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.

Koji Hamazaki is a Senior Director of Private Market Investment Department and Head of Private Equity at Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF). Since joining GPIF in April 2017, he has led the development and implementation of private equity investment strategies across both domestic and global markets. 

Prior to joining GPIF, Mr. Hamazaki spent 23 years at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). Beginning in 2005, he played a key role in launching and expanding SMBC’s global private equity investment platform. From 2009 to 2011, he was seconded to a private equity gatekeeper, where he was involved in the formation and investment of fund-of-funds vehicles. He also served as a Group Head at Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), where he was responsible for strategic planning for both the securities and asset management businesses. 

Mr. Hamazaki holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Keio University and an MBA from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University. 

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.

Jennifer James is Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Investor Relations & Marketing at Thoma Bravo. Based in San Francisco, she joined the firm in 2015 with 20 years of experience in private equity/venture capital investor relations, fundraising, and marketing. Today she leads Thoma Bravo's business operations strategy, efforts to serve the needs of new and existing investors, and the firm's industry communications programs. Wall Street Journal and WSJ PRO Private Equity named Jennifer one of the Women to Watch in fundraising, and San Francisco Business Times honored her as one of the Most Influential Women in the Bay Area. Before Thoma Bravo, she served as Partner, Investor Relations & Marketing, for Sofinnova Ventures. Previously, she served as Director of Marketing & Communications for Alta Partners, and she held several marketing and financial services leadership roles. Jennifer earned her MBA from Northwestern University and her AB degree in History from Bowdoin College.

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.

Ethan Ling, Managing Director, is the Head of APAC Product Strategy for BlackRock Private Equity Partners (PEP) within BlackRock's Equity Private Markets, where he leads the private equity fundraising strategy, product development, and investor relations in the APAC region. He brings over 20 years of expertise in private markets and, as a member of the PEP Global Executive Committee, drives business growth by aligning client needs with BlackRock's objectives.

Mr. Ling previously served as Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations at CMBI, where he oversaw alternative asset growth initiatives and developed a diverse range of alternative strategies. Prior to CMBI, he held various senior roles at CMC, CPE, and UBS Investment Banking.

Mr. Ling holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Science in Telecommunications from the University of Maryland, College Park. He was also an Individual Promoter, Executive Director, and CFO of the first-ever SPAC listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

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).

Yizhe Chen is a Principal based in Tokyo. He has been involved in investments including Primo Japan, Wendy’s First Kitchen, C-United (formed through the merger of Kohikan, Chat Noir, and Café de CRIE), Wellness Communications, J-CEP, and Shin Nihon Jusetsu Group, particularly focusing on developing growth strategies, accelerating digital transformation, and leading acquisitions and global expansion. Prior to joining Longreach, Yizhe was a Manager at A.T. Kearney. Yizhe has a Master of Engineering from the University of Tokyo and an MBA from the London Business School.

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 an Investment Committee member in both Japan and Korea. 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 Minacia (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.

Toshihide joined T Capital Partners (formerly Tokio Marine Capital) in May 2025. He has over 20 years extensive experience covering financial sponsors, including private equity funds, to provide a broad range of advisory (TOB and curve-out etc.), financing (including IPO) and PE fund related products in investment banking. He founded and led the financial sponsor coverage team at Citigroup Global Markets Japan (formerly Nikko Citigroup) since 2005. Prior to joining T Capital, he was a Managing Director at Nomura International (London) to cover financial sponsors and trading houses to promote and lead cross-border deals after working at Nomura Securities (Tokyo) where he joined in 2017 as a sponsor coverage. He had been involved in a wide range of sectors; TMT, Business Services, C&R, Healthcare, Industrials and Financial Services.

Toshihide has a B.A in Law from Keio University.

