Confirm cancellation
An error occurred trying to play the stream. Please reload the page and try again.
CloseSign-up to join the ION Analytics Community to:
- Register for events
- Access market insights
- Download reports
Mr. Salata is the Chairman of EQT Asia. He previously founded Baring Private Equity Asia in 1997 and led the management buyout that established BPEA as an independent firm. In 2022, BPEA merged with the Swedish listed firm EQT to create a global private markets firm spanning the US, Europe, and Asia.
EQT in Asia has 350 team members across 8 offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Mumbai, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, and Sydney. EQT Private Capital Asia has invested over USD 29bn in over 150 private equity transactions, with a portfolio that currently employs more than 400,000 people.
EQT and Mr. Salata are active in philanthropy and have long supported many organizations globally, including in Hong Kong, the Asia Pacific region, the UK, and the USA. Their efforts focus on sustainability, education, youth, and the arts.
In 2022, Mr. and Mrs. Salata established The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University, which brings together Harvard’s university-wide resources to address climate and sustainability through scientific and intellectual leadership. In 2022, Forbes Asia included Mr. and Mrs. Salata in its Heroes of Philanthropy list.
Mr. Salata has lived and worked in Hong Kong since 1989, and graduated magna cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Finance and Economics.
David Bluff is Managing Director, Real Assets, where he co-heads the Real Assets division, covering private equity, credit, infrastructure and property.
Prior to joining the Future Fund, David was a Partner at The Carlyle Group, where he spent 14 years in buyout, most recently as Head of Australia & New Zealand and was a member of Carlyle’s Asia Pacific Leadership Team.
David previously worked in M&A at J.P.Morgan and SABMiller plc.
Rishi is a Portfolio Manager in Aware Super’s Private Equity team covering primary and co-investment activity.
Prior to Aware Super, Rishi worked in the Private Equity team at the Future Fund, and at KPMG in the Mergers and Acquisition team.
He holds a Bachelor of Laws and Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in Chartered Accounting.
Gillian joined JBWere in May 2019 and is Head of Alternative Investments and Responsible Investing (RI), in addition to being an Executive Director of the firm. As Head of Alternatives, Gillian leads the Alternatives strategy, investing selection and execution across Private Equity, Private Debt, Real Assets including Infrastructure and Property and Uncorrelated Assets. Gillian also leads the further expansion of JBWere’s approach to Responsible Investing spanning ESG, ethical/impact investing, and stewardship of capital. Prior to joining JBWere, Gillian held senior multi-asset global investment and structuring roles on trading floors, working across Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, within Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) and Bank of Montreal (BMO) Capital Markets. Gillian was also the global structuring sustainability lead for capital markets in both SCB and BMO. Gillian’s roles have included leading sales and structuring for SCB’s Alternative Asset Group (AUM +USD 2bio) in London, in addition to leading and designing multi-asset investment solutions across Fixed Income, Equities, FX, Alternatives, Credit, Commodities and Responsible Investments (RI) for Institutional, Private Bank and High Net Worth clients.
INSEAD Executive Education (TGM, 2022)
Bachelor of Commerce, University of Queensland
Bachelor of Business (Management), University of Queensland
Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA) Australia
Capital Markets Programme, Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments (CISI)
UK Diploma of Investment Advice (Qualified UK Financial Adviser), Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments (CISI)
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
John Lee is a Partner responsible for the Asia business of Lexington Partners. Based in Hong Kong, he is primarily engaged in the origination and evaluation of secondary purchases of private equity investments in Asia.
Prior to joining Lexington in 2014, Mr. Lee was a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions team at Morgan Stanley.
Mr. Lee graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. in Economics.
James Lilico is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Australian Retirement Trust, a $300 billion profit-for-members superannuation fund, of which private equity represents a $19 billion portfolio. His role encompasses portfolio strategy and management, investment and manager selection, and ongoing investment management of fund, co-investment and direct assets in Australia and offshore.
