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.

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 20 years of experience as an investor, advisor and founder of technology companies, with software at their core.

Amit has 20 years of experience across investment, operational and consulting roles. Amit is a Partner at Potentia Capital and a member of the Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Potentia, Amit was part of the private equity investment team at Crescent Capital, Pemba Capital and at Aware Super. He held operational roles at Whispir, Unilever and Telecom New Zealand. Amit was also a management consultant at McKinsey & Co.

Amit holds a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) and Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) degrees from the University of Auckland. He also has a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University.

Antoine is a Partner at Park Square Capital, and Head of France based in Paris.

Prior to joining Park Square in 2006, Antoine worked on private equity investments at PAI partners in Paris, and in M&A at Lehman Brothers in London. Antoine graduated from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in Paris and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering from McGill University in Montreal.

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

Bhavik Vashi is the Managing Director for Asia Pacific & Middle East at Carta. Carta is a platform that helps people manage equity, build businesses, and invest in the companies of tomorrow. Carta manages over two trillion dollars in equity for nearly two million people globally and is trusted by more than 30,000 companies, over 5,000 investment funds, and half a million employees for cap table management, compensation management, liquidity venture capital solutions, and more.

Prior to this, Bhavik was Area Vice President & General Manager for Asia at Anaplan, a global cloud-based planning software company that empowers customers to be agile and resilient to change, and make better, faster decisions by enabling connecting planning across the enterprise. Bhavik was an early employee at Anaplan and spent nearly a decade there, serving in various different GTM roles in both the AMER and APAC regions. He helped build and scale the company from a disruptive start-up with ~80 employees and

Bhavik is passionate about supporting the startup ecosystem, and is an active angel investor and advisor to startups globally. He has also previously been interviewed on numerous podcasts and Singapore radio stations, such as MoneyFM, and has spoken at a range of events within the tech and finance space, including the Future of Finance Summit.

Brooke Zhou is Partner of LGT Capital Partners, she co-leads LGT CP’s private equity business in Asia. LGT Capital Partners is a leading institutional alternative asset and fund of funds manager, currently managing over USD 100 billion AuM on a global basis and over 600 private equity professionals worldwide. The firm is headquartered in Pfäffikon, Switzerland (near Zurich) and has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney, New York, Raleigh, Dublin, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Vaduz and Dubai.

Prior to joining LGT Capital Partners in 2010, Ms. Zhou was with CDH Investments, a leading Chinese private equity manager, based in Beijing. Prior to CDH Investments, Ms. Zhou spent her career at Bain & Company in Shanghai, as well as Oracle Corporation in Redwood Shores, California.

Ms. Zhou earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ms. Zhou grew up in Shanghai and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Chris Crampton is a Senior Managing Director at Blue Owl and the Head of Strategic Equity. Previously, Chris was a Partner at Goldman, Sachs & Co. (“Goldman”) where he was the head of Services private equity investing and prior to that led Industrials private equity investing in the Merchant Banking and Asset Management Divisions. While at Goldman, he was a member of the Global Corporate Equity Investment Committee and Growth Sub-Investment Committee and represented Goldman on various corporate boards. Prior to Goldman, Chris worked in the investment banking group at Deutsche Bank Securities.

Chris serves on the board of the ‘Sconset Trust, a non-profit committed to land conservation, historical preservation, and related educational and recreational initiatives in Siasconset, Massachusetts. Chris received an AB degree in History from Princeton University.

Damon joined ICG in 2024 and is a Managing Director in CFM Australia. Prior to joining ICG, Damon spent the last 5 years at Siemens Financial Services, responsible for managing the leveraged loan portfolio across Australia and New Zealand.

From 2011 to 2018, he worked at Credit Industriel et Commercial, latterly responsible for execution of their Australian and New Zealand corporate and leveraged loan strategies. Damon also held positions at National Australia Bank and Investec Bank (Australia), in leverage and acquisition finance spanning senior debt and mezzanine/hybrid solutions.

Daren is the Healthcare Partner at Crescent Capital Partners and has over 30 years’ of operational and private equity experience in the healthcare sector. His past and present healthcare portfolio includes Quantum/Medscan Radiology Group, PRP Diagnostic Imaging, MyHealth, SunDoctors, Nucleus Network, Pinnacle Rehabilitation and Healthcare Australia.  Daren was co-founder and Chief Executive Office of LifeHealthcare Group Limited a company Crescent invested in 2006 and successfully exited via an ASX listing in December 2013.  

