Kenny Ho
Head of Investment, Southeast Asia & India & Chief of Staff for Executive Vice Chairman
ALIBABA GROUP
Kenny heads up Alibaba’s Southeast Asia and India investment team, and is also Chief of Staff of the Executive Vice Chairman’s office. The portfolio companies that he oversees include Tokopedia in Indonesia as well as Paytm, BigBasket and Expressbees in India. Since joining Alibaba in 2010, Kenny has also been involved in a number of corporate finance and M&A transactions including the $7.6bn share repurchase from Yahoo and related financing in 2012, and Alibaba’s $25bn IPO on the NYSE in 2014. Prior to joining Alibaba, Kenny worked in investment banking for a number of years. Kenny holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Amit Anand
Founding Partner
JUNGLE VENTURES
Amit Anand is the Founding Partner of Jungle Ventures, a Singapore based Venture Capital Firm that invests in and helps build tech category leaders from Asia.
Mr. Anand brings 15 years of experience in Asia having played go-to-market and corporate development roles for startups and corporations alike. He later presided as Deputy Chairman for Business Angels Network South East Asia (BANSEA). A Kauffman Fellow, Mr. Anand is passionate about creating global companies from Asia and currently works with Founders at companies such as RedDoorz (Indonesia) , Kredivo (Indonesia), Livspace (Singapore/India) and Pomelo Fashion (Thailand) amongst others.
Yoke Kee Ang
Executive Vice President, Group Managing Director's Office
MAH SING GROUP
Yoke Kee Ang is the Executive Vice President in the Group Managing Director’s Office of Mah Sing Group, a public-listed company in Malaysia. He runs the family office and private investment vehicle for the founder, and manages strategic investments and partnerships for the group.
Mr. Ang has extensive experience as a senior executive in large corporations and family groups. He has been entrusted over the years in driving growth, making strategic investments, managing portfolios, post-merger integrations and starting up greenfield businesses in Asia.
In his past experience in Softbank, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and Government Investment Corporation, Mr. Ang has been involved in strategic, operational and investment issues across industries including Technology, Agribusiness, Healthcare, Logistics, Consumer, Energy, Banking and Real Estate.
Mr. Ang was instrumental in setting up the Southeast Asia headquarter for Softbank Emerging Market, a US-based joint venture between SOFTBANK Corp and World Bank’s International Finance Corp. Mr. Ang also played an important role in overseeing a $1Bil joint investment package by a French renewable energy giant in Indonesia.
Mr. Ang holds a MSc in Financial Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University/NTU and BBA (Honours) from National University of Singapore. An ASEAN Scholar, he is fluent in English, Mandarin, and Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia.
Jessica Archibald
Managing Director
TOP TIER CAPITAL PARTNERS
Jessica Archibald is a Managing Director and member of the Investment Committee at Top Tier Capital Partners. She is dedicated to the fund Investment Team and currently leads the capital formation efforts for the Firm. She was the driving force behind establishing the Investment Team’s database, The Mine. It was Ms. Archibald’s analytical vision to leverage data to enhance the risk-adjusted returns for Top Tier’s investors. Her focus on data has helped the Investment Team balance the promise frontier technologies offer with the financial returns LPs desire.
Ms. Archibald joined Top Tier’s predecessor firm Paul Capital in 2005. Prior to joining Top Tier, she was part of the Investment Team at Care Capital LLC, a venture capital firm specializing in biotechnology. Before that she spent five years at Salomon Smith Barney. Ms. Archibald graduated from Connecticut College with a B.A. in mathematics and economics. She also earned an M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Linda Cai
Partner
LOYAL VALLEY CAPITAL
Linda joined Loyal Valley Capital in 2017 as Partner in charge of institutional fundraising and cross border investments. She has over 12 years of private equity investment experience. Prior to joining Loyal Valley, she was the Head of Cross border investments at Hony Capital for five years, and Head of China for Partners Group prior to that. She graduated from Harvard Business School with a MBA in 2002. She also holds a MS in Computer Science from California State University Northridge.
