35th AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum
Asia's premier private equity & venture event for the last 35 years
Four Seasons Hotel, Singapore & Online
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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.
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.
Suyi leads CPP Investments’ Private Equity program globally, including teams dedicated to investments in Direct Private Equity, Private Equity Asia, Private Equity Funds and Secondaries.
Suyi was most recently Senior Managing Director & Head of Asia Pacific overseeing CPP Investments’ investment activities in Asia Pacific across all investment programs including public equity, private equity, real estate, infrastructure, and credit. Suyi joined CPP Investments in 2007 and established our first international office in Hong Kong. She oversaw the private equity business in Asia as Head of Private Equity Asia until early 2016.
Suyi has over 20 years of investment experience. Prior to joining CPP Investments, she worked at The Carlyle Group and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan for private equity investments in Asia as well as globally. Before her investing career, Suyi also worked at McKinsey & Co. and PricewaterhouseCoopers in various Asian countries. Suyi holds a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Seoul National University. She is a Certified Public Accountant.
She currently serves on the board of directors of Hong Kong Broadband Network (“HKBN”), a Hong Kong listed Internet, Communication & Tele-communication company. Suyi is also on the Products Advisory Committee of the Securities & Futures Commission of Hong Kong and sits on the board of Junior Achievement in Korea and Global Private Capital Association (ex “EMPEA”).
Adrian is Founder & Managing Partner at AC Ventures, formerly Convergence Ventures. ACV is an early stage Indonesia focused technology venture capital fund. ACV managed 3 funds with a portfolio of over 80 businesses. Notable investments include, Payfazz, Koinworks, Julo, Carsome and M17.
Previously, he co-founded several ventures in China and Indonesia. Adrian’s 1st Internet venture was Idapted where as CEO & cofounder he raised 2 rounds of venture financing and led the company to be the largest live 1:1 online English test preparation service in China. Idapted was acquired by Eleutian in 2011. He then joined Rocket Internet as a Managing Director where he worked on new technology ventures in China and South East Asia. At the end of 2014 he launched Convergence Ventures.
Adrian is also involved in non-profit work. He founded and chairs a UK Charity called CNYTrust, which supports children in rural China continue schooling. He is a business mentor at several organisations including Endeavour, Founders Institute and Antler. He has served on the board of Entrepreneurs Organisation is several roles including Beijing Chapter President and Regional Communications Director. He is also a member of Young Presidents Organisation (YPO) in Indonesia.
Andrew Harline represents both public and privately-held companies in a wide range of corporate and securities matters, including private financings, mergers and acquisitions and public offerings. He also represents venture capital and private equity funds in connection with financings and other transactions. Andrew is counsel to companies across a broad range of industries and ranging from start-ups to well established companies.
Prior to joining Cooley, Andrew was a corporate associate at a leading law firm in Southern California. Prior to attending law school, he held various positions in the investment and finance industries, including as an equity trader and an investment banking analyst.
While attending Vanderbilt University Law School, he was a member of the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law.
Education
Vanderbilt University Law School
JD, 2012
Brigham Young University
BA, 2007
Admissions & Credentials
California
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.
Brian O’Connor co-founded Falcon House Partners in 2011 and has more than 30 years of professional experience, including more than 20 years of experience in private equity. Prior to Falcon House, Mr. O’Connor spent more than 18 years at Lehman Brothers, almost entirely in Asia. He started his career at Lehman in Hong Kong and Shanghai before relocating to Tokyo and then to Jakarta as Head of Lehman Brothers Indonesia. Returning to Hong Kong, Mr. O’Connor served as Head of Asia TMT and Head of Asia (ex-Japan) Corporate Finance and M&A. Returning to Tokyo, Mr. O’Connor became CAO (COO) of Lehman Asia-Pacific and a member of the Asia-Pacific Executive Committee. He played a key role in the sale of Lehman Asia-Pacific to Nomura, and served as Vice-Chairman of Nomura Asia. Originally from the U.S., Mr. O’Connor earned a BA in Asian Studies & Economics from the University of California, Berkely; he speaks Bahasa Indonesia and Mandarin Chinese.