ART’s private equity portfolio consists of primary funds, secondary funds and direct co-investments across the buyout, venture/growth and distressed/special situations areas. James represents Australian Retirement Trust on various advisory boards in Australia and overseas.
James has over 20 years’ experience in investment management and financial markets. Prior to ART, he was at RMB Capital Partners and Grant Samuel. He has a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Master of Science in Decision and Information Sciences from the University of Florida.
Will MacAulay is General Manager, Unlisted Assets with HESTA, and is responsible for managing HESTA’s private asset investment portfolios including Infrastructure, Property, Private Equity, Insurance Linked Securities, and Strategic Investments.
Will holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Melbourne, is a Chartered Financial Analyst, and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Tom is a Portfolio Manager in Aware’s Private Equity team covering private equity / buyout primary fund and co-investment activity. Tom joined Aware in 2021 having previously worked at AGL Energy where he focused on renewable energy investing, and at Macquarie Group in New York where he invested in infrastructure.
Sian is a Portfolio Manager (PM) in the External Investments team at the Guardians of the NZ Superannuation Fund (NZSF). NZSF is New Zealand's sovereign wealth fund, established to partially pre-fund the future cost of New Zealand universal superannuation.
Sian joined NZSF in 2019 and in her role as a PM she is responsible for driving the implementation of active strategies across the global portfolio, with a focus on private markets. This includes researching, originating and onboarding new investments/co-investments, optimising existing investments and developing and maintaining key industry relationships. Sian is the lead PM responsible for the new design and implementation of the firms global buyout program.
As a PM, Sian has governance responsibilities and holds numerous LPAC board seats for the Fund’s investments. She was also NZSF’s Investment Committee (IC) secretary in 2021 and has sat on the IC as a voting member as part of the firms rotational membership scheme. She also currently Chairs the firms External Investments Private Markets Committee and sits on the organisation-wide Risk Committee.
Prior to her role with the NZSF, Sian was a Manager with PwC’s Treasury Advisory team in London, where she was based for ~4 years. She has also held finance based roles with the New Zealand Treasury and Deloitte Australia.
Sian has a Masters in Finance from Macquarie University (Australia) and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Victoria University of Wellington (NZ).
Marina is the Head of Growth Alternatives at Rest, covering private equity and alternatives. She joined Rest in 2020 to build out the Private Equity capability and investment portfolio. More recently Marina has reshaped the Rest Alternatives strategy to a thematic completion portfolio and is building out that strategy investing in themes such as food and sustainability, natural capital and climate.
Prior to joining Rest, Marina worked in the private equity team at the Future Fund for 9 years, where she invested in private equity funds and co-investments.
Marina previously worked in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs, where she advised Australian corporations on mergers and acquisitions and financing transactions.
She has a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree from the University of Melbourne.
Martin Randall is responsible for delivering and maintaining LGT Crestone’s investment offering across hedge funds, private equity and real assets. Engaging with local and global alternative asset firms, Martin’s focus is to source, perform due diligence and structure alternative investment solutions for Crestone’s client base. He is also a member of the LGT Crestone Investment Committee and further supports LGT Crestone’s investment offering across separately managed accounts, impact investments and structured products.
Martin joined UBS Wealth Management Australia Ltd in 2014 and transitioned to LGT Crestone at launch in 2016. Prior to that, Martin worked in the UK for EFG Private Bank as Head of Structured Products, having started his career at Kleinwort Benson Private Bank (now Kleinwort Hambros), developing derivative and tax-based structured products for high-net-worth investors. Martin holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of London.
As Koda Capital’s Chief Investment Officer, Norman leads the $14+ billion investment program and strategy, including oversight of all investment portfolios and programs. Norman is actively involved with investment governance & processes, asset allocation, portfolio construction and investment manager selection. He also works closely with Koda Capital’s advisor teams and clients to deliver bespoke solutions that generate outstanding investment outcomes.