Shane Chesson
Partner
OPENSPACE VENTURES
Shane Chesson is Founder and Partner of Openspace Ventures (formerly NSI Ventures), a Singapore-headquartered VC focused on Series A and B investments in Southeast Asia-based technology companies. Selected Openspace investments overseen by Mr. Chesson include Go-Jek, Chope, Tradegecko, CXA, Topica, Oway, HaloDoc, Sale Stock and Pathao. Mr. Chesson was previously Managing Director and Co-Head (Technology Investment Banking, of Citigroup Asia-Pacific.
Mr. Chesson has an MBA with distinction from INSEAD Singapore where he was a recipient of the IAA Asian Campus scholarship.
Vivek Chhabra
Head of M&A
FRASER & NEAVE
Vivek Chhabra is a Chartered Accountant with more than 30 years experience in FMCG.
From 1985, Mr. Chhabra spent 10 years with RJR Nabisco's food business in India and in Singapore.
From 1995, for almost 20 years Mr. Chhabra was with Heineken's Asia Pacific Joint venture, initially as Country Finance Manager in Papua New Guinea and in Vietnam and then as Finance Director for Asia Pacific.
From 2004 to 2014, Mr. Chhabra was Director Regional Business Development when he spearheaded the group's entry into several emerging and frontier markets across Asia Pacific via greenfield production, M&A, joint venture, etc. In all, Mr. Chhabra completed more than 20 transactions valued at USD 1.25 billion. From 2007, Mr. Chhabra was also the Regional Director for South Asia overseeing the 3 plants in South Asia.
Mr. Chhabra joined Thai Beverages/Fraser & Neave in 2015 and has worked as CEO of the soft drinks business in Thailand before returning to Singapore in March 2017 to head the M&A function for the region.
Mr. Chhabra has received awards from governmental bodies in Vietnam and India and has also been a member of World Bank/IFC Private Sector Reform program in Vietnam, the Industry and Finance sub-committee of the GPC in Singapore and was the Vice Chairman of the South Asia Business Group in the Singapore Business Federation.
Jeffrey Chi
Vice Chairman - Asia
VICKERS FINANCIAL PARTNERS
Dr. Jeffrey Chi joined Vickers in 2005, and is a member of the Investment Committee. He is based in Shanghai and Singapore. Dr. Chi is currently the Chairman of the Singapore Venture Capital Association. His experience spans a variety of industries, including information technology, healthcare and media.
Prior to joining Vickers, Dr. Chi was a Corporate Finance Specialist and an Executive Director at Pegasus Capital from 2002 to 2004, where he had managed engagements for a wide range of clients in both the public and private sectors. He was a senior consultant with the Monitor Group from 2001-2002. Dr. Chi’s operational background includes working on the management team of an engineering and construction group where he oversaw operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia from 1992 to 1998. As the Managing Director, guided the group into tripling its revenue in a mere 3 years, which helped the group clinch a spot in the Enterprise 50 awards in Singapore.
Dr. Chi is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Jing Jin Electric, Matchmove Entertainment, Lumina Looque, Roomorama, Affordable Luxury Network, Spicy Horse, Play Peli, California Intercontinental University, Mobinex, Inc., Alo7.com, Chinaway, Lotaris and Tenfen Technology. He was formerly a Board member of Cambridge REIT, Sunfun Info and UUCUN as well as an alternate director of the Asian Food Channel. Dr. Chi was also involved in the exits/partial exits of UUCUN (Trade Sale, China), Sunfun Info (IPO TT:5278, Taiwan), Cambridge Real Estate (IPO SGX: J91U.SI & Trade Sale, Singapore), Real Time Gaming Asia (Trade Sale, Singapore), TWG Tea (Trade Sale, Singapore) and Asian Food Channel (Trade Sale, Singapore).
Dr. Chi graduated from Cambridge University with 1st Class Honors in Engineering. He earned a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in organizational knowledge and information technology. As a CFA charter holder, he actively promotes entrepreneurship and speaks frequently at conferences hosted by associations such as the Asian Venture Capital Journal and The CFA Institute of China. He sits on the Committees of the Singapore Venture Capital Association and the Engineering & Technology Management Departmental Consultative Committee at the National University of Singapore.
