Rise Fund, and Managing Partner of TPG Rise Climate. Jim is a 1982 Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College. In 1986, Jim received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was named an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Jim has served on over 35 corporate boards in his career, and currently serves on Creative Artists Agency, Philz Coffee and Rodan + Fields. He also serves on the Stanford University Board of Trustees, and has served on the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College.

En Yaw Chue Chief Investment Officer AZALEA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

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.

Marc Rowan Chief Executive Officer APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT

Marc Rowan is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Apollo. He currently serves on the board of directors of Apollo Global Management, Inc., Athene Holding Ltd. and Athora Holding Ltd. Currently, Marc is Chair of the Board of Advisors of the Wharton School and a member of the University of Pennsylvania’s Board of Trustees. In addition, he is involved in public policy and is an initial funder and contributor to the development of the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan research initiative which provides analysis of public policy’s fiscal impact.

An active philanthropist, Marc is a founding member and Chair of Youth Renewal Fund and Vice Chair of Darca, Israel’s top educational network operating 40 schools with over 22,000 students throughout Israel’s most diverse and under-served communities. He also serves on the board of OpenDor Media, a digital media company centered on engaging Jewish and Israel content. Marc is an Executive Committee member of the Civil Society Fellowship, a partnership of ADL and the Aspen Institute, designed to empower the next generation of community leaders and problem solvers from across the political spectrum. He also serves on the boards of several technology-oriented venture companies.

Marc graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business with a BS and an MBA in Finance.

Kirk M. Beaton Partner LEXINGTON PARTNERS

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.

Xiang-Dong Yang Managing Director and Chairman Carlyle Asia CARLYLE

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.

Heath Zarin Founder, Chair & CEO EMERGEVEST

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.

Shannon Wolfers Managing Director - Buyout and Secure Assets PACIFIC EQUITY PARTNERS

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.

Mark Chiba Group Chairman & Partner THE LONGREACH GROUP

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.

Ganen Sarvananthan Managing Partner TPG CAPITAL ASIA

Ganen Sarvananthan is the Co-Managing Partner of TPG Capital Asia and Head of Southeast Asia. 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.

Manas Tamotia Managing Director ALVAREZ AND MARSAL

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.

Brian Lau Managing Director SHAWKWEI & PARTNERS

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.  

Suzanne Tavill Global Head of Responsible Investment, Partner STEPSTONE

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.

Heiko von Dewitz Partner, Head of Europe AGIC Capital

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.

Simon Pearson Managing Director EMERGEVEST

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.

Valerie Mantot-Groene Regional Managing Director, ASEAN APEX GROUP

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. 

William Tang Head of APAC Sales BACKSTOP SOLUTIONS

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.

James Cen Bonsor Director, Investor Relations CBC GROUP

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.

Alexis Maskell Partner, Global Head of Investor Relations BC PARTNERS

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.

Alex Wilmerding Partner PANTHEON VENTURES

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.

Nicolas Aguzin Chief Executive Officer HKEX

Nicolas Aguzin joined HKEX as Chief Executive Officer on 24 May 2021 from J.P. Morgan, where he was most recently Chief Executive Officer of J.P. Morgan’s International Private Bank. Mr Aguzin has been based in Hong Kong since 2012. 

From 2013 to 2020, Mr Aguzin was CEO, J.P. Morgan, Asia Pacific where he was responsible for all the firm’s business across 17 markets. Mr Aguzin presided over some of the firm’s major expansion efforts during the period, including establishing itself in China as one of the few international financial institutions with a full range of services and capabilities; including a fully-owned locally incorporated commercial bank, a majority-owned securities company, an asset management company and a futures and options company. Concurrent with his Asia CEO role, Mr Aguzin also ran J.P. Morgan’s Investment Banking division in Asia. During his tenure the bank rose to become one of the leading investment banks in the Asia Pacific region. 

Mr Aguzin joined J.P. Morgan in 1990 in Buenos Aires as a financial analyst. Between 1990 and 2005, he held a variety of roles in New York and Buenos Aires, and in 2005 he was appointed as CEO, Latin America. In 2008 and 2009, in addition to his responsibilities as CEO, Latin America and Head of Latin America Investment Banking, he served as Senior Country Officer for Brazil. 

