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Masakazu Kita was appointed Vice President/ Chief Investment Officer of Japan Science and Technology Agency in June 2021. He previously worked at Norinchukin Bank since 1992, where he served as Global Head of Alternative Investments from 2017, overseeing global private equity, infrastructure, real estate, and hedge fund investments. As Managing Executive Officer from April 2019, he was responsible for the bank's ALM and asset allocation, fixed-income investments, and equity investments. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics, Kyoto University.
Cindy Yan leads the direct and co-investment activities and portfolio management for Ontario Teachers' in Asia Pacific. She is based in Ontario Teachers' Hong Kong office.
She has over two decades of combined experience in Private Equity, Management Consulting and Corporate Operations and General Management. Prior to joining Ontario Teachers, Cindy was a Partner with Advantage Partners, an Asia focused mid-cap buyout firm, where she led various buyout and late-stage growth investments in Asia and Japan/Asia cross-border value creation for the Japanese portfolio companies. The investments are across Technology, Consumer, Services (Consumer & Business), Health/Wellness, and various Industrial sectors. Prior to that, she worked at Boston Consulting Group and the 999 Group.
Cindy holds a BA from Sichuan International Studies University and MBA from Harvard Business School.
Yelin Wen, investment officer, joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in February 2016. Yelin’s main responsibilities include monitoring, sourcing, evaluating and recommending potential new buyout, venture, real estate, energy managers in the illiquid space. Yelin also present investment performance and strategy at investment committee meetings.
Previously, Yelin was a vice president with the J.P. Morgan Asia NY Investor team. In this role she executed brokerage trades, developed investment ideas and recommendations, and explored private equity opportunities for investors. She also served as a credit default swap broker with Cantor Fitzgerald, a sales and product manager with Intercontinental Exchange, and a credit trader with J.P. Morgan.
Yelin earned BA degrees in both economics and mathematics from the University of Virginia, and received the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in September 2011.
Yelin lives in New York City with her husband and daughters and enjoys golf and travel.
Isamu is a Partner and a member of the Client Service Team. He works closely with clients in the management of their portfolios, including providing assistance in the development and monitoring of their private equity programs. Additionally, he is actively involved in the portfolio construction and ongoing monitoring of the various fund of funds programs and separate accounts. Isamu is also involved in the development of consultant relationships.
Isamu spent 15 years with UBS Global Asset Management as a Managing Director and Head of Pension Funds Marketing. As a senior member of the Tokyo team, he was responsible for business development and relationship management of large institutional clients/consultants in Japan.
From 1990 to 1998, Isamu worked for LTCB, a Japanese bank for FX administration, corporate finance including company due diligence for loan lending, client relationship management and business development.
Isamu is a certificated member of the Securities Analyst Association of Japan (CMA).
Hideaki Miyajima (PhD, Waseda University) is professor at Faculty of Commerce, Waseda University. He is currently Executive Vice President (Financial Affairs) at Waseda University, Faculty Fellow at Research Institute of Economy, Trade & Industry (RIETI), and Advisor at Waseda Institute for Advanced Study (WIAS). He has participated in numerous committee and research groups in Japanese government (Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). He has also consulted to various institutions including Financial Service Agency, Cabinet Office, Tokyo Stock Exchange, the World Bank. His research covers the analysis of Japanese economy, corporate finance, corporate governance, M&A, and business-government relationship. His work appeared in Review of Financial Studies, Journal of banking and Finance, Corporate Governance: International Journal, Journal of Internal and Japanese Economies, Benchmarking: International Journal, among others. He also published several edited volumes such as Corporate Governance in Japan, Oxford University Press, Changes and Continuity in Japan, Routledge Curzon Press, Policies for Competitiveness, Oxford University Press.
Tatsuya Kubo joined the Firm in 2010 as a managing director. He focuses on enhancing and building relationships with institutional investors and general partners in Japan. Mr. Kubo joined the Firm from Fortress Investment Group Japan, where he served as Managing Director and Head of Business Development after launching the Japan-based business. Prior to that, he spent over 20 years as a senior manager at Norinchukin Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in Japan, where he built and managed an alternative investment portfolio. He received a BA in Economics from Waseda University in 1988 and an MBA from Duke University in 1994. Mr. Kubo speaks fluent Japanese and English.
Masashi Kataoka is General Manager of Alternative Investment Department at Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company. Prior to his current role, he had led various teams since 2014; hedge fund investment, PE fund investment, infrastructure fund investment, venture fund and direct investment team. He worked 4 years until 2014 at Dai-ichi Life’s NY office and led the manager selection / due diligence practice as well as strategic activities with US asset managers. Since joining Dai-ichi Life in 1997, he has about 20-year-experience in investment related sections including Investment Planning Department where he engaged in the asset allocation of entire Dai-ichi Life’s general account asset. He also has an experience working at an US based hedge fund as a trainee in 2007. He earned Bachelor of Economics in Keio University.