Mr. Mitsui joined Advantage Partners in October 2024. Prior to this, he was a Senior Partner at Bain & Company Japan, where he led the Tokyo office’s healthcare and life-science practice and its performance improvement practice. Before working at Bain, he was a Managing Partner at PwC Strategy& (formerly Booz & Company) in Tokyo from 2017 to 2020, where he founded and led the Japan PE Strategy and Value Creation Practice. Throughout his career in management consulting, he led numerous large scale transformation programs for Japanese and overseas corporations across a variety of industries such as pharma, med-tech, manufacturing, financial services, and infrastructure. He first started his career at Nomura Research Institute, Ltd., as an urban and regional planner in 1989. He holds a B.Eng and M.Eng in engineering from the university of Tokyo, and an MCP (Master in City Planning) from MIT. He is a member of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives.

Based in New York, Brian Musto is a senior investor in Goldman Sachs’ Vintage Strategies.  Vintage Strategies, which provide liquidity solutions to private market limited partner investors and general partner fund managers globally, represent a flagship of Goldman Sachs’ alternatives franchise, with leadership in the secondaries space since 1998. Since inception, the Vintage Funds have invested over $80 billion across more than 750 secondary transactions.  Brian is a member of the Vintage Strategies Private Equity and Real Estate Investment Committees and the Union Bridge Investment Committee. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2003 in the Financial Institutions Group of the Investment Banking Division and rejoined the firm in 2009 in Vintage Strategies. Prior to rejoining the firm, Brian was a private equity associate at Thomas H. Lee Partners in Boston. He earned a BSBA in Finance and Accounting, magna cum laude, from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School, where he graduated as a Baker Scholar.

Nash is the Global Head of the MS Private Equity Secondaries team and investment committee member. With more than 22 years of industry experience, Nash is the lead portfolio manager for all of MSIM’s funds that are focused on GP-Led single asset secondaries. During his tenure, Nash has either led or participated in every GP-Led continuation vehicle transaction executed by the team. Prior to originating the secondary strategy at Morgan Stanley, he was a member of the quantitative strategy group supporting the MSIM value equity teams. Nash received a B.A. in economics and German from Duke University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

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, strategic partnerships, new business development, and capital formation activities across General Atlantic’s investment strategies, which today represent over $100 billion in assets and span global growth equity, private credit, energy transition, and infrastructure solutions.

Previously, Chris was a Partner of Goldman Sachs, where he worked for over 28 years. He founded and led many of the firm's businesses in alternative investments, including its external-manager investing platform in private markets, secondaries, GP stakes, co-investments, and hedge funds, leading those businesses across two decades. Chris also led the global client franchise for Goldman Sachs Asset & Wealth Management, a platform that represented over $2.7 trillion in alternative investments and public market strategies. Elected a Partner in 2008, Chris served on Goldman Sachs’ Partnership Committee, its Firmwide Client Franchise Committee, and its investment committees across the private markets.

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 asset management. He serves on the boards of Cambridge in America, The Juilliard School, Asia Society, 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.

Soichi Sam Takata has been with Tokio Marine Asset Management since the creation of the private equity investment team in 2002. Before that, Mr Takata was at Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance (Tokio Marine) working in their alternative investment team from 1997 to 1998, and again from 2001 onwards, managing a global portfolio of private equity, hedge funds, infrastructure funds, CDOs/CLOs and other alternative assets.

Mr. Takata spent three years at Tokio Marine Capital, Tokio Marine's private equity investment arm, working on management buyout and development capital transactions in Japan. During this period, he also spent time at private equity houses in the US and the UK. Prior to that, he spent over two years on secondment to the Export-Import Bank of Japan (now the Japan Bank for International Cooperation) working on project finance transactions around the world.

Mr Takata began his career in the international investment department of Tokio Marine overseeing an international portfolio of managed assets. He has a BA in economics from Harvard College.

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.

Tetsu Onitsuka joined EQT Partners in October 2021 and is a partner in the BPEA EQT team.  Prior to joining EQT, Tetsu was a founding member and Managing Director of Japan Post Investment Corporation, which managed approximately USD 1 billion in private equity funds.  Prior to Japan Post Investment, he worked at TPG Capital for over ten years, ultimately running TPG’s Japan business.  He also previously worked as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley in Tokyo.  Tetsu received a Bachelor of Arts with High Distinction from Harvard College, and a Master of Business Administration with High Distinction (Baker Scholar) from Harvard Business School.