Mr Aguzin holds a bachelor degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the US and is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and English.

Sandra Lee CEO BMS ASIA

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.

Alejandro Plaza Head of Private Equity EMEA APAC SESAMM

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.

Atiff Gill Senior Managing Director CVC CAPITAL PARTNERS

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.

Nicholas Bloy Co-Founder & Managing Partner NAVIS CAPITAL PARTNERS

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.

Joshua Maxey Co-Founder and Head of Corporate Development & Communications THIRD BRIDGE

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.

Vanessa Capdevielle Senior Director & Head of Singapore Office BLACKPEAK

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.

Divya Thakur Partner Morgan Lewis Stamford LLC

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.

Ben Hart Partner & Head of Investor Relations (Asia) ADAMS STREET PARTNERS

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

Grace Lee Partner & Group COO QIMING VENTURE PARTNERS

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.

Bonnie Lo Partner & COO TPG NEWQUEST

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.

Pratibha Jain Head of Strategy and Group General Counsel EVERSTONE GROUP

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

Eugene Chan Director TR CAPITAL

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.

Brooke Zhou Partner LGT CAPITAL PARTNERS

Brooke Zhou is Partner of LGT Capital Partners, and leads LGT CP’s secondary investment activities in Asia, as well as the firm’s overall China business. LGT Capital Partners is a leading institutional alternative asset and fund of funds manager, currently managing over USD 90 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 Wan Head of Asia REDE PARTNERS

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.

Jolie Chow Managing Director PJT PARTNERS

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.

Pang Lee Partner COOLEY LLP

Pang Lee is a fund formation partner in Cooley’s Hong Kong office.  Pang Lee's practice is focused on the offering, investment and operation of various types of private investment funds, with a focus on venture capital and private equity funds, special situation funds, and investment advisory businesses.  He has advised clients on various types of fund formations across a range of geographies and industries, particularly for fund managers and institutional investors making investments in and around the Pacific Rim, with an emphasis on Greater China, South and Southeast Asia and the Silicon Valley.  

Pang also has experience advising clients on secondary transactions, co-investments and strategic joint venture arrangements.  Pang brings a global perspective, having started his career as a private funds lawyer in New York, and have also practiced in the San Francisco and Shanghai offices of Cooley.  Pang regularly speaks at regional industry conferences in China and Southeast Asia.

Pang has a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and a BS from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Wei Zhou Founding Managing Partner CCV

In 2007, Wei joined KPCB as a member of the founding team and served as the managing partner of KPCB, leading the technology investment team in Greater China. In 2017, Wei founded CCV, adhering to a selected investment strategy, focusing on early investment in artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous driving and other fields, and maintaining the rate of investing in at least one unicorn per year.

The companies he invested include: JD.com (NASDAQ:JD), JD.com, Ximalaya FM, VenusTech (SZSE:002439), CreditEase (NYSE:YRD), Rong360 (NYSE:JT), Arrail Dental (06639.HK) ), Shukun Technology, Perfect Corp, MetaApp, Cowa Robot, Transsnet Financial, IceKredit, Quicktron, PPIO, U POWER Technology, etc.

Wei has been honored as the Most Influential Venture Capitalist by Fortune, Best Venture Capitalists by Forbes, FT China Leader Venture Capitalist and Best Venture Capitalist by China Venture and Zero2IPO.

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 investment industry in Greater China.

Wei holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.

Sang Han Partner CENTO VENTURES

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.

Shinichi Takamiya Managing Partner GLOBIS CAPITAL PARTNERS

Shin is Managing Partner at GLOBIS Capital Partners. Shin leads GLOBIS’s investments in mobile, digital media, and web services. Shin takes a hands-on approach to his portfolio companies initiating strategy development, organization/process development, partnership development, and global expansion.　

His track record includes: IPO iStyle (ticker TSE 3660), Aucfan (3674), Kayac (3904), Pixta (3416), and Mercari (4385); M&A Shimauma Print System (acquired by CCC), and nanapi (acquired by KDDI). His portfolio includes Lancers, Viibar, Timers, Coubic, Reblue, and Mirrative etc. Selected as Forbes Japan Midas List Most Influential Venture Investor 2018.