Prior to Koda Capital, Norman was most recently the Chief Investment Officer at Legal Super (Australian superannuation fund), overseeing assets worth $5.5+ billion and delivering top-quartile performance. His expertise includes developing investment strategies, building high quality investment programs & teams, asset allocation, portfolio construction, manager research & selection.
Previous roles included the Chief Investment Officer at Media Super ($7bn Australian superannuation fund), Asset Consultant at Frontier Advisors, and Consultant in the corporate finance and management consulting teams at Ernst & Young Australia. Norman is a CFA Charterholder, and also holds the following qualifications/achievements:
- Executive Program, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, UK,
- Graduate Diploma of Chartered Accounting, Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand,
- Bachelor of Commerce (Finance & Accounting), The University of Melbourne, Australia
- Recipient of the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees Rising Star Award (2018).
Michael has 35 years’ experience in strategy consulting, private equity and investment management. He is the founder of Crescent Capital Partners. He is responsible for the management of the business and leads the investment team.
Prior to the establishment of Crescent Capital Partners in 2000, Michael’s previous experience was as COO at Gowing Bros Limited, as a strategy consultant at The LEK Partnership and Bain & Company and as an executive at Chase Manhattan Bank (now JP Morgan).
Separate to a number of Chair roles at Crescent portfolio companies, Michael has also previously been a non-executive director and chairman of several public company boards.
Michael has a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Mathematics from the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
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.
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.
Alister is the founder and Managing Partner of Folklore Ventures, an Australian venture capital firm with three top-decile funds under management that invests in ANZ founders building global technology companies. Alister has over 15 years’ experience as an investor, advisor and founder of technology companies.
Neal Kok is a Managing Director at General Atlantic. Neal is based in Singapore where he focuses on investments in the firm’s portfolio companies that operate in the Southeast Asia and Australia region.
Before joining General Atlantic in 2024, Neal worked at the KKR offices of Sydney and Singapore. Prior to that, Neal worked at Treadstone Partners and Goldman Sachs in Australia.
Education
The University of Notre Dame Australia, Bachelor of Laws & Bachelor of Commerce
Kelly is the Founder of Skye Capital Advisory, she is one of the most progressive and respected senior debt advisory professionals in the Australasian market, having raised ~$100bn of debt capital in Australian and international markets.
Kelly is considered a market leader in developing funding solutions and providing financial advice to corporates and private equity firms, including specialist advice on business transformation strategies to effect change, drive profit and stimulate growth. Recent market leading transactions include Allegro funds acquisition of Toll, acquisition financing of Gull NZ, first social loan in Australia for APM employment services and the recent acquisition of retail zoo (boost/Betty’s burgers).
Alex is a Managing Director at PEP and member of the Partner & Client Group. Alex joined PEP in 2011. Alex was an investor in the Private Equity strategy for the first decade, after which he joined the Partner & Client Group. Before joining PEP, Alex was an investment banker with Morgan Stanley in London and prior to then, a management consultant with The Boston Consulting Group in Sydney. Alex received a PLD from Harvard Business School, a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Adelaide, where he was the Valedictorian.
Matt joined Pacific Equity Partners in 2009. Prior to joining PEP, he was a consultant with Bain & Company in Australia. Matt was an Innovation Scholar at Macquarie University where he received a Bachelor of Commerce (Actuarial Studies) and was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Commendation for Academic Excellence.
Jeremy Samuel is the founder and Managing Director of Anacacia Capital.
Anacacia manages >$800million investing into leading small-medium enterprises. It is currently raising Anacacia Private Equity IV, focused on Australasian lower mid-market growth buyouts. Anacacia has won numerous awards including the Australian Investment Council Firm of the Year.
Jeremy is a non-executive chair of Anacacia portfolio company Sureway. He was the former lead director for Anacacia's successful investments including: Appen, Big River, Home Appliances, Lomb Scientific, Rafferty's Garden and Yumi's Quality Foods.
Jeremy holds an MBA from Yale University School of Management and Arts/Law degrees from the University of NSW.