Nobuyuki joined Nomura in 2018 and has been responsible for strategic planning for alternative investment business and marketing. He is currently engaged in promotion of Japan private equity and venture capital investing, and planning and implementing ESG integration in Nomura's alternative investments.
He started his alternative investment career in 1992 when he joined Japan Asia Investment Co., Ltd. (JAIC) as a venture capitalist. His responsibilities at JAIC included fund planning and setup, investment management, client reporting, and management of its Singapore and Thailand local operations. Subsequently he joined Nikko Cordial Securities (now called SMBC Nikko Securities), where he took charge of intermediary business on alternative investment funds, before moving to Nomura.
Graduated from Waseda University (Japan), BA in Commerce.
Noriko Hayashi is Managing Director, Head of Private Equity at ORIX Life Insurance Corporation.
She has been involved in framework building, implementing, portfolio construction and management of a global private markets program for institutional investors with primary focus on Private Equity; currently at ORIX Life Insurance Corporation, previously at Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) and firstly at Sony Life Insurance Co., Ltd., since 2000. She started her career at Mitsubishi Bank, Ltd. (MUFG Bank, Ltd.) where she covered Corporate Finance and Operational Improvement in commercial banking business.
She received a B.A. in Law from Kyoto University.
Yuka Hata is a Senior Managing Director and heads Fund Investment Team at Japan Investment Corporation (“JIC”).
Ms. Hata joined JIC in July 2020 in order to build and support Japan’ private equity / venture capital ecosystem as well as to provide the risk capital with the investment funds which bring Japan’s industry to the next stage. Prior to joining JIC, as a co-head of private equity, Ms. Hata worked for Nissay Asset Management where she was mainly responsible for European small-mid buyout, GP stake investments, secondary and Japan’s VC funds. She also worked for Nomura Asset Management (or Nomura Private Equity Capital) and managed fund of funds focused on Asia market as a member of Investment Committee.
Ms. Hata is a Chartered Member of the Security Analysts Association of Japan., and received a B.A. in Environmental Information from Keio University and an M.B.A. from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales-HEC in Paris.
Edward J. Grefenstette serves as President/CEO and Chief Investment Officer of The Dietrich Foundation, a ~$1.5 billion charitable foundation that was formed following the passing of William S. Dietrich II in October 2011. The Dietrich Foundation primarily supports higher education institutions and other civic and charitable organizations in Western Pennsylvania. Ed previously served as Treasurer/Chief Investment Officer of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Prior to CMU, he co-founded a small-cap private equity fund, following a career in investment banking and law. He earned his AB in Economics and Juris Doctor from Georgetown University, as well as an MBA in Finance and Strategy from CMU. He currently serves as a trustee and IC member of CMU; he previously served as trustee and IC chair at the University of Pittsburgh and The Hillman Family Foundations. He serves as a IC advisory board member at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). He is a past director of The Hillman Company and a former advisory board member of Commonfund Capital.
Pamela is a partner and investment committee member for the Morgan Stanley Private Equity Solutions Team and has 18 years of industry experience. Prior to joining the firm, Pamela was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company's corporate finance practice in Hong Kong, responsible for investment opportunity identification, deal advisory, merger management and strategy development. Previously, she was a management consultant with Monitor Group, specializing in marketing strategy for clients across Asia, and a member of the corporate finance team with Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong. Pamela has a Law degree (first class honors) from the University of Hong Kong and an M.B.A. with honors in finance and management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Tad (Takeshi) Fukushima, CFA, CAIA, is Chief Investment Officer of The University of Tokyo. Prior to joining UTokyo in 2023, he was CIO/Managing Director of BlackRock Japan. He previously served as CIO/Managing Director of leading asset management companies including Meiji Yasuda Asset Management and Deutsche Trust Bank after his career as a senior fund manager at Nikko Investment Trust. Tad earned an MBA in finance and international business from Columbia Business School in New York, and a BA degree in Journalism from Sophia University.
April 2019 - present: Investment Managing Director, concurrently serving as Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer.
January 2011: Chief Investment Officer, responsible for portfolio construction including asset allocation policy. Has led to build current portfolio which focuses on alternative investments including hedge funds and private assets.
November 2001: joined Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation and involved in the transfer of the substitutional portion of the employees' pension fund and the introduction of the Cash Balance Plan as Administrative Director.
April 1998: joined Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co., Ltd., engaged in sales divisions.
April 1987: joined Yamaichi Securities Co., Ltd., started carrier in the financial industry and engaged in sales divisions.
Xiaodong Chang is a senior fund manager at private equity investment group with Tokio Marine Asset Management (TMAM) since 2011. She is responsible for sourcing, due diligence, monitoring, clients reporting of private equity and private debt funds globally.
Prior to joining TMAM, she worked at the Investment Banking Group of Nomura Securities in Japan.
She received a M.S. in Computer Science and Information Technology from University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Commerce and Management from Hitotsubashi University. She is a Certified Member Analyst of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan (CMA).