Prior to Globis, Shin led management consulting projects at Arthur D. Little where he developed corporate strategy, new business strategy and innovation strategy for leading IT service providers and software companies. Shin 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.

Joon Sung Park Managing Director LEGEND CAPITAL

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.

Xiaying Zhang Director of Private Investments WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT

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.

Doug Coulter Partner, Head of Private Equity, Asia-Pacific LGT CAPITAL PARTNERS

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.

Tianhao Wu MANAGING DIRECTOR NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

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.

Sophia Tsai Managing Director of Investments TRINITY CHURCH WALL STREET

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.

Edward J. Grefenstette President, CEO & CIO THE DIETRICH FOUNDATION

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), where he was responsible for managing its endowment and tax-exempt debt program. Prior to CMU, he co-founded a small-cap private equity fund, following seven years in investment banking and law. He earned his AB in Economics with honors from Georgetown University, a Juris Doctor with honors from Georgetown University Law Center, and an MBA in Finance and Strategy with honors from CMU. He currently serves as a trustee, director and/or investment committee member of CMU, the University of Pittsburgh (IC chair), and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). He is a past director/trustee of The Hillman Company, and The Hillman Family Foundations, as well as a former advisory board member of Commonfund Capital.

Tim Burroughs Managing Editor ASIAN VENTURE CAPITAL JOURNAL

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.

Kirk M. Beaton Partner LEXINGTON PARTNERS

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.

James Coulter Executive Chairman and Founding Partner TPG

James (“Jim”) Coulter is the Executive Chairman and a Founding Partner of TPG, the Co-Managing Partner of The Rise Fund, and Managing Partner of TPG Rise Climate. Jim is a 1982 Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College. In 1986, Jim received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was named an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Jim has served on over 35 corporate boards in his career, and currently serves on Creative Artists Agency, Philz Coffee and Rodan + Fields. He also serves on the Stanford University Board of Trustees, and has served on the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College.

En Yaw Chue Chief Investment Officer AZALEA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

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.

Marc Rowan Chief Executive Officer APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT

Marc Rowan is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Apollo. He currently serves on the board of directors of Apollo Global Management, Inc., Athene Holding Ltd. and Athora Holding Ltd. Currently, Marc is Chair of the Board of Advisors of the Wharton School and a member of the University of Pennsylvania’s Board of Trustees. In addition, he is involved in public policy and is an initial funder and contributor to the development of the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan research initiative which provides analysis of public policy’s fiscal impact.

An active philanthropist, Marc is a founding member and Chair of Youth Renewal Fund and Vice Chair of Darca, Israel’s top educational network operating 40 schools with over 22,000 students throughout Israel’s most diverse and under-served communities. He also serves on the board of OpenDor Media, a digital media company centered on engaging Jewish and Israel content. Marc is an Executive Committee member of the Civil Society Fellowship, a partnership of ADL and the Aspen Institute, designed to empower the next generation of community leaders and problem solvers from across the political spectrum. He also serves on the boards of several technology-oriented venture companies.

Marc graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business with a BS and an MBA in Finance.

Kirk M. Beaton Partner LEXINGTON PARTNERS

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.

Xiang-Dong Yang Managing Director and Chairman Carlyle Asia CARLYLE

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.

Heath Zarin Founder, Chair & CEO EMERGEVEST

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.

Shannon Wolfers Managing Director - Buyout and Secure Assets PACIFIC EQUITY PARTNERS

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.

Mark Chiba Group Chairman & Partner THE LONGREACH GROUP

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.

Ganen Sarvananthan Managing Partner TPG CAPITAL ASIA

Ganen Sarvananthan is the Co-Managing Partner of TPG Capital Asia and Head of Southeast Asia. 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.

Manas Tamotia Managing Director ALVAREZ AND MARSAL

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.

Brian Lau Managing Director SHAWKWEI & PARTNERS

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.  

Suzanne Tavill Global Head of Responsible Investment, Partner STEPSTONE

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.

Heiko von Dewitz Partner, Head of Europe AGIC Capital

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.

Simon Pearson Managing Director EMERGEVEST

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.

Valerie Mantot-Groene Regional Managing Director, ASEAN APEX GROUP

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. 