Dr. Chi is fluent in English and Mandarin.
Gerald Chiu
Founding Partner
DYMON ASIA PRIVATE EQUITY
Gerald Chiu is a partner of Dymon Asia Private Equity. DAPE is currently investing from its USD450 million Fund II, which focuses on investing in lower mid market companies in South East Asia. DAPE aims to contribute more than money to its partnerships, and has successfully done so in a mix of growth and buyout investments, and in a range of industries including education, healthcare, food & beverage and business services. Gerald has led DAPE’s investments in UEMS, Atlas Vending and Fong’s Engineering.
He was previously at Navis Capital Partners, Temasek Holdings, and several Singapore Government entities after returning from a Singapore Public Service Commission scholarship.
Gerald graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering with First Class Honors and a Master of Engineering with Distinction from St. John's College, University of Cambridge.
Tak Wai Chung
Partner and Head of Southeast Asia
EQT
Mr. Tak Wai Chung has been with EQT since 2009 and heads up the Southeast Asia business for Mid Market Asia at EQT. He is a Board member of several EQT-invested companies including Dataflow Group, ELEVATE, In.Corp Group and ILA Vietnam. Prior to joining EQT Partners, Tak Wai was with Lehman Brothers for over six years in both New York and Hong Kong.
Avery Colcord
Managing Director
CARVAL INVESTORS
Mr. Colcord is a managing director for CarVal Investors, responsible for originating and executing investment opportunities in emerging markets and loan portfolios across Asia. Mr. Colcord first joined Cargill in 1993 in the Strategy and Business Development Group in Minneapolis. In 1997, Mr. Colcord moved to Shanghai to start Cargill’s Trade and Structured Finance Group’s office there. In 2004, he transferred to CarVal Investors where he led China investments until 2014. Mr. Colcord rejoined CarVal in 2017 after working as an independent consultant to funds investing in Greater China. Prior to joining Cargill, Mr. Colcord worked in investment banking for Kidder, Peabody & Co. in New York and Hong Kong. Mr. Colcord received his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and his B.A. in economics and psychology from Yale College, graduating magna cum laude.
CarVal Investors is a leading global alternative investment fund manager focused on distressed and credit-intensive assets and market inefficiencies. Since 1987, our experienced team has navigated through ever-changing credit market cycles, opportunistically investing $104 billion in 5,300 transactions across 79 countries. Today, CarVal Investors has approximately $10 billion in assets under management in both credit and real estate strategies.
Willson Cuaca
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
EAST VENTURES
Willson Cuaca co-founded East Ventures and started investing in 2010 when no one believes in Indonesia digital economy. The firm has invested in hundreds companies and consistently nurtures enterpreneurship in technology sector.
Mr. Cuaca started his career as network and cyber security professional. He founded and run Apps Foundry, a mobile app company, before exited to large media group.
Currently Mr. Cuaca sit on advisory board of Indonesia VC association.
Aik Meng Eng
Founding Board Member, TE ASIA HEALTHCARE PARTNERS
CEO, TE HEALTHCARE ADVISORY PTE LTD
Aik Meng is the founding board member of TE Asia Healthcare Partners, a company funded by TPG Capital (TPG) to spearhead specialty healthcare investments in Asia, and CEO of TE Healthcare Advisory Pte Ltd. TE Asia Healthcare Partners focusses on the specialty services segment of healthcare delivery and currently has oncology centers in Hong Kong, Vietnam and Indonesia and a cardiac and vascular specialist center in Malaysia. It has also invested in a premium chain of aesthetic clinics in Thailand.
Aik Meng is also a senior advisor to TPG, one of the world’s largest private equity funds with US$74 billion in equity under management. He serves as a Board Member of Healthy Harmony Holdings, the holding company of United Family Healthcare, a premium hospital group in China, as well as a member of the Board of Commissioners of PT BUMA - a leading mining contractor in Indonesia. Aik Meng continues to serve as a non-executive director of Jurong Port Pte Ltd, Singapore.