Prior to joining Crescent, Daren’s executive experience spanned a wide range of healthcare businesses where he has held Chief Executive positions in the Acute Private Hospital, Diagnostic Imaging and Medical Device sectors.  Daren holds a Bachelor of Business from Edith Cowan University and an MBA from the University of Western Australia. Daren is also a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Crescent Capital Partners (Crescent) is a Sydney-based private equity firm investing in middle market companies located in Australia and New Zealand with enterprise values between A$50 million and A$300 million.  Crescent was formed in 2000 and has established itself as one of Australasia’s leading mid market private equity firms. Crescent’s investment focus is on high growth companies and sectors, or in industries that are undergoing structural change or that lend themselves to consolidation.  Crescent’s role is to accelerate and support the senior management teams of these businesses in reaching their aspirational targets and goals.

Crescent has particular experience and skills in financial services, healthcare, branded and industrial businesses.  In particular, Crescent has been the most active private equity manager in healthcare transactions in Australia measured by number of investments made in the past 10 years.

Darragh co-leads the alternative investment research for Escala Partners encompassing private markets, real assets and hedge funds and leads the firm’s responsible investment research. He is a member of the firm’s investment committee and approved product list committee. Prior to joining Escala in 2019 he held positions with Prudential International carrying out fund due diligence across the platforms funds and has held positions in investment banking, private wealth, and trading in Ireland. Darragh holds a BSc in Business & Management from Technological University of Dublin, has completed the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing and is a CFA Charterholder.

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.

Georgina Varley is a Managing Director at Adamantem Capital. Prior to joining Adamantem Capital, Georgina worked in private equity as an Investment Director at Archer Capital (2017-2018) and an Investment Director at Arowana International (2013-2016). She also worked at Macquarie Group (Sydney and London) from 2006-2013 in investment banking and principal investment. Georgina sits on the board of Retail Zoo and is Chair of Climate Friendly. Georgina was appointed to the Takeovers Panel in 2024. 

Georgina holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Sydney.

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)

Glenn Riley is the Head of Private Markets at Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, which provides superannuation services and products for Australian government employees and members of the Australian Defence Force, with funds under management of A$65 billion. Glenn has responsibility for leading CSC’s Private Markets program, which covers all of CSC’s illiquid asset investments across private equity, real estate, and infrastructure. 

Glenn joined CSC in 2008 and has 28 years of diverse experience across private markets investment management, real estate funds management, and banking.

Jackie is a Partner at Airtree, a venture capital firm with a mission to back the most ambitious and unrelenting Australian and Kiwi founders, building the iconic technology companies of tomorrow. Jackie works with 10 portfolio companies, including Linktree, GROW, Fair Supply, and Who Gives A Crap. 

Prior to Airtree, Jackie invested in Fintech at NAB Ventures, and was Chief of Staff at B2B SaaS startup Kalo, a Series A stage startup based in San Francisco & London. Jackie started her career on the trading floor at Citigroup and Merrill Lynch as a VP in Equity Derivatives, and graduated from Cambridge University.

James is a Director at Principle Advisory Services, a leading Australian investment management advisory and distribution firm.

James covers the Australasian institutional and wholesale investor market and specialises in private markets investments including private equity/venture capital, unlisted infrastructure, real estate, and alternative credit strategies. James has over 17 years’ fundraising and product design experience in the Australasian market.

James was named one of PEI’s 40 under 40: Future Leaders of Private Equity in 2020.

James holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney as well as a Master of Commerce from the same university, majoring in Finance and Commercial Law. James is a CFA Charterholder and is a former Director and Treasurer of the CFA Society of Sydney.

James has over 25 years of experience providing Transaction Services advice to clients on a range of transactions, initially in the UK before transferring to Australia in 2004. He has been a Partner in KPMG’s Transaction Services team for 16 years and has been leading KPMG’s Private Equity sector coverage team for the last 2 years.  

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.

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.

Jeffrey Stevenson is the Managing Partner of VSS and has overall responsibility for the management of the firm and each of its funds. He joined VSS in 1982, shortly after its formation, and founded its private equity business in 1987. VSS has managed 8 funds with $4 billion of committed capital under management, including 4 equity funds and 4 structured capital funds. To date, VSS funds have invested in 99 platform companies, which have together completed over 600 acquisitions, representing over $13 billion in aggregate enterprise value. VSS funds focus on the healthcare, business services, and education industries. VSS makes control and non-control investments of $20 to $50 million in companies with EBITDA of $3 - $15 million and provides flexible debt and equity solutions.