Atsuhiko Sakamoto is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Equity Group and is based in Tokyo, responsible for the day-to-day management of the Private Equity group's investment activities in Japan. Since joining Blackstone in 2018, Mr. Sakamoto has led all of the firm's private equity investments in Japan including Ayumi, Alinamin, Sony Payment Service, Infocom, I'rom and CMIC.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Sakamoto was a Managing Director at Bain Capital where he focused on private equity investments in Japan.

Mr. Sakamoto received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Yale University.

Eiji Yatagawa (Tokyo) joined KKR in 2006 and is a Partner and Head of Japan Private Equity. He is on the Board of Directors of PHC Holdings (formerly Panasonic Healthcare), Koki Holdings (formerly Hitachi Koki), Seiyu, dataX (formerly From Scratch), Yayoi, and LOGISTEED (formerly Hitachi Transport System). Mr. Yatagawa was also previously involved with KKR’s investments in Unisteel (Singapore), Intelligence, AlphaTheta (formerly Pioneer DJ), Transphorm (USA), Marelli Holdings (formerly Calsonic Kansei), Kokusai Electric (formerly Hitachi Kokusai Electric), and NETSTARS. From 2010 to 2012, he worked in KKR's Hong Kong office. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Yatagawa was with Goldman Sachs & Co.'s investment banking team, based in New York and Tokyo, where he focused on the telecommunications, media, and technology sector and was involved in a number of mergers and acquisitions as well as financing projects. He holds a B.S. and an M.S. from the University of Tokyo.

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.

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.

Mr. Nishizawa is Head of Investment Advisory at Japan Post Investment. He has been consistently involved in private equity investment at Japan Post Bank, Daido Life and AI Capital, accumulating over 20 years of experience in private equity investments since 2002. After serving as the Head of Private Equity Investment at Daido Life, he joined Japan Post Bank in 2016, where he led portfolio development from the inception of Japan Post Bank's private equity investment program. He is a graduate of Hokkaido University and is a Certificate-holder Member of SAAJ.

Koji Someno is Head of Private Equity Fund Investment Division of Alternative Investment Department at Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company. Prior to this role, he led infrastructure fund investment, real estate fund investment and private debt fund investment. Early in his career, he worked at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Bank(MUTB) before joining Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company in 2017. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business and commerce from Keio 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.

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.

Satoshi Fukushima is a Partner at Globis Capital Partners (GCP). He leads investments in problem-solving startups, with a focus on the healthcare and lifestyle sectors, and managed fund-raising for GCP's 7th fund (JPY 73B). His track record includes Medley (4480) and has served on the boards of Kakehashi (SaaS for pharmacies), AI Medical Service (an endoscopic AI company), and others. Prior to joining GCP in 2014, he worked at Deutsche Securities Inc., where he led fundraising and cross-border M&A transactions. He received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Tokyo in 2007.

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.

Kengo started his career as a venture capitalist at JAFCO in April 2003. He gained extensive experience in a wide range of operations covering investment, fund formation and management, and legal affairs, through several different departments.

He joined Beyond Next Ventures in March 2015 as a key founding member and assumed the position of Representative Director in October 2023. While overseeing fund management and all corporate operations, he was also in charge of investment activities.

His IPO track record includes QD Laser (February 2021) and SUSMED (December 2021), the latter of which he supported from the seed stage.

He graduated from the Faculty of Law, Chuo University.

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.

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.

Vincent Churk is a Vice President with the Morgan Stanley Private Equity Solutions team. Prior to joining the firm in 2021, Vincent worked in the Investment Banking Division at J.P. Morgan, where he advised companies on mergers and acquisitions and capital raising activities. Vincent graduated with a B.B.A. in finance from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Nikhil Srivastava is a Partner and Co-Head of Private Equity at PAG, responsible for supervising the operations and management of PAG’s Private Equity strategy. He is a member of the firm’s Management Committee.