William Tang Head of APAC Sales BACKSTOP SOLUTIONS

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.

James Cen Bonsor Director, Investor Relations CBC GROUP

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.

Alexis Maskell Partner, Global Head of Investor Relations BC PARTNERS

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.

Alex Wilmerding Partner PANTHEON VENTURES

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.

Nicolas Aguzin Chief Executive Officer HKEX

Nicolas Aguzin joined HKEX as Chief Executive Officer on 24 May 2021 from J.P. Morgan, where he was most recently Chief Executive Officer of J.P. Morgan’s International Private Bank. Mr Aguzin has been based in Hong Kong since 2012. 

From 2013 to 2020, Mr Aguzin was CEO, J.P. Morgan, Asia Pacific where he was responsible for all the firm’s business across 17 markets. Mr Aguzin presided over some of the firm’s major expansion efforts during the period, including establishing itself in China as one of the few international financial institutions with a full range of services and capabilities; including a fully-owned locally incorporated commercial bank, a majority-owned securities company, an asset management company and a futures and options company. Concurrent with his Asia CEO role, Mr Aguzin also ran J.P. Morgan’s Investment Banking division in Asia. During his tenure the bank rose to become one of the leading investment banks in the Asia Pacific region. 

Mr Aguzin joined J.P. Morgan in 1990 in Buenos Aires as a financial analyst. Between 1990 and 2005, he held a variety of roles in New York and Buenos Aires, and in 2005 he was appointed as CEO, Latin America. In 2008 and 2009, in addition to his responsibilities as CEO, Latin America and Head of Latin America Investment Banking, he served as Senior Country Officer for Brazil. 

Mr Aguzin holds a bachelor degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the US and is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and English.

Sandra Lee CEO BMS ASIA

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.

Alejandro Plaza Head of Private Equity EMEA APAC SESAMM

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.

Atiff Gill Senior Managing Director CVC CAPITAL PARTNERS

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.

Nicholas Bloy Co-Founder & Managing Partner NAVIS CAPITAL PARTNERS

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.

Joshua Maxey Co-Founder and Head of Corporate Development & Communications THIRD BRIDGE

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.

Vanessa Capdevielle Senior Director & Head of Singapore Office BLACKPEAK

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.

Divya Thakur Partner Morgan Lewis Stamford LLC

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.

Ben Hart Partner & Head of Investor Relations (Asia) ADAMS STREET PARTNERS

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

Grace Lee Partner & Group COO QIMING VENTURE PARTNERS

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.

Bonnie Lo Partner & COO TPG NEWQUEST

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.

Pratibha Jain Head of Strategy and Group General Counsel EVERSTONE GROUP

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

Eugene Chan Director TR CAPITAL

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.

Brooke Zhou Partner LGT CAPITAL PARTNERS

Brooke Zhou is Partner of LGT Capital Partners, and leads LGT CP’s secondary investment activities in Asia, as well as the firm’s overall China business. LGT Capital Partners is a leading institutional alternative asset and fund of funds manager, currently managing over USD 90 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 Wan Head of Asia REDE PARTNERS

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.

Jolie Chow Managing Director PJT PARTNERS

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.

Pang Lee Partner COOLEY LLP

Pang Lee is a fund formation partner in Cooley’s Hong Kong office.  Pang Lee's practice is focused on the offering, investment and operation of various types of private investment funds, with a focus on venture capital and private equity funds, special situation funds, and investment advisory businesses.  He has advised clients on various types of fund formations across a range of geographies and industries, particularly for fund managers and institutional investors making investments in and around the Pacific Rim, with an emphasis on Greater China, South and Southeast Asia and the Silicon Valley.  

Pang also has experience advising clients on secondary transactions, co-investments and strategic joint venture arrangements.  Pang brings a global perspective, having started his career as a private funds lawyer in New York, and have also practiced in the San Francisco and Shanghai offices of Cooley.  Pang regularly speaks at regional industry conferences in China and Southeast Asia.

Pang has a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and a BS from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Wei Zhou Founding Managing Partner CCV

In 2007, Wei joined KPCB as a member of the founding team and served as the managing partner of KPCB, leading the technology investment team in Greater China. In 2017, Wei founded CCV, adhering to a selected investment strategy, focusing on early investment in artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous driving and other fields, and maintaining the rate of investing in at least one unicorn per year.