Aik Meng was COO of Fortis Healthcare and responsible for all its international businesses ranging from dental clinics in Australia to primary care network in Hong Kong to hospitals in Singapore and Vietnam. He led business transformation and post-merger activities across the international business as part of Fortis's growth strategy as well.
Prior to joining the healthcare industry, Aik Meng spent 18 years in the maritime sector. His last executive position in that industry was as President of APL. APL is a leading container shipping and maritime terminal operator with global revenues of US$8 billion.
At APL, Aik Meng led the company through the most turbulent down cycle of the industry in 2008-2009. He also spearheaded the growth of APL in the Asian and Middle East markets.
Aik Meng graduated with a Bachelor of Accountancy degree from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore and an MBA from Harvard University, USA.
Udit Gambhir
Managing Director
SGG
Udit Gambhir, is the Managing Director for SGG Asia. He leads SGG’s strategy for Singapore, Hong Kong, India and the broader Asian region from Singapore.
Udit has more than 12 years of experience in hedge funds and private equity. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from FW Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College and a Bachelor of Science from Bentley University; both in Massachusetts, USA
Dominic Goh
Vice President
HARBOURVEST PARTNERS
Dominic Goh joined HarbourVest in 2012 and focuses on secondary investments. This includes analyzing, structuring, and monitoring a wide range of secondary transaction types.
Dominic was previously at Coller Capital where he evaluated secondary opportunities, and contributed to deal sourcing and fundraising efforts in Asia. Prior to that, he was an investment banking associate at ABN AMRO London in the Financial Institutions Group.
Dominic received a BSc (First Class Honours) in Accounting & Finance from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2005. Dominic is fluent in Mandarin.
Ted Goldthorpe
Managing Partner
BC PARTNERS
Ted Goldthorpe joined BC Partners in 2017. Ted was previously President at Apollo Investment Corporation and the Chief Investment Officer of Apollo Investment Management where he was the head of its U.S. Opportunistic Platform and also oversaw the Private Origination business. He was also a member of the firm‐wide Senior Management Committee. Prior to Apollo, Ted worked at Goldman Sachs for 13 years where he most recently ran the bank loan distressed investing desk. He was previously the head of Principal Capital Investing for the Special Situations Group. Ted launched BC Partners' credit business in 2017 and oversees a team of experienced credit professionals. As a Managing Partner of the Firm, Ted is also a member of the Investment Committee of the private equity business. Ted has a Bachelor of Commerce from Queens University.
Vishal Harnal
Partner
500 STARTUPS
Vishal Harnal is a General Partner at 500 Startups, the most active venture capital firm in the world. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, 500 has invested in over 2,000 companies across 70 countries from a family of 16 funds (AUM ~$500M).
Vishal is based in Singapore from where he leads 500's investments across Southeast Asia. He has led over 100 investments in the region’s most talented, passionate founders and promising, high-growth startups.
Over the past 3 years, the 500 Durians Funds that he manages have invested in over 160 companies across multiple verticals in the region including flagships Grab, Carousell, Bukalapak, Kudo (acq. Grab), Nugit, Fave, Revolution Precrafted and Gilmour Space.
Prior to joining 500, Vishal was a lawyer at Asia-Pacific’s top law firm where he specialised in resolving complex and high-stakes international investment, shareholder and political disputes for conglomerates and governments.
Vishal is also no stranger to entrepreneurship, having built a communications training consultancy while in law school that empowered students and professionals with skills of persuasive speech, analytical thinking, and negotiation.
Vishal dedicates much of his free time to learning and teaching. He is a Kauffman Fellow and has also taught a programme on venture capital at INSEAD, the world's top-ranked business school.
He frequently speaks and advises on venture capital investing, board and management related issues, government policy on ecosystem building, and the large sweeping trends in technology and humanity. His opinions are aired on premier news networks such as Bloomberg and CNBC.