Edward J. Grefenstette serves as President/CEO and Chief Investment Officer of The Dietrich Foundation, a ~$950 million 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), the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), The Hillman Company, and The Hillman Family Foundations, as well as an advisory board member of Commonfund Capital.
Edwin Chan joined iCapital in 2021 as Head of Client Solutions in Asia. He has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, including a strong track record in private markets in the Asia Pacific region. Before joining iCapital, Edwin successfully founded and spent a decade building the Probitas Partners business in Asia. He has worked with many private market firms across different alternative investment strategies as well as with institutional and family office investors in the Asia Pacific region. Previously, Edwin worked with AIG Global Investments, Citi, and HSBC based out of Hong Kong in various regional roles covering clients across the broad Asian geography. He holds a MBA and a BA from the University of South Australia and is a Certified Practicing Accountant of CPA Australia.
Emre is General Partner at Globis Capital Partners, leading investments in IT startups targeting digital transformation of various industries. His portfolio includes Photosynth (TSE 4379), GLM (electric vehicle startup, acquired), Sensyn Robotics (drone software), MFS (mortgage technology platform), New Standard (digital media agency), Global Mobility Service (auto loan, IoT), Shippio (digital freight forwarder), CADDi (procurement platform for manufacturing parts), Matsuri Technologies (vacation rental operator), Estie (commercial real estate database), and Leaner Technologies（procurement and spend management SaaS）.
Prior to joining Globis Capital Partners, Emre worked for Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting (Tokyo) and KPMG Management Consulting (Tokyo), where he specialized in overseas expansion and Post Merger Integration.
He teaches at Globis University Graduate School of Management (MBA).
Emre graduated from Harvard Business School (MBA) and Ohio State University.
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 is a Partner & 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. 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. Grace was named the Top 10 Most Influential CFO in the China VC/PE Industry in 2017 by China Venture.
Founded in 2006, Qiming Venture Partners is a leading China venture capital firm with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Hong Kong, Seattle, Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area. Currently, Qiming Venture Partners manages eleven US Dollar funds and seven RMB funds with $9.4 billion in capital raised. Since establishment, the firm has invested in outstanding companies in the Technology and Consumer (T&C) and Healthcare industries at the early and growth stages.
Gwenlynne Lee focuses her practice on pan-Asian mergers and acquisitions, late-stage venture capital and growth equity transactions, as well as general corporate matters, across a diverse range of industries. Her clients include strategic and financial buyers and sellers in public and private acquisitions, and high growth emerging companies and investors in equity financing transactions.
Education
London School of Economics and Political Science
LLM
Oxford University
BA (Jurisprudence)
Admissions & Credentials
Hong Kong
Mr. Heath Zarin is the Founder, Chair and CEO ofEmergeVest, 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 billion of annual revenues and global operations.
Mr. Heath Zarin was previously Managing Director and Head of Principal Investments, Asia-Pacific, for HSBC, with responsibility for Asian proprietary private investment activities. Previously, he founded and ran Emergent Investment Group (“EIG”), a Hong Kong-based private investment firm. Prior to founding EIG, Mr. Heath Zarin held a series of senior executive roles at Credit Suisse, including forming and managing its Asian private equity business.
Mr. Heath Zarin practiced corporate law with SchuiteRoth & Zabel LLP in New York, where he formed and advised hedge funds and private equity funds. Mr. Heath Zarin’s current and previous board service includes companies across Asia, Europe and North America, in diverse manufacturing and service industries. Mr. Zarin has served as the Chair ofAllport Cargo Services, Adjuno, CM Downton, Jigsaw Solutions, NFT, Palletforce and other businesses.
Mr. Heath Zarin holds a Juris Doctor from the Fordham University School of Law and graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He is CFA, CMT and CAIA charterholder and has completed Certificate programs at Harvard Business School.
Heads Japan Post Bank’s $30B private equity investment program and has been responsible for all aspects of its creation and construction. Prior to joining Japan Post Bank in January 2016, worked at Nippon Life Insurance Company, where he established and lead Nippon Life’s private equity operations in the US, and was also Head of Product Development at Nissay Asset Management Co. the asset management subsidiary of Nippon Life.
He has a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Tokyo, LL.M. from the University of Michigan Law School, has passed the New York Bar Exam and also is a Chartered Member of the Security Analysts
Association of Japan.