The companies he invested include: JD.com (NASDAQ:JD), JD.com, Ximalaya FM, VenusTech (SZSE:002439), CreditEase (NYSE:YRD), Rong360 (NYSE:JT), Arrail Dental (06639.HK) ), Shukun Technology, Perfect Corp, MetaApp, Cowa Robot, Transsnet Financial, IceKredit, Quicktron, PPIO, U POWER Technology, etc.

Wei has been honored as the Most Influential Venture Capitalist by Fortune, Best Venture Capitalists by Forbes, FT China Leader Venture Capitalist and Best Venture Capitalist by China Venture and Zero2IPO.

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 investment industry in Greater China.

Wei holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.

Sang Han Partner CENTO VENTURES

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.

Shinichi Takamiya Managing Partner GLOBIS CAPITAL PARTNERS

Shin is Managing Partner at GLOBIS Capital Partners. Shin leads GLOBIS’s investments in mobile, digital media, and web services. Shin takes a hands-on approach to his portfolio companies initiating strategy development, organization/process development, partnership development, and global expansion.　

His track record includes: IPO iStyle (ticker TSE 3660), Aucfan (3674), Kayac (3904), Pixta (3416), and Mercari (4385); M&A Shimauma Print System (acquired by CCC), and nanapi (acquired by KDDI). His portfolio includes Lancers, Viibar, Timers, Coubic, Reblue, and Mirrative etc. Selected as Forbes Japan Midas List Most Influential Venture Investor 2018.

Prior to Globis, Shin led management consulting projects at Arthur D. Little where he developed corporate strategy, new business strategy and innovation strategy for leading IT service providers and software companies. Shin 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.

Joon Sung Park Managing Director LEGEND CAPITAL

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.

Xiaying Zhang Director of Private Investments WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT

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.

Doug Coulter Partner, Head of Private Equity, Asia-Pacific LGT CAPITAL PARTNERS

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.

Tianhao Wu MANAGING DIRECTOR NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

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.

Sophia Tsai Managing Director of Investments TRINITY CHURCH WALL STREET

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.

Edward J. Grefenstette President, CEO & CIO THE DIETRICH FOUNDATION

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), where he was responsible for managing its endowment and tax-exempt debt program. Prior to CMU, he co-founded a small-cap private equity fund, following seven years in investment banking and law. He earned his AB in Economics with honors from Georgetown University, a Juris Doctor with honors from Georgetown University Law Center, and an MBA in Finance and Strategy with honors from CMU. He currently serves as a trustee, director and/or investment committee member of CMU, the University of Pittsburgh (IC chair), and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). He is a past director/trustee of The Hillman Company, and The Hillman Family Foundations, as well as a former advisory board member of Commonfund Capital.

Alejandro Plaza Head of Private Equity EMEA APAC SESAMM

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 Wilmerding Partner PANTHEON VENTURES

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 Maskell Partner, Global Head of Investor Relations BC PARTNERS

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.

Atiff Gill Senior Managing Director CVC CAPITAL PARTNERS

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 Partner & Head of Investor Relations (Asia) ADAMS STREET PARTNERS

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 Partner & COO TPG NEWQUEST

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.

Brian Lau Managing Director SHAWKWEI & PARTNERS

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.  

Brooke Zhou Partner LGT CAPITAL PARTNERS

Brooke Zhou is Partner of LGT Capital Partners, and leads LGT CP’s secondary investment activities in Asia, as well as the firm’s overall China business. LGT Capital Partners is a leading institutional alternative asset and fund of funds manager, currently managing over USD 90 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 Wan Head of Asia REDE PARTNERS

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.

Divya Thakur Partner Morgan Lewis Stamford LLC

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.

Doug Coulter Partner, Head of Private Equity, Asia-Pacific LGT CAPITAL PARTNERS

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.