Henry Hendrawan
Chief Financial Officer
TRAVELOKA
Henry Hendrawan is the Group CFO of Traveloka since 2015 leading finance operations, corporate strategy, legal and fundraising activities as the company scales throughout Southeast Asia. Prior to Traveloka, he was a Principal for Boston Consulting Group helping major Airlines, FMCG and Telco companies with strategic inititatives and transformation. Mr. Hendrawan has dual engineering degrees from Northwestern University and a Master of Engineering and an MBA from Cornell University.
Alan Jiang
Founder
BEAM
Alan Jiang is the Head of Southeast Asia Business for ofo, the world's leading station-free bike-sharing company. He oversees the company's strategy and operation in the SE Asia region. Previously, Alan was at Uber for four years, helping to launch Uber's business in China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia. He graduated from Yale University with a degree in Economics.
Marcus H. John
Chief Executive Officer
SPORTS CAPITAL ADVISORS
Marcus John is a 23-year veteran of international marketing, media and sport leadership roles. He is renowned for his in-depth international sports rights knowledge, strong deal-making skills, operational expertise and strategic vision in scaling businesses across markets. SCA provides sports and media specific board advisory services and is planning to launch a purely sports, media and technology focused private equity fund and to provide a bridge between Asian and North American/European sports assets and their respective investor base.
Prior to his current role, he was Executive Vice President at Lagardere Sports. His remit was to advise LS’s international consulting client base on all issues and opportunities around the world’s largest sports properties such as the Olympic Games, FIFA WC, UEFA CL and major golf events.
Previous to this, he was Global Head of Sports for MediaCom Worldwide, where he worked with the firm’s and WPP’s global clients and account heads to lead the commercial and strategic relationships with the world’s premier sports rights holders and provide clients with first hand access to these opportunities.
He also represented Pele and other high profile stars in their respective commercial endeavors and has been one of the early investors and shareholders in Formula-E.
Ralph Keitel
Principal Investment Officer and Regional Lead East Asia, Private Equity Funds
INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION
Ralph Keitel is Principal Investment Officer and Regional Lead for PE funds in Asia-Pacific in the Private Equity and Investment Funds group of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. Since joining IFC in early 2006, he has been responsible as Regional Lead for IFC’s private equity fund activities in Eastern Europe/Russia (2006-2008), Africa (2008-2011), Latin America (2011-2014) and East Asia (since 2014).
Prior to joining IFC, Ralph was with Caisse de Dépot et Placement de Québec (CDP) in Montréal, where he managed a portfolio of VC funds in North America and Europe. Previously, he spent five years with Technologie-Beteiligungs-Gesellschaft mbH (“TBG”, now part of the KfW Group, Frankfurt), providing early-stage venture capital financing for technology start-up companies before assuming responsibility for TBG’s funds portfolio.
Ralph holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Bonn (Germany) as well as a post-graduate degree in Finance and Management (Dean’s Honour List and recipient of the American Express Award for outstanding academic achievements) from McGill University in Montreal (Canada).
During his 17 years in the funds industry, and working for 3 different institutional investors, Ralph has lead more than 30 investments in funds across all regions (both developed and emerging markets), stages and industries and sat on more than two dozen advisory boards. In addition, Ralph has been involved with both secondary- as well as numerous co-investment transactions. He also served as trustee on the World Bank Pension Fund’s board of trustees between 2013 and 2015 and currently serves as a board member of the SVCA (Singaporean Venture Capital Association).
Yoshi Kiguchi
CIO
OKAYAMA METAL & MACHINERY PENSION FUND
Yoshi Kiguchi focuses innovative strategies and products with the investment horizon structures. He has more than 25 years of experience in investment and risk management.
Before that, Mr. Kiguchi was a managing director of Russell Investments in Japan, where he supervised several teams, and delivered a wide range of consulting and solutions to the institutional clients including Toyota. He joined Russell as a consultant in 1998.
Prior to joining Russell, Mr. Kiguchi was with Sumitomo Life for ten years. He was placed in charge of equity investments, researching capital markets, including private equities, and performing quantitative risk management and ALM.