Jeffrey is the Chairman of the investment committee and has served on the boards of over 31 portfolio companies and currently serves as a member of the board of the following VSS portfolio companies: Ambulatory Anesthesia Care, Ascent Behavioral Health, Center for Rheumatology, Eximia, ITN Networks, Specialty1 Partners, and Pacesetter Health.

Previously, he served as a director of Advanstar, Brandshop, Cambium Learning, Canon Communications, Coretelligent, Cast & Crew, De Telefoongids, Mediatel, MetSchools, Ebiquity, Hanley Wood, ITE Group, Pepcom, Southern Theatres LLC, Tax Credit Co., TMP Worldwide, and Yellow Book USA, among others.

Jeffrey serves as a member of the finance committee for the not-for profit organization, Fraxa Research Foundation. Jeffrey also was previously involved with the following organizations: YPO/WPO, SBIA Board of Governors and Lincoln Center Leadership Committee.

Jeffrey holds a BA from Rutgers College.

Jeremy Samuel is the founder and Managing Director of Anacacia Capital.

Anacacia manages >$1B investing into leading small-medium enterprises. This includes five series of private equity funds 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 director of Anacacia portfolio companies: Sureway, MGI Golf and Opteon. 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.

Mr Valtwies is responsible for Blue Owl’s wealth management business in Australia. He oversees business development and growth of the Blue Owl funds as well as client servicing, and operations for wealth management.

Prior to Blue Owl, John spent over a decade with global fund manager PIMCO as a senior leader of the Global Wealth Management team. During his time there, he managed the firm's private client relationships, focusing on private banks and ultra-high-net-worth advisory groups. John also led the family office business, successfully developing strong relationships with these unique, and sophisticated investors. He also developed growth strategies to expand the firm's semi-liquid alternative solutions for private clients and advisers.

Before joining PIMCO in 2012, he was a senior research analyst at Morningstar. With 23 years of investment experience, he holds a certificate in financial markets from FINSIA and received a Bachelor of Business (Economics & Finance) from Western Sydney University.

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.

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).

Lauren is a Vice President based in the Client Solutions Group based in the firm’s Sydney office. She is responsible for leading and supporting all aspects of business development across Australia and New Zealand with a focus on institutional clients.

Prior to joining Hamilton Lane in 2020, Lauren worked in the investor relations team at AnaCap Financial Partners, a leading middle-market private equity and private credit manager in London, working across all aspects of fundraising and client services.

Maggie is Mergermarket’s APAC Associate Editor and Australia/New Zealand Bureau Chief. She joined Mergermarket Australia in 2017 and has since been covering corporate strategy, M&A, and private equity activities as a journalist and an editor. She manages the Australian bureau, supports Mergermarket’s APAC editorial team, and facilitates cross-platform collaboration under ION Analytics between Mergermarket and sister publications including Debtwire and Infralogic. She previously worked at The Australian and Reuters, starting her Australian journalism career at the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery in Canberra. Maggie has been based in Sydney since 2013.

Marcus joined Quadrant Private Equity in March 2006 and is a Managing Partner. Marcus has nearly 30 years of private equity experience starting in the UK with NatWest Ventures (now Bridgepoint). He joined AMP in 1994 as Joint Head of Private Equity where he completed several major buyouts including Tasman Building Products.

Marcus has been a member of the Quadrant Investment Committee for every fund from QPE I to QPE VII and QGF 1 and 11. He jointly heads Quadrant’s Growth Funds and is a Director of Quadrant investees Partnered Health, TDG Environmental, JAG, Cancer Care Associates, Prime 100 and Quadlock.

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.

Mark Chudek is a Partner of Affinity Equity Partners and oversees its Australian and New Zealand investment team.

Mark is a member of Affinity’s investment committee and first joined Affinity in 2013. Prior to rejoining Affinity in 2023, Mark spent 2 years at Quadrant Private Equity within Quadrant’s flagship buyout fund between 2021 and 2023.

Before Mark’s private equity career commenced in 2013, he spent 3 years at Credit Suisse within their investment banking team in Sydney.