Jacob Chiu is a Managing Director responsible for Asian PE manager research and co-investments for HQ Capital, a leading global independent alternative investment manager with $8 billion AUM in private equity. Previously, he was a Partner with FLAG Squadron Asia; a Managing Director with Search Investment Group; and held senior operating and financial roles with Glaxo, Kraft and TigerPack. He holds an MSc in Financial Management from the University of London.
Jai is a partner, president, and co-founder at Sapphire Ventures. He invests in startups he believes are developing ground-breaking products and services, and have embarked on their journey to become a company of consequence. He has more than 15 years of experience helping companies innovate their product and marketing strategies in order to scale and become market leaders.
Fourteen of Jai’s investments have become publicly traded companies and more than 15 have been acquired.
Jai is currently a member of the board (director or observer) at Catchpoint, CircleCI, Clari, DataRobot, OpsRamp, PubNub, Splashtop, Tetrate, ThoughtSpot, UJET, Uptycs, Verbit, yellow.ai, and Yugabyte. He also led the firm’s investments in Blockdaemon, FalconX, JumpCloud, Privacera, Netskope, Tesseract and Zesty.
Jai’s previous investments at Sapphire include: AllyO (acquired by HireVue), Alteryx (NYSE: AYX), Apigee (IPO then acquired by Google Cloud), Box (NYSE: BOX), Connectiva Systems (acquired by Mara Ison), Cloudhealth Technologies (acquired by VMware), Control4 (IPO then acquired By Hellman & Friedman), Cyphort (acquired by Juniper Networks), ExactTarget (IPO then acquired by Salesforce), Five9 (NASDAQ: FIVN), GroundWork (acquired by Parallax), Ignite Technologies (acquired by Versata), Iron.IO (acquired by Xenon Technologies), Jaspersoft (acquired by TIBCO Software), JFrog (NASDAQ: FROG), JustDial (NYSE: JUSTDIAL), MuleSoft (IPO then acquired by Salesforce), Newgen Software (NYSE: NEWGEN), Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), Paytm (NYSE: PAYTM), Punchh (acquired by PAR Technology), Portworx (acquired by Pure Storage), Socrata (acquired by Tyler Technologies), Square (NYSE: SQ), Sumo Logic (NASDAQ: SUMO), and Tealeaf (acquired by IBM).
Prior to joining Sapphire Ventures in 2006, Jai worked at Oracle, Intel Capital, Agilent Ventures, and MVC Capital. He has a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Brown University and an MBA from University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
Jim Barry, Managing Director, is the Chief Investment Officer of BlackRock Alternatives Investors (BAI). BAI currently manages c. US$300 billion in total assets and client commitments with a team of over 1,100. As CIO, Mr. Barry has accountability for all investment activities across the platform, which is comprised of the firm's investment capabilities across Real Estate, Infrastructure, Hedge Funds, Private Equity and Credit.
As CIO, Mr. Barry oversees four strategic business pillars within BAI that focus on investment performance and process; implementing a fully integrated ESG investing strategy and framework; a pan-alts strategy and research function; and BlackRock Capital Markets (BCM), our firmwide Capital Markets business.
Prior to his role as CIO, he was Global Head of BlackRock Real Assets. In 2016, he took responsibility for BlackRock's Global Real Estate Investment business by integrating both Infrastructure and Real Estate to create one cohesive, scalable Real Asset operating platform with a range of client orientated strategies defined by their risk positioning. Under his leadership this business grew from c. US$30 billion to c. US$65 billion in assets in under 5 years.
Mr. Barry founded BlackRock's Infrastructure business in 2011 upon joining the firm. Prior to which he spent 11 years as the CEO of NTR plc. He led the transformation of NTR from its origins as an Irish toll road developer into a leading international developer, owner and operator of a portfolio of diverse infrastructure businesses. Prior to joining NTR, Mr. Barry worked at Bain and Company and in the investment banking division of Morgan Stanley.
Mr. Barry earned a BComm from University College Cork in 1989 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1994.