Managing Partner, Co-Head of Japan, joined CVC in 2015. Atsushi is based in Tokyo and leads our private equity activities in Japan. He is a member of the Asia Private Equity Board and the Asia Executive Committee, a sub-committee of the APEB that oversees and drives our investment activity in the region. Prior to joining CVC, he spent over eleven years at Advantage Partners as a Senior Partner, he led Management and Leveraged BuyOut transactions. Prior to this, he worked for McKinsey & Co., Tokyo, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Atsushi holds a Doctor of Philosophy from Colorado School of Mines, a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Engineering degree from The University of Tokyo.
Shohei Akiyama is Partner, a member of NSSK’s five-person Management Committee and is Chief Administrative Officer (“CAO”) at NSSK and is responsible for all the operation functions in NSSK’s Business Support Team (including accounting, tax, legal and compliance functions). Prior to assuming his role as CAO, Shohei was a Director on the Investment Team and has been with NSSK since its founding. Before joining NSSK, Shohei was at JPMorgan Securities Japan Co., Ltd. in their Investment Banking Division. At J.P. Morgan, he was responsible for a number of major transactions for Japanese companies including cross-border M&A and global IPOs. He is a graduate of the University of Tokyo (B.A.).
Ian Anderson (London) joined KKR in 2014 and is a Managing Director in the Credit & Markets business. He serves as a portfolio manager for the firm’s private credit funds and portfolios and as a member of the European Private Credit Investment Committee. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Anderson was a vice president at Lazard in the corporate finance department, advising a diverse range of European and global corporate clients on M&A transactions and restructurings. Previously, Mr. Anderson worked at Key Capital, an Irish boutique capital markets and asset management firm. Mr. Anderson holds a first class degree in Engineering from Dublin University, Trinity College and is a CFA Charterholder.
Tim Burroughs is managing editor of Asian Venture Capital Journal, having joined the publication in May 2011. He is responsible for all editorial content put out under the AVCJ brand, including Asian Venture Capital Journal, AVCJtv, AVCJ Awards and AVCJ.com. Tim previously spent five years at China Economic Review, serving as editor-in-chief and then editorial director. Located in Greater China since 2003, during which time he has lived in Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong, Tim has been a China-based contributor for publications including The Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, BBC and China Daily. Prior to moving to China, he trained and worked as a journalist in the UK. He was honored at the Society of Publishers in Asia awards in 2007, 2008 and 2010, and at the State Street Institutional Press Awards - Asia in 2012.
Saurabh Chatterjee is a Managing Director at ChrysCapital where he leads the Fundraising function, and is also a voting member of the firm’s investment committee. Prior to joining ChrysCapital in 2016, he was with Providence Equity Partners’ investment team, where he covered the TMT sectors. Before Providence, he worked at the Boston Consulting Group and CIVC Partners, a Chicago-based middle market private equity firm. Saurabh received an MBA from Kellogg School of Management and a BA in Economics from Carleton College.
Kiichiro is a venture capitalist at WERU Investment, the oldest university affiliated venture capital firm in Japan. He leads investment research at the firm, covering a broad range of technology and industry domains. He serves on the board of multiple portfolio companies including LeoLabs and Confidencial, leading startups in the space and cybersecurity domains.
Prior to joining WERU Investment, Kiichiro led technology-focused business development efforts at startups in the US and Japan. He began his career as an aerospace engineer working on spacecraft development at NASA/JPL and industry. Kiichiro holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering with Highest Honors from Georgia Tech
Paul Ford leads KPMG Japan’s Private Equity Deal Advisory and Transaction Services practices, with over 20 years of deal execution and industry experience in Japan, Hong Kong and Canada. In this capacity, Paul directly acts for global private equity clients operating in Japan, and leads KPMG’s broader support of domestic Japanese private equity funds and their portfolio companies. Paul also focuses on the technology sector more broadly, helping Japanese technology leaders such as Rakuten and SoftBank execute their global M&A program.
Paul also leads KPMG’s Japan Deal Advisory digital transformation initiative and ASPAC Value Creation Center of Excellence, exploring how data and analytics can transform the insights KPMG delivers to clients in-deal and post-deal, in particular to help private equity clients identify hidden value attributes during the diligence phase and execute the value creation agenda post-deal.
In addition to 15 years with KPMG, Paul has held executive management roles in the PE and technology industries, including the senior Finance role in a venture-backed life sciences software company. Paul is a permanently Japan-based partner of KPMG FAS Co., Ltd.
Satoshi Fukushima is Partner at Globis Capital Partners (GCP). He leads investments in problem-solving startups with a focus on healthcare and life-style sector as well as fund-raising of GCP 7th fund (JPY 73B). His track record includes Medley (4480) and acting as a board member of AI Medical Services (Endoscopy AI), Kakehashi (SaaS for pharmacies), SDP (Clinic group specializing in surgery), justInCase (Mobile&AI based insurance), White Plus (Online dry cleaning) and Yoriso (Online platform for seniors). Prior to joining GCP in 2014, he worked at Deutsche Securities Inc. where he was acting as FA for SoftBank and other tech-companies’ fundraising and cross-border M&A transactions. He received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Tokyo in 2007.