B.S., Precision Machinery (Robotics), the University of Tokyo, 1988
T.J. Kono
Partner
UNISON CAPITAL
T. J. Kono joined Unison Capital in 2002. He is a founding member of the Seoul office, and is leading Unison's Korea initiative for portfolio company value creation as well as sourcing new investment opportunities. Prior to Unison Capital, he worked at Merrill Lynch Japan, where he was responsible for M&A advisory operations.
Kay-Mok Ku
Managing Partner
GOBI MANAGEMENT (SOUTHEAST ASIA)
Kay-Mok Ku is Managing Partner for Gobi Southeast Asia. He joined Gobi in 2010 and has invested in over 30 companies, including Aptoide, DeClout, Eko, Hermo, Offpeak, Orami, and Qraved. He is a board member of the Singapore Venture Capital Association (SVCA). Prior to his career with Gobi Partners, Mr. Ku held the Vice President position in both Xinya Media and MediaCorp (Singapore). He was also part of the team that managed a $500 million fund at the Media Development Authority in Singapore, and is co-founder of Private Express, a crypto startup based in Silicon Valley. He started his career with the Infocomm Development Authority, and has a Computer Science degree from UC-Berkeley, and an MBA from San Jose State University.
Chris Lerner
Partner and Head of Asia
EATON PARTNERS
Chris Lerner is a global Partner and Head of Asia for Eaton Partners where he leads the origination and execution of fundraises, secondaries and strategic advisory. Mr. Lerner has over 18 years’ experience in private markets investments and investment banking with over $15 billion in completed transactions. He is based in China where he has lived and worked for fifteen of the last twenty years. He began his career with Citigroup and its predecessor firms, Salomon Brothers and Smith Barney.
Mr. Lerner received an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA from Tufts University. He also earned a Certificate in Mandarin Chinese from the College of Foreign Languages in Beijing. Under his leadership, Eaton Partners has been awarded Private Equity International’s fund placement firm of the year in Asia for the past three years, and secondary advisor of the year in Asia for 2016.
Lenny Lim
Senior Investment Director
NAVIS CAPITAL PARTNERS
Lenny Lim is an Senior Investment Director in the Singapore office of Navis Capital. Previously, he was a Deputy Head of Investments at Heliconia Capital Management, a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings. Prior to that, he was an Executive Director in the Investment Banking Division of J.P Morgan. Mr. Lim started his career with Goldman Sachs and worked in their Beijing, New York and Singapore Offices.
Mr. Lim holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Cambridge.
Escamillo Lin
Managing Director, Head of South East Asia for Private Equity and Mezzanine
ICG
Prior to ICG, Escamillo Lin was with CDH, a pan-Asian private equity fund. Throughout his investment career, he has held senior positions with CVCI, TPG and other PE funds, and has worked in Europe, USA and Asia. He graduated with First Class Honours from the National University of Singapore for his BBA, and summa cum laude and Top Scholar from Columbia Business School for his MBA. He is a charterholder of the CFA, CAIA, CPA and CA qualifications, and has published research in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Management. He is a native of Singapore and fluent in a number of languages.
Patrick Loofbourrow
Partner
COOLEY LLP
Patrick's practice focuses on the representation of high-growth emerging technology and life sciences companies as well as venture capital and other firms that invest in those companies. As a specialist in corporate and securities law, he has counseled company clients and investors in a wide variety of projects, including company formations, spin-offs, private and public financings, initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, joint venture and other strategic transactions, employee equity incentives, corporate governance matters and SEC reporting and compliance. Patrick counsels companies in a variety of industries, including the wireless, hardware, Internet, software, telecommunications and biotechnology, healthcare and medical device industries.
Patrick received his JD, summa cum laude from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1999, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as Lead Editor of the San Diego Law Review. He completed joint Bachelor's degrees in International Relations and Anthropology, with an emphasis in Latin America, at Stanford University in 1988. Patrick is bilingual in Spanish and English and has lived in Ecuador.
Kevin Lu
Partner and Chairman of Asia, Member of the Global Executive Board
PARTNERS GROUP
Kevin Lu is a Partner, Chairman of Asia and Member of the Global Executive Board at Partners Group, a global private equity firm with $74 billion AUM headquartered in Zug, Switzerland. He is also the Head of the firm's Singapore Office with 280 employees.