Josh Stern joined the Investment Office of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in January 2012. At the Foundation Mr. Stern is part of the group overseeing all private investments. Mr. Stern came to the Foundation from Rockefeller University where he was responsible for the private investment portfolio. In that role he oversaw a portfolio of Venture Capital, Buyout and Growth Capital and Real Assets investments. Previously he worked at Standard & Poor's as a director in the Higher Education and Not-for-Profit Group, which was part of the Public Finance Department. At S&P Mr. Stern worked closely with a large number of universities and foundations across the United States. Over the course of his career he also worked as an investment banker, focusing on higher education institutions. Mr. Stern received an M.P.A. in public finance from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, an M.S. in non-profit management from New York University and a B.A. in history and sociology from Binghamton University.
Mr. Beaton is a Partner of Lexington Partners where he leads the firm’s Asian activities. Mr. Beaton is engaged in the origination and evaluation of secondary purchases of non-U.S. private equity and alternative investments, as well as the firm’s fundraising efforts in the region. Mr. Beaton joined Lexington in 2003 as an investment professional in London and moved to Hong Kong in 2011 to open the Lexington office. Mr. Beaton was previously an analyst in investment banking at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Beaton graduated from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow with an LLB (Honors) and Universität Hamburg and Universidad Complutense de Madrid with a European masters in economics and law.
Mr Tang is the Chairman and Managing Partner of Affinity Equity Partners following its spin-off from UBS in 2004. Prior to that, he was the Chairman of UBS Capital Asia Pacific, the private equity arm of UBS since 1999. Before UBS Capital, he was the Chief Executive for Investment Banking, East Asia at Union Bank of Switzerland since 1995. Following the merger of Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation to form UBS, Mr Tang became Chief Executive, Hong Kong, of UBS Group and Asia Regional Head of Investment Banking for UBS Investment Bank. Prior to Union Bank of Switzerland, he served as President and CEO of Banque Indosuez's Asian investment bank and Chairman of WI Carr (Far East) Limited, one of the leading stockbroking firms in Asia. Mr. Tang began his financial career with Chase Manhattan Bank. During his 17 years at Chase, he served in a number of senior roles in Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Kyle is the Founder and Managing Partner of ShawKwei & Partners, a private equity investment firm established in 1998. ShawKwei & Partners has offices in Hongkong, Singapore, Shanghai and San Francisco managing investments in Asia, Europe, and the USA. Kyle’s private equity experience before ShawKwei & Partners included managing Asian private equity businesses for Security Pacific National Bank and then the Tudor Group. Kyle has served as a director of several Asian and European industrial and service companies including as founder and director of Flex Ltd. (formerly known as Flextronics International Ltd).
Kyle received an MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, a BS in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia, as well as studied Mandarin Chinese at Taiwan’s National Normal University.
Manas Tamotia is a Managing Director at Alvarez and Marsal Southeast Asia & Australia. He heads the firm’s Private Equity Performance Improvement practice in the region. He brings 20 years of strategy and M&A experience across ASEAN, Americas and Australia, New Zealand both as an adviser but also as an operator.
Manas has worked extensively with private equity, venture capital, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices, as well as corporate buyers undertake pre-deal diligence and target identification, and post-deal value creation efforts. His main sectors are consumer & retail, technology, industrials and social infrastructure e.g., healthcare and education. Prior engagements have involved buy-side commercial due diligence and sell-side “storytelling” on 120+ transactions including >40 completed transactions.
In addition to support transactions, Manas has worked with PE-owned portfolio companies and corporates on >50 strategy assignments. These include answering critical questions on “where to play”, “how to win”, and “how to organize”.
Prior to A&M, Manas was Chief Strategy Officer at a Southeast Asia e-commerce company and before that was instrumental in building L.E.K. Consulting’s Southeast Asia practice as head of its Singapore office.
He has an MBA from the Wharton School and bachelor’s degree in finance and information systems from the University of New South Wales.
Marcia Ellis is the Global Chair of the firm’s Private Equity Group, and a member of our global board of directors. Her practice focuses on private equity transactions and complex mergers and acquisitions involving companies, real estate, and other assets located in Asia. Marcia also assists PE clients in integrating ESG considerations throughout their entire investment cycle, including deal selection, pre-investment diligence, investment documents, and portfolio management.