Nels Hansen is a partner in our Corporate/M&A practice group, based in Tokyo. He has helped clients complete hundreds of billions of dollars in completed mergers and acquisitions, hostile or contested transactions, investments and joint ventures, acting primarily for technology, media and telecommunications companies, energy-related companies and private equity and venture capital funds.
He also has assisted numerous targets of activist shareholder situations in the US and Japan. This experience, together with mandates on behalf of engagement and/or activist hedge funds themselves in the US and Japan, helps our Tokyo team to guide Japanese and international clients in activist shareholder situations with a uniquely global perspective and understanding of both sides of the table.
His assistance of international clients with public and private company targeted M&A in the US, Japan and Europe, and private equity and venture capital investment in Asia, Europe and the US, form the core of his practice. In 2018, the FT Innovative Lawyers Asia-Pacific Awards selected Nels as a 'Commended' lawyer in the 'Accessing New Capital and Markets' category for assisting a client in a combined venture capital and project financing.
Nels has served on the Japanese Law Translation Council of the Ministry of Justice since April 2020. Since 2015, Nels has served at Keio Law School as the lecturer for the course "M&A and Strategic Alliances." Nels previously worked in Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry and at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade & Industry.
He is a member of the Tokyo Bar Association.
Takanobu Hara is a Partner in the EQT Private Capital Asia team. Takanobu worked for BPEA from 2019 until 2022, when the company joined forces with EQT and was renamed BPEA EQT (now EQT).
Prior to joining BPEA, Takanobu worked at Morgan Stanley in Tokyo. He brings wealth of experience in both investment banking and private equity in Japan which includes his tenure at Advent International and Ripplewood Japan.
Takanobu began his career at the Industrial Bank of Japan (currently Mizuho Bank).
Takanobu holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Keio University.
Hideyuki has broad experience of corporate finance practices, mainly M&As and leads M&A deal originations and execution at KPMG. So far He has led major Japanese companies‘ overseas acquisitions, multinational companies‘ investments into Japan, business divestitures for PE funds, industry consolidation transactions as well as tailor-made solutions for important corporate matters. His broad industry experiences range from technologies, consumer products, industrials, business services, autoparts, renewable energy, real estate, financial services, etc.
Before joining KPMG in 2016, being a senior member at a boutique M&A firm based in Japan, he built and led an Asia-Japan cross border M&A team and created overseas partner networks.
From 2002 to 2013, he was an investment banker at UBS in Tokyo and New York, mainly covering major financial institution clients as well as multinational clients.
Before 2002, he was a senior sell-side research analyst at Goldman Sachs in Japan after he started a professional career at Mizuho Bank.
LLM and Wharton Certificate, University of Pennsylvania Law School, US
Bachelor of Laws, Keio University, Japan
Yu is a managing director in Growth and Corporate Equity within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, overseeing private equity and growth equity investments in Japan. Before joining Growth and Corporate Equity in 2021, he was a member of the Asian Special Situations Group, and before that, worked within the Principal Investment Area in the Merchant Banking Division. Yu joined Goldman Sachs in 2011 as an analyst in the Merchant Banking Division and was named managing director in 2023.
Yu serves on the Board of Directors of Bitkey, GO Inc., NIPPO Corporation and Rapyuta Robotics.
Yu earned a BA in Economics from the University of Tokyo in 2011.
Yuki Kashiyama's responsibilities include aki-japan, Genex, Shirayuki, Nakai Industrial, MWT Holdings, Sun Smile, Kugami Seiki, Tokai Trim and Primagest. Prior to joining J-STAR, Mr. Kashiyama exited from his business as founder of a biotechnology company in the U.S. and Chile, He has extensive experience in strategy, innovation management, business development and international operations. He began his career at Boston Consulting Group (“BCG”), where he worked on projects for business strategy, business development, marketing, business process re-engineering and post-merger integration in various industries such as technology, pharmaceutical and consumer goods. He received the “Consultant of the Year award” from BCG Japan. Mr. Kashiyama received an MBA from Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Tokyo.
Mr. Kita joined Advantage Partners in 2003 and leads all activities for the Japan Buyout team. Mr. Kita has also directly led many investments including CommunityOne, Katitas, Net Protections, Yaruki Switch Group and Cosmolife. He currently serves as a Director on several investments including Material Group, Energywith, NFC Holdings, Net Japan and Daiho Industrial.
Prior to joining Advantage Partners, Mr. Kita was at Bain & Company Japan and focused on projects in the auto, finance, telecommunications, food products, trading houses, and healthcare sectors. Mr. Kita holds an undergraduate degree from the Faculty of Economics, the University of Tokyo, and an MBA from University of California, Berkeley.