Mark’s private equity career spans 7 completed platform investments, serving on 12 investee company boards, completing 16 financings across his portfolio of investee companies and exiting 4 platform investments.

Markus Egloff (Singapore) joined KKR in 2021 and is a Managing Director on the Global Client Solutions team. He leads the Global Wealth Solutions business for EMEA & Asia Pacific. Mr. Egloff and his team work with private banks, wealth management platforms and family offices to understand and meet their investment needs and deliver KKR private market investment solutions. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Egloff spent 25 years with UBS Asset Management and Wealth Management and held various leadership and sales positions across Europe and Asia. In his last role with UBS, he served as chairman and head of UBS Asset Management, Hong Kong and led their wealth distribution business across Asia Pacific. Mr. Egloff holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Zurich University of Applied Science, Switzerland.

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.

Michael Blickstead is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Equity Group based in Sydney and Head of Australia / New Zealand Private Equity.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Blickstead was a Division Director / Managing Director and Head of Principal Finance Asia Pacific for Macquarie Group where he invested across the capital structure. Prior to that, he was an Investment Director at Archer Capital, one of Australia’s leading domestic private equity firms. Mr. Blickstead started his career in the Private Equity Group at Goldman Sachs in New York and London.

Mr. Blickstead received a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude in Economics, from Harvard University as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Chae is a Partner of Investor Relations at L Catterton. Prior to joining L Catterton, he was a Principal, Client Relations at IFC Asset Management Company, where he was responsible for fundraising and investor relations activities across various alternative asset classes in the Asia Pacific region. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director within the Alternative Investments Group at PineBridge Investments in Tokyo and Singapore. Mr. Chae has over 25 years of relevant experience and has held several other senior positions at global investment firms including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore.

Mr. Chae graduated with honours from the University of Rochester with a BA in Economics and Japanese.

Mike is the Group Managing Partner of Roc Partners where he is responsible for leading client relationships and investment activities in several markets. Mike was one of the founding partners of Roc Partners following the management buy-out of Macquarie Group’s private markets business unit (“MIMPM”) by its senior executives in June 2014. He currently serves a director of Roc Partners investee companies StoneAxe, Australia’s Oyster Coast, Hirepool, National Dental Care, Infrastructure Advisory Group and Pacific Metals Group.

Mike holds a Bachelor of Science Honours, Applied Mathematics, is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Associate of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia.

Navleen Prasad is the CEO of the Australian Investment Council, a role she has held since November 2022. As the peak body for private capital, the Council represents private equity, venture capital, private credit, institutional investors such as not for profit superannuation funds and family offices, and the broader ecosystem supporting the industry.

Private capital invests economy wide. As CEO of the Council, Navleen represents an industry that contributes three per cent to Australia’s GDP, is responsible for 600,000 full-time jobs and backs 900 businesses, mainly start-ups and growth businesses. On behalf of members, Navleen and her team advocate for the private capital industry with stakeholders, and provides the platform for building capacity, capability and connection across the industry.

Since joining the Council, Navleen has led: a significant expansion of the Council’s advocacy with stakeholders including government and regulators, the creation of deeper links between Australian fund managers and Asian investors; and a strategic focusing of the Council’s services to members.

Prior to the Council, Navleen spent 19 years at Macquarie Group. Most recently, she led Macquarie’s government engagement function and also held senior corporate affairs roles, specialising in media and reputation.

Navleen started her career in tax advisory, initially with Deloitte and then PwC.

Navleen is also on the board of Sydney Youth Orchestras and Bundanon Trust. In 2022, she was appointed by Treasurer Jim Chalmers as a core member of the Investor Roundtable, advising the Australian Government on meeting nationally significant investment needs.

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

Nicholas Macksey is a Partner in the EQT Private Capital Asia team. Nicholas worked for BPEA from 2006 until 2022, when the company joined forces with EQT and was renamed BPEA EQT.

Nicholas leads the Mid-Market Growth fund across Asia-Pacific and is a member of the EQT Private Capital Asia investment committee and exit and liquidity committee.

Prior to joining BPEA, Nicholas was a Senior Associate at Westpac Institutional Bank and also worked as a Senior Associate at Deloitte.

Nicholas holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Queensland and is also a CFA charterholder.

Nicola Yeomans co-leads the firm’s global Private Capital practice and is based in Singapore. She specialises in private equity and asset management across Asia, supporting clients with acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, fundraisings and real asset projects.