Having practiced in Asia for more than a quarter of a century, Marcia is one of the most experienced M&A lawyers active in the Asian market. In the past three years, she has advised clients on deals with a total aggregate value well in excess of US$237 billion.
Marcia has extensive experience advising leading investors on M&A transactions, including SoftBank Vision Fund, Alibaba, GLP, Bain Capital Credit, BlackRock, Farallon Capital, Ascendent Capital Partners, Silver Crest Acquisition Corp., Macquarie Asset Management, Hillhouse, Hony Capital, and Celadon Partners. In addition, she is experienced in representing U.S., UK and Asia based institutional investors in the acquisition, financing, and disposition of real estate in China, Hong Kong, and elsewhere in Asia, including numerous logistics and internet data center projects, and investments in, and acquisitions of, real estate developers.
From 2008–2011, she was the Chief Legal Officer for Asia of D. E. Shaw, where she assisted various group entities in making, restructuring, and exiting investments in various countries in Asia, including a number of significant and highly structured investments in China and India.
Marcia has recently been named to Law360’s 2022 Private Equity Editorial Board and elected as the Co-Chair of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong’s Women of Influence Committee. Clients consider her as “a lawyer whose judgement you trust and who knows how far they can push the boundaries” and a “super skilled technical lawyer” who offers “incredible problem-solving skills on all aspects of matters, both legal and commercial.”
Mark Chiba is Group Chairman and Partner of The Longreach Group. The Longreach Group is an established independent private equity firm with offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo. The firm focuses on Japan and related Greater China control buyouts in the mature industrial and technology, consumer, business services and financial services sectors. The firm manages three Funds which have accumulated approximately US$2.1 billion of committed limited partner and co-investment capital.
Mark co-founded The Longreach Group in late 2003. Mark's lead responsibilities at Longreach include firm management, senior relationship driven deal sourcing and execution, investments in the financial services sector, and building the firm's capital base and global networks.
Before co-founding Longreach, Mark served as Chief Executive Officer and President of UBS Securities Japan, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Investment Banking Management Committee, Head of Japan Investment Banking and as a member of the UBS Global Investment Bank Board. Previous to this role in Japan, Mark headed the UBS Asia-Pacific Financial Institutions Group.
Mark is an Australian citizen, resident in Hong Kong. He holds First Class Honours degrees in Economics (University of Melbourne) and Law (University of Sydney). Mark is a Rhodes Scholar with a Master of Philosophy degree in International Relations (with Distinction) from Oxford University.
Matthew Koertge is a Managing Partner of Telstra Ventures. Telstra Ventures manages over A$1B FUM with a team based in Australia, USA and China which has invested in 87 companies around the world of which 33 have achieved liquidity events so far , delivering 17 Unicorns, including 5 of which are Decacorns. Since its inception in 2011, Telstra Ventures has generated more than A$520M of revenue for its portfolio companies across 1,250 customers. Matthew has more than 20 years experience in the venture capital industry including leadership positions at Deutsche Bank Capital Partners, Macquarie Bank and Accede Venture Partners and he has worked with around 200 private equity backed companies including many successful acquisitions and IPOs. Prior to this, Matthew started his career as a software/hardware design engineer and project manager at Fujitsu. Matthew holds degrees in Engineering, Law and Business Administration and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Michael is a partner at Golden Gate Ventures. He joined the firm in 2013 and is currently leading the Growth venture fund. His entrepreneurial journey began in 2000 when he co-founded an IT managed services startup that was acquired in 2006. In 2007, Michael founded a venture fund focused on Dutch small- and medium-sized enterprises to help them with capital financing, business development, and strategy. During the same period, he was invited to join the Economic Development Board Rotterdam as vice-chairman. In that role, he launched the Young Economic Development Board. He brought together a highly influential Dutch network to increase public-private relationships to ensure business leadership invested in local while leveraging the public infrastructure.
Michael was introduced to Golden Gate Ventures in 2013 and relocated with his family to Singapore to join as a Venture Partner in 2013, helping with fundraising, strategic partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions. Since then, Michael has helped to raise over USD $60M for Golden Gate Ventures and its portfolio companies, including helping to raise later stage rounds from external investors as well as leading two early strategic acquisitions.
Sport is an essential part of Michael’s life. He is a former member of the Dutch karate team and the former ambassador for Treknology ( Trek bikes distributor in Singapore). Michael actively participates in Ironman 70.3 races and marathons. Besides sport, Michael is an active writer and writes articles regarding life, balance and venture capital on michaellints.com
Nainesh Jaisingh is a Founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer at Affirma Capital. He is based in Singapore and also directly manages the Private Equity business in South East Asia.
Prior to leading the MBO of Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE) to form Affirma Capital, Nainesh was a founding member of the business within Standard Chartered Bank in 2002, and most recently the Global Head of the Principal Finance business of the Bank.
Nainesh’s early career was with ANZ Investment Bank and ANZ Grindlays.He is an Engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), BHU, and holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore.
Nicholas Bloy, Managing Partner – is one of the three founders of Navis Capital Partners. Navis currently manages USD 5 billion in private and public equity funds.
Mr. Bloy leads investment teams in making, monitoring and exiting investments, sits on Investment Committee and sits on the boards and/or executive committees of several Navis portfolio companies, and is responsible for fundraising. He also sits on the International Advisory Council of CIMB, one of the Southeast Asia’s largest banking groups.
Prior to co-founding Navis, Mr. Bloy worked at The 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.
Oliver Stratton is a Managing Director for Alvarez & Marsal's Asian practice in Hong Kong. With 25 years of experience in consulting and private equity in Asia, his primary areas of concentration are business strategy, performance improvement, operational turnarounds and M&A. Mr. Stratton has worked with clients across a range of industries including private equity, financial services, telecommunications, consumer goods and retail, industrial products and services, transportation and logistics and energy and resources.
Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Stratton spent 20 years with Bain & Company, including 10 years as a Partner. Mr. Stratton also spent two years as a Managing Director with Candover as part of its Asia leadership team.
In these roles Mr. Stratton has served many of the global, regional and major local country funds operating in Asia. Working with those clients, he has led due diligence and portfolio company performance improvement assignments across a range of industry sectors in Greater China, Korea and Southeast Asia.
Mr. Stratton earned an MA in engineering from Cambridge University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. A British national, Mr. Stratton has been based in Hong Kong since 1988.
Pang Lee's practice is focused on the formation and operation of various private investment funds, with a focus on venture capital funds, buyout funds and investment advisory businesses. He has been involved on behalf of sponsors and investors in the formation of some of the largest and most active funds and managers in the region. His practice is focused particularly on fund managers making investments around the Pacific Rim, with an emphasis on Greater China, Southeast Asia and India. Pang also has experience advising clients on a variety of issues including carried interest arrangements, co-investments and strategic joint venture arrangements.
Pang is a regular speaker and moderator at venture capital industry conferences.
Pang is fluent in English and is a native Cantonese speaker.
Education
University of Pennsylvania Law School
JD, 2003
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
BS, 1997
Admissions & Credentials
New York
Solicitor of Hong Kong
Raymond joined BC Partners in 1992. He is Chairman of the Firm, chairs the Management Committee, and is a member of the Private Equity, Private Credit, and Real Estate Investment Committees. Raymond plays an active role in shaping the Firm’s strategy, recruiting talent, sourcing new investment opportunities, and portfolio company operating reviews. He has over three decades of investing experience across a range of sectors and geographies and has led several of the Firm’s marquee transactions including UnityMedia, Suddenlink/ Cablevision, Petsmart and Chewy.
Previously, Raymond worked in investment banking at Wasserstein Perella in New York and Paris, and prior to this as a Management Consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in Chicago. He holds an MBA from Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business, an MSc in Electrical Engineering from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications, and an MSc in Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique.
Rishi joined the Aware Super Private Equity team in 2019. His experience includes manager research, co-investment assessment, portfolio analysis and investment strategy development. Aware Super is one of Australia's largest superannuation (pension) funds, with more than $150bn in funds under management. Prior to Aware Super, Rishi worked in the Private Equity team at the Future Fund, where he helped manage its private equity portfolio. Rishi started his career in the Corporate Finance team at KPMG primarily focussed on Mergers and Acquisitions. He holds a Bachelor of Laws and Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in Chartered Accounting.