Chris is Global Head of Capital Solutions and a member of the Executive Committee at General Atlantic. He leads the firm’s global client franchise, overseeing capital partnering, client solutions, strategic partnerships, new business development, and capital formation activities across General Atlantic’s investment strategies that today span global growth equity, private credit, climate transition, and infrastructure solutions.
Previously, Chris was a Partner of Goldman Sachs, where he worked for over 28 years. He founded or led many of the firm's businesses in alternative investments, including its external-manager investing strategies in private equity, secondaries, private credit, real assets, GP stakes, and hedge funds. Most recently, Chris led the global client franchise and capital formation activities for Goldman Sachs Asset & Wealth Management, across firm’s alternative investments and public market investing platforms. He served on many of Goldman Sachs’ firm-wide commercial, people, or investment committees, including its Partnership Committee, Global Inclusion & Diversity Committee, and Firmwide Client Franchise Committee.
Chris is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, has served as Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School, and is a frequent commentator and writer on alternative investments and asset management. Actively engaged in education and the arts, Chris also serves on the boards of Cambridge in America, The Juilliard School, Collegiate School, and the Leadership Council of Harvard Law School. Originally from the Canadian midwest, he today lives with his family in New York City.
Jesper Koll has been researching and investing in Japan since becoming a resident in 1986.Over the past two decades, Jesper has been recognized as one of the top Japan strategists/economists, having worked as Chief Strategist and Head of Research for U.S. investment banks J.P. Morgan and Merrill Lynch. He currently serves as Expert Director for the Monex Group and the Japan Catalyst Fund (Japan’s 1stretail investor based corporate engagement/activist fund). His analysis and insights have earned him a position on several Japanese government and corporate advisory committees, including Governor Yuriko Koike’s Advisory Board. Jesper serves as Board Director of OIST, the Okinawa Institute for Science and Technology and is a Founder of the Asia Society Japan and heads their Policy Committee. He is one of the few non-Japanese members of the Keizai Doyukai, the Japan Association of Corporate Executives. He has written three books in Japanese and, in 2021, created the video/pod-cast series “Japan - Capitalism that works”.
Jesper is an economist, angel-investor, patron; and yes, a Japan Optimist.
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.
Jeffrey is a Partner and CIO of Credit Investments at Primavera Capital Group, and chairs the firm’s Credit Investment Committee. Prior to joining Primavera, Jeffrey led and managed private investments in partnership with leading sovereign wealth funds, corporates and family offices. He was an investor and director of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group between 2012 and 2017. Previously, Jeffrey worked at Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, The Blackstone Group and Morgan Stanley. Jeffrey earned his AB in Social Studies from Harvard University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude and as a John Harvard Scholar. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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.
Omar is the Managing Director and Country Head for the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand at Creador.
He sits on the boards of Dali, Asialink, Angkas and UNO digital bank in the Philippines.
He specializes in identifying investment opportunities and expanding Creador’s presence across Southeast Asia. With 15 years of experience at HSBC, including roles in global banking and specialized finance, Omar brings a wealth of international expertise from roles across Europe and Asia. He is a qualified barrister, holding degrees in Law and Finance.
He is also responsible for fundraising at Creador and managing the firms’ new investors.
Jon oversees the portfolio construction, risk management, analytics and research that support Northleaf’s private equity and private credit funds and product development activities, and is a member of the Private Credit Investment Committee.
Prior to joining Northleaf in 2016, Jon was Managing Director, Global Head of Strategy, Risk and Analytics at Värde, a global alternative asset manager. Previously, Jon was a Principal with Bain & Company where he focused on alternative investments and asset management. Jon began his career with HSBC and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Jon received an MBA (Dean’s List) from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto and a B.Sc (International Management) from the University of Manchester.
Masaki Nakamura (Tokyo) joined KKR in 2014 and is a member of the Private Equity Health Care and Semiconductor industry teams. Mr. Nakamura originally joined KKR Capstone and transitioned to the Private Equity team in Tokyo. From2019 to 2020, he worked on KKR’s US Health Care Investment team in Menlo Park. At KKR, he has been involved with the investments such as PHC Holdings(formerly Panasonic Healthcare), KOKUSAI ELECTRIC (formerly Hitachi Kokusai Electric), and Bushu Pharma. He is currently a member of the board of directors of Kokusai Electric and Bushu Pharma. Prior to KKR, he was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company in their Tokyo, Stuttgart and New Jersey offices, where he was a member of the health care practice. He holds a degree in Medicine (M.D.) from University of Tokyo.
Takayuki Ohgishi is a Partner of T Capital Partners. He joined T Capital (previous Tokio Marine Capital) in 2007. He has 16 years of private equity experience and extensive investment experience, mainly in consumer retail and the construction / rental business. He also oversees deal sourcing.