Nicola is ranked by Chambers Global, Chambers Asia Pacific and Who’s Who Legal as a leading M&A lawyer. She was recognised by Asian Legal Business as the only international law firm finalist for Southeast Asia Woman Lawyer of the Year and was a finalist for Euromoney’s Female Asia Pacific M&A Lawyer of the Year. 

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).

Peter Kim is a Partner and Head of Asia. He opened the firm’s Hong Kong office in 2012, the Beijing office in 2021, and the Seoul office in 2022.

Prior to joining Coller Capital’s investment team in London in 2009, Peter was in the Healthcare Investment Banking Team at Merrill Lynch. Previously, he worked in the Real Estate, Corporate Securitisation and Infrastructure Finance team at Barclays Capital in London.

Peter has a BSc in Biochemistry from Imperial College London and an MPhil in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge.

Rachael is Head of Australia Private Equity at MLC Asset Management, leading primary investments and co-investments in the Australian region and representing MLC on Limited Partner Advisory Boards and corporate boards. MLC is one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds with over $150bn under management, and its private equity program has been investing in private equity globally over 28 years. Prior to joining MLC in 2021, Rachael spent almost a decade as a GP investing in the mid-market at Ironbridge Capital and L Catterton including operating roles within portfolio companies to accelerate growth. Rachael was formerly an investment banker at Macquarie Bank in New York and Auckland, and at Credit Suisse in Sydney. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and holds Commerce and Law degrees.

Rick Baker is a co-founder of Blackbird Ventures, a venture capital firm focussed on investing in the best global tech startups being formed in Australia. Prior to Blackbird, Rick ran MLC’s venture capital portfolio with investments of over half a billion dollars.   Prior to MLC, Rick co-founded two successful software companies: IDC Global and Right Party Connect.

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.

Rohan joined Pacific Equity Partners in 2010. Before joining PEP, Rohan was with Navis Capital Partners and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity in Australia, Asia and North America. Rohan received a PLD from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney.

As Asia Pacific private credit leader, I am focussed on connecting clients to KPMG’s breadth of services to assist with fund structuring, deal sourcing, fund performance and the growth of our clients.

I regularly advise on a range of assignments across private credit including direct lending, distressed and special situations, asset backed lending, restructurings (including debt to equity transactions) and various business turnaround & value creations assignments.

Our deal team are uniquely placed to provide transaction services, debt advisory, tax structuring, turnaround and restructuring services, deal strategy, value creation, M&A, reporting and monitoring, options analysis and compliance services. 

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).

Stephen Allan, Managing Director, is the Head of Australasia Private Credit within BlackRock's APAC Private Credit team. Mr. Allan is responsible for leading the origination and management of private credit investments in Australia and New Zealand.

Prior to joining BlackRock in 2023, Mr. Allan was a Managing Director at Nomura where he was Head of Loans & Principal Investments Australia and the Head of Real Estate Finance Asia. At Nomura he was responsible for the origination, structuring, and syndication of illiquid credit opportunities in Australia and New Zealand. Before joining Nomura in 2010, Mr. Allan served Lloyds International in Sydney, where he was involved in transaction restructuring of distressed corporate, real estate and leveraged finance accounts in their business support unit. Mr. Allan started his career in credit with the Leveraged Finance division at HSBC in London in 2003.

Mr. Allan earned an undergraduate degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Technology (Sydney), has a graduate diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from FINSIA, is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ICAANZ) and is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).

Steve Duncan is a Managing Director at TPG Capital Asia based in Melbourne and has been with TPG since 2020. Steve is the current Chairman of Made Group, one of Australia’s largest healthy food and beverage businesses. He also sits on the Board of iNova Pharmaceuticals and was previously a director of logistics software company Containerchain.

Prior to joining TPG, Steve worked with CPE Capital across their Australia and Singapore offices for approximately nine years.

Steve holds a B.Commerce (Hons) Finance & Accounting from the University of New South Wales and an MBA jointly issued by Columbia Business School and London Business School.

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.

Timo Kairi is a Partner of Bain & Company based in Australia. He is a leader in the firm's financial investors practice and is one of the Bain’s foremost experts on fund strategy, private markets evolution and fund raising.

Since he joined Bain in 1999, Timo has worked in Europe, North America and APAC regions together with leading GPs and LPs.

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.

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.