Edward J. Grefenstette President, CEO & CIO THE DIETRICH FOUNDATION

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), where he was responsible for managing its endowment and tax-exempt debt program. Prior to CMU, he co-founded a small-cap private equity fund, following seven years in investment banking and law. He earned his AB in Economics with honors from Georgetown University, a Juris Doctor with honors from Georgetown University Law Center, and an MBA in Finance and Strategy with honors from CMU. He currently serves as a trustee, director and/or investment committee member of CMU, the University of Pittsburgh (IC chair), and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). He is a past director/trustee of The Hillman Company, and The Hillman Family Foundations, as well as a former advisory board member of Commonfund Capital.

En Yaw Chue Chief Investment Officer AZALEA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

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.

Eugene Chan Director TR CAPITAL

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.

Ganen Sarvananthan Managing Partner TPG CAPITAL ASIA

Ganen Sarvananthan is the Co-Managing Partner of TPG Capital Asia and Head of Southeast Asia. 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.

Grace Lee Partner & Group COO QIMING VENTURE PARTNERS

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.

Heath Zarin Founder, Chair & CEO EMERGEVEST

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.

Heiko von Dewitz Partner, Head of Europe AGIC Capital

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.

James Cen Bonsor Director, Investor Relations CBC GROUP

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 Coulter Executive Chairman and Founding Partner TPG

James (“Jim”) Coulter is the Executive Chairman and a Founding Partner of TPG, the Co-Managing Partner of The Rise Fund, and Managing Partner of TPG Rise Climate. Jim is a 1982 Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College. In 1986, Jim received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was named an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Jim has served on over 35 corporate boards in his career, and currently serves on Creative Artists Agency, Philz Coffee and Rodan + Fields. He also serves on the Stanford University Board of Trustees, and has served on the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College.

Jolie Chow Managing Director PJT PARTNERS

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.

Joon Sung Park Managing Director LEGEND CAPITAL

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.

Joshua Maxey Co-Founder and Head of Corporate Development & Communications THIRD BRIDGE

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.

Kirk M. Beaton Partner LEXINGTON PARTNERS

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.

Manas Tamotia Managing Director ALVAREZ AND MARSAL

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.

Marc Rowan Chief Executive Officer APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT

Marc Rowan is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Apollo. He currently serves on the board of directors of Apollo Global Management, Inc., Athene Holding Ltd. and Athora Holding Ltd. Currently, Marc is Chair of the Board of Advisors of the Wharton School and a member of the University of Pennsylvania’s Board of Trustees. In addition, he is involved in public policy and is an initial funder and contributor to the development of the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan research initiative which provides analysis of public policy’s fiscal impact.

An active philanthropist, Marc is a founding member and Chair of Youth Renewal Fund and Vice Chair of Darca, Israel’s top educational network operating 40 schools with over 22,000 students throughout Israel’s most diverse and under-served communities. He also serves on the board of OpenDor Media, a digital media company centered on engaging Jewish and Israel content. Marc is an Executive Committee member of the Civil Society Fellowship, a partnership of ADL and the Aspen Institute, designed to empower the next generation of community leaders and problem solvers from across the political spectrum. He also serves on the boards of several technology-oriented venture companies.

Marc graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business with a BS and an MBA in Finance.

Mark Chiba Group Chairman & Partner THE LONGREACH GROUP

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.

Nicholas Bloy Co-Founder & Managing Partner NAVIS CAPITAL PARTNERS

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.

Nicolas Aguzin Chief Executive Officer HKEX

Nicolas Aguzin joined HKEX as Chief Executive Officer on 24 May 2021 from J.P. Morgan, where he was most recently Chief Executive Officer of J.P. Morgan’s International Private Bank. Mr Aguzin has been based in Hong Kong since 2012. 

From 2013 to 2020, Mr Aguzin was CEO, J.P. Morgan, Asia Pacific where he was responsible for all the firm’s business across 17 markets. Mr Aguzin presided over some of the firm’s major expansion efforts during the period, including establishing itself in China as one of the few international financial institutions with a full range of services and capabilities; including a fully-owned locally incorporated commercial bank, a majority-owned securities company, an asset management company and a futures and options company. Concurrent with his Asia CEO role, Mr Aguzin also ran J.P. Morgan’s Investment Banking division in Asia. During his tenure the bank rose to become one of the leading investment banks in the Asia Pacific region. 