Nikhil joined PAG in 2019 after working across India, Singapore, and the United States markets with KKR for nearly a decade. Prior to that, he worked at Goldman Sachs and Inphi Corporation (NYSE: IPHI). Nikhil holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a master’s in electrical engineering from Stanford, and a bachelor’s in electrical and electronics engineering from BITS Pilani. Nikhil is also the author of several patents.

Shohei Akiyama is Partner, a member of NSSK’s five-person Management Committee and is Head of NVP (NSSK Value-Up Program) and Business Support Team at NSSK. Shohei is responsible for value creation initiatives of NSSK’s portfolio companies and all the operation functions in NSSK’s Business Support Team (including accounting, tax, legal and compliance functions). Prior to assuming his current role, 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.).

Ray is a Managing Director at L Catterton who is based in Tokyo, where he leads deal sourcing and execution activities in Japan for the firm’s Asia fund. He has extensive investment and portfolio management experience, and is currently an external director of several portfolio companies.

 Before joining L Catterton, Ray was a Director at Sunrise Capital, a Japan-focused mid-cap fund under CLSA Capital Partners, where he spent over 10 years conducting leveraged buyout deals in the consumer lifestyle and e-commerce space. Prior to that, he was with Citigroup Global Markets’ Merger & Acquisition Group.

 Ray graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Warwick University.

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.

Maki Mitsui is a Managing Director and Partner responsible for overseeing Investor Relations in Japan.

Ms. Mitsui joined Carlyle in 2002 and leads the Investor Relations team in Japan, which is responsible for introducing a broad range of products, including private equity, infrastructure, real estate, private credit, and aviation finance. She also serves as the Japan Representative of Carlyle Japan Equity Management LLC.

With over 25 years of experience in private assets, Ms. Mitsui previously established the alternative assets placement business within the Investment Banking division at Merrill Lynch Japan Securities, which she joined in 1997. In this role, she introduced leading global managers to Japanese institutional investors. Prior to that, she worked in international equity sales at CS First Boston, based in both the Tokyo and New York offices.

Ms. Mitsui is a Director of the Japan Private Equity Association and a Chair of its ESG Committee. She also serves as an Advisor to the Social Innovation Partners.

Ms. Mitsui received a B.A. in Political Science from Keio University.

Sueann Yeo is a Managing Director and Head of Asia-Pacific Private Wealth Client Relations and Capital Raising, based in Singapore. Prior to joining EQT, Sueann was an Executive Director and Head of Alternative Investments (Southeast Asia) at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. Sueann received a BBM with a major in Finance from Singapore Management University. She is also a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) charter holder.

Brian is a founding partner and the CEO of Taiyo Pacific Partners, a friendly activist investment fund focused on Japanese Public companies. Over the past 20 years, he has been an advisor and strategist to the CEO’s of well over a hundred portfolio companies invested in by the fund. He speaks Japanese fluently and has a deep working knowledge of the culture and business practices of Japan.  In 2014, he led a friendly management buyout of the electronic music instrument company Roland as Taiyo expanded its efforts into private equity.   He believes that a critical mission for any private equity investment is to ensure the underlying company and employees are better off after the MBO than they were before.  That means making the company more competitive, ensuring it has a strong management structure and balance sheet  , and improving the incentives and compensation to properly reward the hard-working and dedicated employees.

Due to his work at Roland, he was asked to join the board of several other publicly traded Japanese companies. Sitting in the board room gives him a unique insight into the structure and function of corporate Japan, an ability to influence decisions, and a bird’s eye view of the opportunities and challenges that exist in one of the most fascinating markets in the world.  

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.

Prior to founding Palliser Capital in 2021, James was the head of Elliott’s Hong Kong office. James joined Elliott UK as an Analyst in 2001 where he focused on European investments before moving to Hong Kong and advancing to the roles of Portfolio Manager and Head of Office. Prior to joining Elliott, James gained a variety of experience at financial and start-up firms. He holds a BA (Hons) and MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University.