Prior to joining T Capital, he worked at A.T. KEARNEY, where he developed entry strategies and corporate restructuring for financial institutions and general trade firms. He also worked at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, where he developed financial products and planned corporate strategies. He received a BA in Law from the University of Kobe.
Azusa Owa is an expert in Private Equity and Financial Investor practice. She has extensive consulting experience across a range of industries and business topics in Japan, the United States and Australia, focusing on supporting private equity clients on commercial due diligence assignments and post-acquisition value creation in a variety of industries in. Azusa graduated with a master's degree in international education policy from Harvard University and a bachelor's degree in education from International Christian University. She earned her MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, double majoring to earn a master of international studies (in Mandarin Chinese) from the university's Lauder Institute.
Kathy Reiland is a member of the Investment Committee at Integrum.
Kathy has over thirty years of investment and acquisition experience most recently during her tenure at Standard Industries (“Standard”) and 40 North Management (“40 North”) and Evercore Partners (“Evercore”).
Kathy joined Standard and 40 North in 2016 as Head of Strategy and Development and a member of the executive leadership team. Standard is a privately held global industrial company with a broad array of investments, technologies and holdings including building materials assets and next-generation solar solutions. 40 North, a related investment business of Standard Industries, is a fundamentally based investment platform that takes concentrated, long-term positions across a range of sectors to create value for all stakeholders. During her tenure, Kathy was involved in both public and private investments totaling more than $10 billion in enterprise value and ranging from early to late stage including Braas Monier, W.R. Grace, Clariant, Hover, and Hippo.
Prior to joining Standard, Kathy spent eighteen years as a Senior Managing Director at Evercore, a global independent investment banking advisory firm, and Evercore Capital Partners, Evercore’s private equity platform. During that time, Kathy was a general partner of the private equity funds, and ultimately served as the Chief Operating Officer of the firm’s investment businesses that included private equity, traditional asset management and wealth management. Later, she served as head of Evercore’s international joint ventures in Asia. Kathy was involved in Evercore Capital Partner’s investments in Fidelity Information Services (FIS), Sedgwick, Bollinger, and Causeway Capital. In addition, Kathy was actively involved in Evercore’s diversity and recruiting efforts responsible for launching the Women’s Forum which was designed to establish relationship networks and training to position women for senior leadership roles.
Prior to joining Evercore, Kathy was a buy-side equity analyst at Sanford Bernstein and a consultant at Bain & Co.
Kathy earned her B.A. degree from Duke University and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth.
Toby Rodes co-founded Kaname Capital in 2018 to bring deep fundamental analysis and engaged ownership to Japanese small caps, a deep pool of operationally capable companies with strong product focus that too frequently suffer a material valuation discount because of substandard governance practices. Passive and conflicted "allegiant" shareholders have simply refused to hold boards accountable across the market cap spectrum for delivering on their potential ROE, a core reason for Japan's multi decade economic malaise. Kaname aspires to be a thoughtful, involved, and long-term "principal" owner of quality businesses with substantial valuation rerating potential. Prior to co-founding Kaname, Toby spent 12 years at Boston based institutional manager GMO in the Fundamental Active Team, where he managed roughly $4bn in both large and small cap equities in Japan. His greatest professional interest has always been in the small cap discipline where his Japanese language skills and ability to create relationships with management teams led to an informational advantage. His professional career started in the “Think Tank” trenches of Washington DC before moving to Japan from 1993 to 2004, first as a Rotary Japan Ambassadorial Scholar and later for graduate work at Keio University, Tokyo. His investment career started in equity research at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Nikko Salomon Smith Barney in Tokyo where he led some high-profile IPOs but determined his calling was the buyside. After ten years of living in Japan, he attended the Harvard Kennedy School in 2003 which served as an intellectual bridge to GMO. He is presently spending half the year in Japan as well as serving on the Japan Society of Boston’s Board of Directors.
Aaron Sack is Head of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners (MSCP). He is based in New York and has 28 years of investing experience.
Aaron joined Morgan Stanley in 2007 from Apollo Advisors, where he was a Principal from 2005 to 2007. From 2003 to 2005, he served as a Vice President in Goldman Sachs’ Principal Investment Area, focusing on private equity investments in industrial and natural resource companies. From 2000 to 2003, he was an Associate in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group at Goldman Sachs. He serves on the board of directors of Impact Fitness and Nivel Parts & Manufacturing and previously served on the board of directors of 24 Seven Inc., Access Cash, CoAdvantage Inc., Cadence Education, Creative Circle, EmployBridge, Hojeij Branded Foods, Learning Care Group, Pathway Partners and Manna Pro.
Aaron graduated, magna cum laude, from Dartmouth College, was a Fulbright Scholar, and holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Yutaro Saka joined JAFCO in 2012. His main investments include Money Forward, Chartwork, and WACUL. He was ranked No.2 in 2017 and No.9 in 2021 on the Forbes Japan's Midas List of most influential venture capital investors in Japan.
Other than investment operations, he has experience serving as CFO of a portfolio company and, as a member of the business development team, he has built the respective foundation of the current sales/marketing, HR, and back-office support operations. He has been Partner since June 2022.
Michael Shedosky serves as Managing Director and Co-Chief Investment Officer of AACP and has over two decades of relevant industry experience.
Prior to joining AACP, Mr. Shedosky was Managing Director and Head of GP Capital Solutions at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, responsible for executing GP Stake investments in private markets firms. Mr. Shedosky was previously a Managing Director at Wafra Inc. responsible for sourcing, structuring, and executing deals for ownership stakes in private equity firms around the world. During his fifteen-year tenure at Wafra, Mr. Shedosky co-founded its GP Stakes platform, led several GP Stake transactions with private equity firms, and was a member of the investment committee which approved 23 GP Stakes investments representing over $3.5 billion of invested capital. During this time, Mr. Shedosky was also responsible for providing Dyal Capital Partners with its initial seed investment and was seconded to the Dyal team where he worked on several of its early GP Stake transactions. Prior to joining Wafra, Mr. Shedosky held various roles at Pergament Advisors, Merrill Lynch, and Channel Capital Group.
Mr. Shedosky graduated from Hamilton College with a B.A. in Economics and holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.
Toshitaka (Taka) Shimizu is a Partner in the Asia fund of L Catterton, leading buyout and growth investments in Japan since opening its Tokyo office in 2018. He has around 15 years of private equity experience. Prior to joining L Catterton in 2017, Mr. Shimizu worked at CLSA Capital Partners Sunrise Capital and Rising Japan Equity, focusing on consumer-oriented investments. He holds the Chartered Accountant qualification and graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) / Commerce dual degree from the University of Queensland.
Nicholas Smith has ranked No.1 for Japan strategy in Asiamoney’s Brokers Poll eight years in a row from 2013 to 2020 then a ninth time in 2022. He writes a popular weekly strategy report called Benthos, whose name means the creatures that live at the bottom of the sea - reflecting a value-oriented and activist slant to the market as well as his passion for deep diving. Nicholas has been in Japan since 1987, covering Japanese equities since 1990. He first came to Japan as British Universities and Royal Navy & Royal Marines judo champion, before joining Jardine Fleming Securities in the tumult of 1990. During his 10 years there, he ranked No.1 in the chemicals & oil sector and was head of the global oil & chemicals team. He then worked for four years in hedge funds, making investments across all sectors. Nicholas joined CLSA in 2011. He has a BSc in Physics from London University and is fluent in Japanese.
Lisa Sun is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Secondaries and Liquidity Solutions (SLS) team at BlackRock. She is a member of the SLS Investment Committee and is responsible for all aspects of the SLS business including investment strategy, deal sourcing, structuring and execution, portfolio construction, risk management and business development/capital formation.
Prior to joining BlackRock, Lisa was an Investment Principal at Coller Capital, a global private capital secondaries firm, where she was responsible for origination, diligence and execution of secondary deals across a variety of structures including LP portfolios, GP-led continuation vehicles, single asset transactions, co-investments, fund preferred equity and corporate/captive team spinouts.
Prior to Coller Capital, Lisa worked at TPG Capital in Hong Kong covering Asia buyout and growth equity, and at Goldman Sachs in New York in the natural resources investment banking team.
Lisa graduated with an MBA from Harvard Business School, and has a dual degree Bachelor of Science from the Wharton School and Bachelor of Arts from the College of Arts & Sciences as part of the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business from the University of Pennsylvania.
Aya Tanaka focuses on expanding our network in APAC. In collaboration with our LPnetwork, Aya also drives our initiatives in fostering innovation within the region.Previously she worked at Blackstone Group and Wellington Management as a trustedinvestment advisor for some of the world largest institutional asset owners in the APAC.She received Sloan Fellow MBA degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technologyand Bachelor of Economics from Kobe University, Japan. She also holds the CharteredFinancial Analyst designation.
Takaomi Tomioka is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Carlyle Japan advisory team. He is based in Tokyo.
Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Tomioka worked at General Electric (GE) Capital Corporation from 1998 to2003. While at GE, he served as Director and Representative at GE Equity Japan, a private equity arm of GE. While at GE Equity Japan, Mr. Tomioka was responsible for the investment and management of portfolio companies. He served at the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan from 1985 to 1998, including nine years of corporate financing in the United States and Japan. He initiated advisory services for Qualicaps, Solasto Corp. (formerly N.I.C. Corp), Oyatsu Company Ltd., Sunsho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Meisui Bijin Factory Co., Ltd. (formerly Kyushu GGC Ltd.), AOI TYO Holdings Inc., Rigaku Corporation and Orion Breweries, Ltd.
He is currently a board member at Orion Breweries, Ltd., Rigaku Corporation and IWASAKI ELECTRIC CO.,LTD.
Mr. Tomioka received his B.A. in law at Waseda University and his MBA at New York University.