Prior to joining Partners Group, Kevin held various senior management positions at the World Bank Group, based in Washington DC, Hong Kong and Singapore. He served on the Senior Management Team of the Bank Group's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency for 8 years, as its Chief Financial Officer and Regional Director of Asia. He acted as an adviser to the Bank Group's sovereign wealth fund clients, was responsible for investment portfolios of IDA and trust funds totalling $16 billion, and participated in negotiating complex multilateral funding packages in excess of $25 billion for the Bank Group's concessional finance business. He served on various Bank Group committees, including Emergency Management Team, Business Continuity Management Committee, and Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group. Kevin was previously associated with Credit Suisse First Boston and Global Risk Advisors LLC, both in New York.
Kevin is also a Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD, focusing on infrastructure investments. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences, including the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meetings in Davos, on topics such as emerging markets and infrastructure finance. He co-authored a book Investing with Confidence: Understanding Political Risk Management in the 21st Century (Washington DC, 2009). Kevin serves on a number of advisory committees for global and local organizations, including the Advisory Council for the World Bank's Global Infrastructure Facility, Monetary Authority of Singapore's Financial Centre Advisory Panel, WEF's Global Agenda Council on China and Global Strategic Infrastructure Initiative Advisory Committee, Institute of International Finance's Emerging Markets Advisory Council, the Academy of Global Teacher Award and Nanyang Technology University MBA Business Advisory Council. He was named a Young Global Leader by WEF in 2010, and a Future Leader by the Institute of International Finance in 2014. Kevin has published commentaries in the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, Washington Post, Financial Times and the Straits Times.
Harry Markl
Managing Director, Operations
L CATTERTON
Mr. Markl is the Managing Director, Operations of L Catterton Asia and oversees the Value-Add initiatives within its portfolio. Prior to joining L Catterton, he was the CEO and Co-Founder of South-East Asia’s largest E-Commerce fashion company, Zalora, which was sold to Global Fashion Group, the world’s leading online fashion platform for emerging markets backed by Rocket Internet. During Mr. Markl’s tenure at the Company, Zalora achieved more than USD 230 million net sales within its first 4 years. Mr. Markl was also responsible for launching Zalora’s private label, which was solely sold online and achieved more than USD 60 million net-sales per annum. Previously, Mr. Markl spent close to a decade at McKinsey & Company, based both Germany and Singapore. While at McKinsey, he advised clients in the high-tech and private-equity sector across multiple countries, including Australia, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and The Philippines. Mr. Markl was a core member of McKinsey’s Corporate Finance & Strategy practice and a key contributing author of the 5th edition of McKinsey’s published Valuation book.
Mr. Markl received his MBA in Economics with a major in Finance from the University Nuremburg, Germany.
Sunil Mishra
Partner, Primary Investments, Singapore
ADAMS STREET PARTNERS
Sunilspecializes in the sourcing and execution of Asian investments specifically inIndia, Australia, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia.
Priorto joining Adams Street, Sunil worked for Standard Chartered Bank in Singaporeperforming financial and business analyses of local and regional companies.Previously, Sunil worked in India as an Investment and Strategy Associate inTacogroup, the automotive technology and engineering investment arm of theTata Group of India.
Steven R. Okun
CEO, APAC Advisors & ASEAN Representative
EMPEA
The Founder and CEO of APAC Advisors, Steven Okun is a leader in the private equity industry on ESG, sustainability and stakeholder engagement in Asia Pacific, having lived and worked in the region since 2003.
In September 2017, EMPEA appointed Mr. Okun as its ASEAN Representative, where he works with the members to increase private capital deployment and fundraising across Southeast Asia. In addition, he serves as a member of EMPEA’s global ESG and SDG Community.
EMPEA is the global industry association for private capital in emerging markets. An independent, non-profit organization, the association’s membership comprises 300+ firms representing institutional investors, fund managers and industry advisors who together manage more than US$5 trillion in assets across 130 countries.