Mr Aguzin joined J.P. Morgan in 1990 in Buenos Aires as a financial analyst. Between 1990 and 2005, he held a variety of roles in New York and Buenos Aires, and in 2005 he was appointed as CEO, Latin America. In 2008 and 2009, in addition to his responsibilities as CEO, Latin America and Head of Latin America Investment Banking, he served as Senior Country Officer for Brazil. 

Mr Aguzin holds a bachelor degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the US and is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and English.

Pang Lee Partner COOLEY LLP

Pang Lee is a fund formation partner in Cooley’s Hong Kong office.  Pang Lee's practice is focused on the offering, investment and operation of various types of private investment funds, with a focus on venture capital and private equity funds, special situation funds, and investment advisory businesses.  He has advised clients on various types of fund formations across a range of geographies and industries, particularly for fund managers and institutional investors making investments in and around the Pacific Rim, with an emphasis on Greater China, South and Southeast Asia and the Silicon Valley.  

Pang also has experience advising clients on secondary transactions, co-investments and strategic joint venture arrangements.  Pang brings a global perspective, having started his career as a private funds lawyer in New York, and have also practiced in the San Francisco and Shanghai offices of Cooley.  Pang regularly speaks at regional industry conferences in China and Southeast Asia.

Pang has a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and a BS from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Pratibha Jain Head of Strategy and Group General Counsel EVERSTONE GROUP

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

Sandra Lee CEO BMS ASIA

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 Partner CENTO VENTURES

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.

Shannon Wolfers Managing Director - Buyout and Secure Assets PACIFIC EQUITY PARTNERS

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.

Shinichi Takamiya Managing Partner GLOBIS CAPITAL PARTNERS

Shin is Managing Partner at GLOBIS Capital Partners. Shin leads GLOBIS’s investments in mobile, digital media, and web services. Shin takes a hands-on approach to his portfolio companies initiating strategy development, organization/process development, partnership development, and global expansion.　

His track record includes: IPO iStyle (ticker TSE 3660), Aucfan (3674), Kayac (3904), Pixta (3416), and Mercari (4385); M&A Shimauma Print System (acquired by CCC), and nanapi (acquired by KDDI). His portfolio includes Lancers, Viibar, Timers, Coubic, Reblue, and Mirrative etc. Selected as Forbes Japan Midas List Most Influential Venture Investor 2018.

Prior to Globis, Shin led management consulting projects at Arthur D. Little where he developed corporate strategy, new business strategy and innovation strategy for leading IT service providers and software companies. Shin 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.

Simon Pearson Managing Director EMERGEVEST

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 Managing Director of Investments TRINITY CHURCH WALL STREET

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.

Suzanne Tavill Global Head of Responsible Investment, Partner STEPSTONE

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.

Tianhao Wu MANAGING DIRECTOR NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

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 Managing Editor ASIAN VENTURE CAPITAL JOURNAL

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.

Valerie Mantot-Groene Regional Managing Director, ASEAN APEX GROUP

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. 

Vanessa Capdevielle Senior Director & Head of Singapore Office BLACKPEAK

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.

Wei Zhou Founding Managing Partner CCV

In 2007, Wei joined KPCB as a member of the founding team and served as the managing partner of KPCB, leading the technology investment team in Greater China. In 2017, Wei founded CCV, adhering to a selected investment strategy, focusing on early investment in artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous driving and other fields, and maintaining the rate of investing in at least one unicorn per year.

The companies he invested include: JD.com (NASDAQ:JD), JD.com, Ximalaya FM, VenusTech (SZSE:002439), CreditEase (NYSE:YRD), Rong360 (NYSE:JT), Arrail Dental (06639.HK) ), Shukun Technology, Perfect Corp, MetaApp, Cowa Robot, Transsnet Financial, IceKredit, Quicktron, PPIO, U POWER Technology, etc.

Wei has been honored as the Most Influential Venture Capitalist by Fortune, Best Venture Capitalists by Forbes, FT China Leader Venture Capitalist and Best Venture Capitalist by China Venture and Zero2IPO.

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 investment industry in Greater China.

Wei holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.

William Tang Head of APAC Sales BACKSTOP SOLUTIONS

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 Yang Managing Director and Chairman Carlyle Asia CARLYLE

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 Director of Private Investments WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT

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.