Mr. Rodney Muse is one of two Managing Partners of Navis. He leads Investments teams in making, monitoring and exiting investments, sits on Investment Committee and sits on the boards and /or executive committees of several Navis portfolio companies. He has been active in Navis investments across many industries and geographies since Navis' inception.
He co-founded Navis in 1998 with Messrs. Bloy and Foyston with whom he worked while at The Boston Consulting Group.
He holds and MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts Hons degree from St. Lawrence University.
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.
Sean Murphy is a fund formation partner in Cooley’s Singapore office. Sean’s practice focuses on the formation and operation of private funds across venture capital, growth equity, buy-out, special situations, real estate and infrastructure strategies. First resident in Singapore in 2004, he has advised fund sponsors and investors for more than a decade from offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and New York. Sean also regularly advises clients on co-investments, managed accounts, feeder funds for HNWIs, carried interest plans, strategic partnerships and US securities and investment advisory laws.
Education
George Washington University Law School
JD, with honors
University of Pennsylvania
BA, International Relations, magna cum laude
Admissions & Credentials
New York
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.
T.J. Kono joined Unison Capital in 2002. He has managed a number of investments in Japan since Unison’s first fund, then led Unison’s expansion to Korea as its founding member. Today, he serves as a member of both Japan and Korea Investment Committee. He has been involved in Unison’s investments in Drug Eleven (Japan), Mine-Mart (Japan), UCOM (Japan), Nexcon Technology (Korea), Gong cha (Korea)/Royal Tea Taiwan (Taiwan), and Forbes (Japan). In addition to investment role, he oversees Unison Group’s investor relations functions. Prior to Unison Capital, he worked at Merrill Lynch Japan.
Mr. Kono has a B.S/B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.
Tony Jiang is a co-founder and partner at Ocean Link. He leads all of Ocean Link's investments, and he currently serves on the board of eLong, Mafengwo, Yitiao, New Century Kaiyuan Hotels, Ruby Hotels & Resorts, and Mind Education. Prior to founding Ocean Link, Mr. Jiang was with The Carlyle Group from 2006 to 2016 focused on private equity investments in Asia. Earlier in his career, Mr. Jiang worked in the investment banking division of Deutsche Bank. He received a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University with full scholarship.
Utsav Garg is a Managing Director and Head of the Southeast Asia and Australia Business unit of Alvarez & Marsal. The Alvarez & Marsal businesses includes Private Equity services (CDDs, ODDs, FDDs and post-deal value creation, carveouts and PMI support), Corporate Performance improvement (with high results orientation and interim management services) and Restructuring and Turnarounds.
He brings more than 20 years of experience in large scale transformation programs, focused on sustained growth and profitability improvement across various industries, including consumer goods and retail, telecommunications, information and communications technology (ICT), healthcare, logistics and process industries.
Prior to joining Alvarez and Marsal, Utsav led Kearney’s ASEAN business across four offices of Singapore, KL, Jakarta and Bangkok, expanding the company’s business in the region. Prior to that, he worked with Unilever in sales and brand leadership roles across South Asia and Southeast Asia. Mr. Garg began his career at STMicroelectronics as a Semiconductor Design engineer.
Utsav earned an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is a frequent speaker and fundraiser for charitable giving.
Will Cai is a corporate partner and the head of Cooley's Asia capital markets practice. He represents issuers and global investment banks in US and Hong Kong capital market transactions. He also advises private equity funds and multinationals in their investments in the Greater China region, as well as Chinese companies in their cross-border M&A activities.
Will has worked on over 60 successful IPOs in the US and Hong Kong capital markets in the last decade, with a focus on technology and new economy companies. In addition, Will has represented a significant number of leading new economy companies in their M&A transactions, including a number of landmark deals.
The deals he has worked on over the years have garnered a number of rankings and accolades including the "Best IPO of 2017" by FinanceAsia Magazine, "Equity Deal of the Year for 2017" at the IFLR Asia Awards in 2018, the largest technology IPO in Hong Kong in 2017, one of China Business Law Journal’s Deals of the Year in both 2016 and 2015 and one of Asian-MENA Counsel magazine’s Deals of the Year for 2015.
From 1997 to 2003, Will worked for the Supreme People’s Court of China as a judicial clerk, where he acquired extensive experience and knowledge of the Chinese judiciary.
Will is fluent in English and is a native Mandarin speaker.
Education
Stanford Law School
JD, 2006
China University of Political Science and Law
LLB, 1997
Admissions & Credentials
California
Solicitor of Hong Kong
William Tang joined Backstop Solutions as Head of APAC Sales in 2021. He is responsible for leading and growing the team in the Asia Pacific region by identifying high growth opportunities and implementing go-to-market and sales strategies. Prior to joining Backstop Solutions, William served as Head of APAC Sales and led the entire sales team at eVestment, a part of Nasdaq, providing institutional investment data, analytics and market intelligence covering public and private markets. Earlier, he served in various senior sales and management positions at Fitch Solutions and SNL Financial (a division of S&P Global).
William received his bachelor degree in Chemistry with management from the University of Hong Kong and his Master degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Will is an Investment Principal responsible for origination and execution and is based in the firm’s Hong Kong office.
Prior to joining Coller Capital in 2011, William was a Financial Accountant at Thames Water.
William has a BA (Hons) from the University of Manchester, an MSc in Finance from London Business School, and an MBA from the University of Oxford. He is a Chartered Management Accountant.
Wilson Warren is the President of Lexington Partners and Co-Chair of the Secondary Investment Committee. Mr. Warren is primarily engaged in the management of Lexington’s investment operations and oversight for the secondary and co-investment funds. During 26 years at Lexington, he has been actively involved in more than 100 completed secondary transactions – including complex partnership portfolios, direct secondary investments, hedge fund private equity assets, institutional equity co-investments, and GP solutions transactions, committing more than $18 billion of invested capital including syndications to LPs and other investors. Prior to joining Lexington in 1994, Mr. Warren was an associate at Landmark Partners and prior to that he was an analyst in investment management at LaSalle Partners. Mr. Warren graduated from Williams College with a BA in economics.
Xiang-Dong (X.D.) Yang is a Managing Director and Chairman of Carlyle Asia, leading all Corporate Private Equity investments in Asia (ex-Japan). He joined Carlyle in 2001 as a Co-Head of the Asia Buyout advisory team. Carlyle has been investing in Asia for over two decades and is one of the largest private equity investors in Asia. Carlyle Asia has invested over US$15.5 billion in more than 150 companies in corporate private equity, and has current assets under management of more than US$11.8 billion, as of June 30, 2020. Mr. Yang is based 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. Mr. Yang is also a member of the Global Advisory Council of Harvard University and a trustee of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C.
Mr. Yang received his BA in economics from Harvard University and MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a native of China.
Xun Zeng is an investment funds partner of Cooley’s Beijing office. Her practice focuses on the formation, structuring and operation of a wide variety of investment funds, including venture capital, private equity, hybrid and co-investment funds. She advises fund sponsors on the marketing, formation and operation of their funds, as well as upper-tier arrangements, carried interest plans, strategic joint venture arrangements and various governance matters. Xun also has extensive experience in representing institutional investors in connection with investments in private funds.
Xun is a lecturer in Law on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. She teaches Private Investment Funds.
Xun is admitted to practice in New York and Hong Kong. She is a native Mandarin and Cantonese speaker.
Education
University of Pennsylvania Law School
JD
University of Pennsylvania Law School
LLM
Sun Yat-sen University School of Law
LLB, with honors
Admissions & Credentials
New York
Solicitor of Hong Kong
Memberships
New York State Bar Association
Yar-Ping Soo is a Partner primarily specializing in Asian pan-regional leveraged buyouts as well as country focused funds, specifically in Greater China, Japan, Korea and Indonesia. She leads the Asian practice, and actively participates in all fund investment decisions at Adams Street and is responsible for managing relationships with several of Adams Street's managers. Ms. Soo is a member of the Adams Street Primary Investment Committee.
Prior to joining Adams Street, Yar-Ping was a Senior Vice President of GIC Special Investments (GICSI), which is the private equity arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. She spent more than a decade at GIC and worked in their New York, Redwood City and Singapore offices. Ms. Soo was the Head of Asia/Emerging Markets based out of Singapore, leading GICSI’s investments in leveraged buyout funds, growth capital funds and co-investments.
Ms. Soo is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien and Malay.