As global investment firm KKR’s first Director of Asia Public Affairs from 2011-2017, his responsibilities encompassed government affairs, communications, stakeholder engagement, ESG and impact investing and supporting such efforts for its portfolio companies.
His work on ESG initiatives spans due diligence through the investment phase. His expertise includes developing ESG policies, determining critical considerations for specific deals taking into consideration market, sector and level of investment, engaging directly in due diligence, and working with investment teams to document the findings of due diligence and develop reports for a fund’s investors.
Previously, Mr. Okun led UPS Asia’s public affairs practice, and served in the Clinton Administration as Deputy General Counsel at the US Department of Transportation.
Often representing and advocating the views of the business community, Mr. Okun often guest hosts on CNBC and frequently appears on the BBC and Channel NewsAsia.
He received his B.A. from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Martin Pond
Commerical Director, Southeast Asia, Australia, Japan & S.Korea
LALIGA
Martin Pond is Commercial Director – APAC for the Spanish professional football league, LaLiga. Singapore is the regional hub in Asia Pacific for LaLiga and began operations in early-2017 as part of the league’s internationalisation strategy to grow visibility across the continent.
Martin joined LaLiga in February 2018 and is responsible for securing commercial partnerships with brands across the region, with particular focus on Southeast Asia. Prior to joining LaLiga, Martin worked for Arsenal Football Club in London and Singapore for almost five years, finalising partnerships for the club on both a global and regional scale.
Sumit Punwani
Partner
KPMG
Speaker bio coming soon
Dharpan Randhawa
Senior Vice President, Partnership Development – Asia
MCLAREN TECHNOLOGY GROUP
Dharpan Randhawa is a proven corporate leader with over 23 years of in-the-trenches sales management experience spanning New York, London, Sydney & Singapore. Fluent in 5 languages, Dharpan is considered an expert in working with different cultures across Asia-Pacific and resides in Singapore.
In his current role as Senior Vice President, Partnership Development, Asia for McLaren Group, Dharpan is tasked with building greater awareness around the McLaren brand in Asia Pacific. His responsibilities include driving revenue growth through new partnerships for the race team and esports platforms, whilst working with the global commercial team to create customized programs to engage with McLaren’s large global fanbase.
Sam Robinson
Managing Partner
NORTH-EAST PRIVATE EQUITY ASIA
Sam Robinson is Managing Partner of North-East Private Equity Asia, which focuses on Asia private equity funds. Mr. Robinson is based in Singapore and has worked in private equity since 1998, initially joining Schroder Ventures in the UK. In 2001, he was one of the founder members of SVG Advisers, a fund of funds business, where he managed the global investment team. SVG Advisers was acquired by Aberdeen Asset Management in 2013, whereupon Mr. Robinson became Head of Asia Private Equity Fund Investment until his departure in 2015.
Meliza Rusli
Chief of Corporate Development & Strategy
ASTRA INTERNATIONAL
Meliza Rusli is the Chief of Corporate Development & Strategy at PT Astra International, Tbk., an Indonesia-based company that primarily engages in seven business segments: Automotive, Financial Services, Heavy Equipment and Mining, Agribusiness, Infrastructure and Logistics, Information Technology and Property. Today, Astra International is among one of the largest Indonesian corporate groups, with a total of more than 200 subsidiaries, jointly controlled entities and associated companies supported by more than 210,000 employees. Astra International also consistently engages in social responsibility programs focused on four basic areas: education, environment, small and medium enterprises (SME) development and health, which are established through nine different foundations.
Prior to her current position, Ms. Rusli held various leadership positions in investment banking and management consulting industry, including her role as the head of Goldman Sachs in Indonesia (2010-2013).
Ms. Rusli earned her Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Indonesia and her MBA degree from University of Melbourne.
Mary Schroeder
CEO
HAPPY COW
Mary is currently working as private investor, interim executive management and board member for high growth consumer companies in Asia on behalf of their shareholders. She is a managing partner with MCS Ventures and specialises in creating and leading the strategic direction of regional growth and building the professional management team of founder-run companies. Mary started her career as a restructuring consultant for KPMG, working alongside the CEO and credit committees to rebuild equity value. