Akiko is responsible for fund and industry analysis and consultation for Japanese asset owners in the alternative investment space. She is also involved in alternative fund planning.

Akiko Imafuku joined Nissay Asset Management in 2025 as an Alternative Specialist. She supports Japanese asset owners in constructing and managing alternative asset portfolios and provides comprehensive analysis of the alternative investment landscape for clients.

Prior to joining NAM, she spent 18 years at Daiwa Fund Consulting as a fund analyst and Head of Research. Her earlier roles include positions as a fund analyst at S&P, economic researcher at a Japanese securities company, and equity analyst at a Japanese asset management firm.

Currently, she is focusing on expanding NAM's comprehensive solutions in alternative investments across market cycles.

Certified Member Analyst (CMA), Securities Analysts Association of Japan

Bachelor of Economics, Waseda University, Tokyo

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).

Peter Kim is a Partner, member of the Executive Committee, and Head of APAC, based in Hong Kong. He has played a key role in building and leading the firm’s Asia Pacific presence and serves on the firm’s global Executive Committee.

Prior to joining Coller Capital’s investment team in London in 2009, Peter worked 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 holds a BSc in Biochemistry from Imperial College London and an MPhil in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge.

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.

Aiko Adachi joined HarbourVest in 2013 and plays a key role in business development and client relations in Japan.

Prior to HarbourVest, Aiko was with Advent International in Tokyo, where she oversaw investor relations initiatives for the Limited Partner Support team. She started her career at ITOCHU Corporation. Aiko has about 20 years of experience in alternative investment area.

Aiko holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Sophia University in Japan. During her studies, she completed a semester abroad at Royal Holloway, University of London.

1987年第一生命保険相互会社（現第一ライフグループ）入社

1990年より一般勘定の株式運用（アジア株、日本株、欧米株）に従事。アジア株では香港、シンガポールの現地法人で運用を行なう。

2006年より特別勘定のポートフォリオマネジャーを経て年金顧客向けの運用コンサルティング業務に携わる。

2014年DIC企業年金基金に入社

2019年より現職

Tatsuya Kubo joined the Firm in 2010 and focuses on enhancing and building relationships with institutional investors and general partners in Japan. Tatsuya serves on the advisory board of partnerships managed by Unison Capital Partners.

Tatsuya 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. Tatsuya is a native Japanese speaker.

Ali Raissi-Dehkordy serves as the global co-head of the Petershill business, an $18 billion GP stakes investor. Petershill is the earliest and a leading GP Stakes investor since its founding in 2007. As a partner at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which manages $3.6 trillion in assets, Ali serves as the global co-head of the Petershill business, and Chair of the GP Stakes Investment Committee. 

Ali directs investments in both leading private-market and public-market managers. This includes management company investments through the Petershill GP Stakes program and support for earlier-stage private-market managers through the Petershill Early Stage program. With over 19 years of experience in the GP Stakes Industry, Ali has led and overseen more than 50 GP stakes investments, shaping the growth of the GP Stakes industry since Petershill’s founding 19 years ago.

Today, Petershill holds GP stakes in highly regarded specialist Alternatives Asset Management Companies, collectively managing around $500 billion in industry AUM or close to 5% of Alternatives AUM.

Ben Hart is a senior managing director and head of Evercore’s Asia Private Capital Advisory division. He is based in Singapore.

Mr. Hart has more than 20 years of experience in private markets fundraising, institutional investor relations, capital formation and business development across the Asia-Pacific region. He previously served as partner and head of investor relations (Asia) at Adams Street Partners, where he led the firm’s business development and client-service efforts across institutional and private wealth channels.

Based in the Firm’s New York office, Chris Evans is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Fund Transactions Practice. Chris focuses on a broad range of GP-level transactions involving prominent alternative asset managers. Previously a Managing Director on the GP Stakes team at Blackstone, Chris counsels asset managers on cutting-edge minority stake investments, control sale, joint ventures and other transactions. He also advises private fund sponsors on the organization and management of private investment funds across asset classes, succession planning and strategic initiatives.

Prior to joining Simpson Thacher, Chris was a Managing Director on the GP Stakes team at Blackstone, where he worked on sponsor minority stakes deals, seed transactions and advised Blackstone’s portfolio GPs on business strategy. Previously, he covered alternative asset managers in the investment banks at J.P. Morgan and Lazard. Earlier in his career, Chris was a Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Treasury Department. He also spent several years in private practice, including at Simpson Thacher.

While at Blackstone, Chris advised the firm’s portfolio GPs, such as Francisco Partners, New Mountain Capital and Rockpoint, on the structuring and launch strategy of numerous investment vehicles across private equity, credit, real estate and real assets. Those structures spanned commingled funds, funds-of-one and separately managed accounts.

Chris serves as the Board President for the New York Metropolitan Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Chris received his J.D., magna cum laude from Duke University School of Law where he was editor of Duke Law Journal. He received his B.A., summa cum laude in History and Government. He is admitted to practice in New York.

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.

Jumpei Ogura is a Partner and Co-Head of the Carlyle Japan Advisory team. He is based in Tokyo. 

Since joining the firm in 2006, Mr. Ogura has led on several Carlyle deals, including ARUHI Corporation, Simplex Inc., Walbro Co., Ltd., Money Square Holdings, Inc., Chimney Co., Ltd. and Tsubaki Nakashima Co., Ltd, contributing to value creation. He currently serves as a board member of KANAMEL Inc. (former AOI TYO Holdings Inc.), Uzabase, Inc., kaonavi, inc. and TRYT Inc. 

Prior to joining Carlyle in 2006, Mr. Ogura was an Associate Director at UBS Investment Bank Tokyo in the Financial Institutions Group. During his career, he spent two years in the New York office focusing on bank and asset manager transactions. 

Mr. Ogura received his BA from Keio University. He completed Stanford Executive Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

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.

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.  At Standard, a privately held global industrial company with a diverse portfolio of building materials assets, Kathy lead strategic development and investment initiatives. She was involved in public and private investments totaling more than $10 billion in enterprise value, spanning early- to late-stage opportunities across multiple sectors, including Braas Monier, W.R. Grace, Clariant, and Hover.

Prior to joining Standard, Kathy spent eighteen years at Evercore, where she served as Senior Managing Director at both the firm and its private equity platform, Evercore Capital Partners. She was a general partner of the private equity funds and later became Chief Operating Officer of Evercore’s investment businesses, encompassing private equity, asset management, and wealth management. She also led Evercore’s international joint ventures in Asia. Kathy was involved with private equity investments including Fidelity Information Services (FIS), Sedgwick, Bollinger, and Causeway Capital. In addition, Kathy helped launch Evercore’s Women’s Forum, an initiative dedicated to fostering leadership, development and advancement opportunities for women across the firm.

Earlier in her career, Kathy served as a buy-side equity analyst at Sanford Bernstein and a consultant at Bain & Co.

Kathy holds a B.A. degree from Duke University and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth.

Kengo brings over two decades of experience to the venture capital industry. He joined Beyond Next Ventures as a Co-Founding Partner in 2015 and was appointed Managing Director in 2023. In his role, he oversees both fund management and corporate operations while also leading the firm’s investment activities. Kengo has built a strong track record, including notable exits such as SUSMED and QD Laser, both of which he led to successful IPOs.

He began his career at JAFCO in 2003, where he gained extensive experience in investment execution as well as finance and administrative operations.

He holds a Bachelor of Laws from Chuo University.

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.

Mr. Muse is one of two Managing Partners of Navis and an Investment Committee member. At Navis, Mr. Muse leads investment teams in making, monitoring and exiting investments and sits on the boards and/or executive committees of several Navis portfolio companies. He has been active in many of Navis’ investments in consumer goods, food, business services, industrial goods and services.

Mr. Muse co-founded Navis in 1998 with Mr. Bloy and Mr. Foyston, with whom he worked while at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). At BCG, he worked in Sydney and Kuala Lumpur, where he gained experience in a number of industries including consumer goods, retail, oil and gas, distribution, primary resources and more. He started his career with Chase Manhattan Bank in 1985 in New York and Hong Kong.

Mr. Muse has been a resident in Asia since 1993, having been raised and educated in the US. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Hons degree from St. Lawrence University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Sarraf is a Managing Director on the Investment Team at Hunter Point Capital and serves as Co-Head of GP Stakes.

Prior to joining HPC, Mr. Sarraf served as a corporate associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions and gained extensive experience leading GP stakes transactions.

Mr. Sarraf earned his B.A. in History from George Washington University, his J.D. from the University at Buffalo School of Law and his M.B.A. from the University at Buffalo School of Management.

Satoshi Fukushima joined GLOBIS in April 2014. Prior to that, he worked at Deutsche Securities Inc., where he engaged in various M&A advisory and financing transactions. He received a BA in economics from the University of Tokyo.

Saurabh Chatterjee is a Managing Director at ChrysCapital where he manages the Fundraising and LP Relations functions, 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 in their New Delhi Office. 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.

Since July 2019, he has served as a Vice Chairman of CT Bright Holdings, a wholly owned investment subsidiary of C.P. Group, where he coordinates investment activities and strategic partnerships for the Chairman’s office across C.P. Group companies. He has also served as a Senior Advisor to C.P. Group Chairman Soopakij Chearavanont since July 2018.   From June 2017 to June 2018, he was managing partner of R3 Capital Partners. From September 2011 to May 2017, Mr. Glodek was a Deputy CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and a Director of the Russia China Investment Fund (RCIF), where he coordinated investment activity and a number of key strategic partnerships with Sovereign Wealth Funds and Pension Funds across the world to invest in Russia and selectively in China.   Prior to RDIF, Mr. Glodek was based in Warsaw, Poland where he led a regional office of Darby Private Equity, a wholly owned private markets investment arm of Franklin Templeton and in Germany where he co-founded surplex.com, an industrial equipment internet trading platform. Earlier in his career, Mr. Glodek worked at a private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in both New York and London and as an M&A investment banker at Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers in New York. Mr. Glodek received a B.A. in Economics with Honors from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

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 Partners, 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.
 

Suzanne Gauron is a Managing Director at General Atlantic and leads Capital Solutions for Growth Equity. Before joining General Atlantic in 2025, Suzanne was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where she worked for over 20 years. Most recently, she was the Head of Private Equity Capital Solutions in GS Asset Management. Suzanne serves on the Investment Committee of Bozeman Health. Suzanne received a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Responsible for investments including Credge, United Cinemas, Ray Cassin, Net Protections, Kuraya, Nareru Group, Qit, WATCHNIAN GROUP. Supported portfolio companies in consumer goods, IT, and HR/Staffing sectors in achieving topline growth through enhanced marketing, merchandizing, and e-commerce, as well as driving non-liner growth of the business through industry consolidation by add-on acquisitions and new business development.For Net Protections, provided sales support, including the top-management sales calls, to acquire big accounts and IPO preparation support to establish sophisticated management control systems, while respecting the unique corporate culture of the high-growth later-stage venture. Prior to joining Advantage Partners, engaged in the private equity business at Orix. B.A. in Economics from Keio University.

Mr. Ishihara currently serves as the deal leader for Kensetsu-Park Co., Ltd and a deal member for HOKUTO Co., Ltd. in Sunrise IV. Previously, he also served as the deal leader (previously also interim representative director) for Uni-Mate, Inc. in Sunrise III. Prior to joining the Sunrise team in March 2017, he was most recently with Lincoln International Inc. as a Managing Director, where he led the origination and execution of various domestic and cross-border M&A transactions, engaged in extensive due diligence activities as well as prepared legal/IR documentations. Prior to that, he was an Associate at Citigroup Global Markets Japan Inc., Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. Ltd., and Okasan Securities Ltd., respectively. Mr. Ishihara holds a B.A. in Economics from Yokohama National University and a M.S. in Administrative Studies from Boston University. 

Tetsu Onitsuka joined EQT Partners in October 2021 and is a partner in the EQT Private Capital Asia 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.

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.

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.

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.

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, Asproad Holdings (ex-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.

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.

日本と米国において投資銀行業務に18年間、及びプライベート・エクイティ投資業務に8年間従事した後、2024年にKPMG FASに入社。投資業務ほか、M&A、Leveraged Financeを含む資金調達等のプライベート・エクイティ関連取引に従事し、また半導体などのテクノロジー分野及び自動車を含む製造領域や、商社関連事業領域において、M&A、投資、資金調達に関連するファイナンシャル・アドバイザリーサービスに従事して参りました.

プライベートエクイティファンド領域、及び半導体や自動車を含む製造領域を対象とする、ファイナンシャル・アドバイザリーサービスの提供、及び関連ビジネスの開発と顧客支援の推進.

As lead portfolio manager for the Venture Growth Evergreen (“VGE”) strategy, Mike is responsible for overall portfolio construction and allocation of capital across direct growth and venture investments, secondaries, and select fund investments. He also oversees risk management, liquidity management, and cash flow forecasting for the evergreen fund.

Prior to joining Wellington Management in 2025 Mike was a portfolio manager at Bow River Capital, where he co-founded and scaled their evergreen private markets platform while overseeing the fund’s investment activity across multiple private markets asset classes. Prior to Bow River, he was a portfolio manager at Partners Group where he was responsible for portfolio construction and asset allocation for evergreen products and custom separate account mandates. He started his investment career at wealth-focused listed private equity firm Red Rocks Capital.

Mike graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in finance, and he is a CFA and CAIA charterholder.