Rafael is responsible for Muzinich’s Private Debt business in Iberia, co-head of the European business, and a member of the firm’s private debt investment committee.
Prior to joining the firm 4 years ago, he spent 9 years originating, analyzing and executing mezzanine / hybrid capital investments in Southern Europe for Hutton Collins, where he led and/or was involved in transactions such as Everis, Aquafil and Caffé Nero, amongst others. Prior to this, he spent 2 years at midmarket Spanish private equity firm Mercapital, and 5 years in European Leveraged Finance at Merrill Lynch.
Keitaro “KT” Tsuda is a Partner based in Tokyo. He has been involved in investments including FCL Components (ex-Fujitsu Component), Japan Systems, Wellness Communications, Blueship, and nobitel (Dr.stretch).
Prior to joining Longreach, KT was a Director at Unison Capital, Inc., where he played key roles in the sourcing, value creation and exit of multiple portfolio companies. Prior to Unison Capital, KT was a Director at ITOCHU International Inc. based in New York, where he co-founded the Principal Investments Group, an in-house private equity unit with US$200 million of internal capital focusing on middle market leveraged buyouts in North America. He was also responsible for M&A and strategic investments for ITOCHU’s Financial Division and Machinery Division in North America. KT started his career at Cantor Fitzgerald, LLC in Tokyo where he was a foreign exchange options broker.
KT holds an MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and BA in Social Sciences from Waseda University.
Jun Tsusaka is CEO, CIO and Chairperson of the ESG Committee of Nippon Sangyo Suishin Kiko Ltd. (NSSK), an investment firm established in 2014 and focused on Japan’ s middle market. NSSK currently manages five investment funds (including its flagship fund and regional impact funds) on behalf of Japanese and international government and private sector pension plans, institutional investors, endowments and family offices.
Prior to Founding NSSK, from 2006, Jun Tsusaka was a Global Partner, Investment Committee Member and Partner Selection Committee Member for TPG Capital and was responsible for establishing and building up the Japan investment and operating team, which make up the core of NSSK today.
Jun Tsusaka is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School and has an Advanced Management Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from MIT. He is a former Business Trustee of Japan’s Bankruptcy Court, is a member of the Keizai Doyukai and Seiwajuku and the President of the Harvard Club of Japan.
Jim Verbeeten leads Bain & Company’s Private Equity and Financial Investor practice in Tokyo. He has more than 20 years of management consulting experience. Jim advises private equity clients on commercial due diligence assignments in a variety of industries and has supported clients with fund strategy and performance improvement of their portfolio companies. Jim also leads the development of Bain’s annual Japan Private Equity report. He first joined Bain's Amsterdam office in 1999 and has worked in Europe, North America and Asia. He has been based out of the Tokyo office since 2007.
Mr. Steven Wang is Founder & CEO of HLC and a visiting professor of Tsinghua University. He has over 20 years of experience in industry and investment, focuses exclusively on healthcare services, medical device and pharmaceutical sectors. Before founding HLC, he is former senior partner and investment committee member of CDH. Prior to CDH, Mr. Wang served at Avenue Capital, Lehman Brothers (London) and Becton Dickinson Group. Over the last ten years, Mr. Wang was responsible for transactions totaling more than 1.5 billion dollars, including mergers & acquisitions, restructuring of publicly listed companies, growth and early stage investments.
Some of Mr. Wang's representative deals include Mindray, Wuxi, Tigermed, Phamaron, Yuwell, United Imaging, Brightgene, Genetron Health, STA, Sansure Biotech, Smoore, Zentalis, Imago, Viva and more.
Yiqing Wang is Managing Editor of Mergermarket’s Asia-Pacific M&A and ECM editorial team, which specializes in breaking news on private and public M&A transactions and delivering forward-looking intelligence on corporate strategy. Yiqing spearheads the editorial strategy and oversees day-to-day operations, to deliver timely, actionable insights and analysis to help clients make better deal-making and investment decisions. Additionally, she frequently moderates panels and chairs conferences at ION Analytics events, bringing industry insights to the forefront.
She has been an investigative M&A reporter and editor since 2009, writing news ranging from healthcare, renewable energy and financial service, etc.
Yiqing achieved her master's degree of multilingual multicultural studies from New York University.
Stuart is head of the Client Solutions Group in Asia Pacific within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He is responsible for the institutional and retail client businesses across alternative and traditional asset classes in the region. Prior to this, Stuart served as head of Alternatives Capital Markets & Strategy in Asia Pacific from 2019 to 2023, where he led alternatives capital raising across the region. From 2006 to 2019, Stuart was based in Dubai, where he was head of the Securities Division for the Middle East and North Africa and provided coverage to Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds. Before relocating to Dubai in 2006, he spent five years as an equity salesperson in London. Stuart joined Goldman Sachs in 2001 as an analyst, was named managing director in 2010 and partner in 2022.
Stuart earned a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Trinity College, Oxford University, in 2001.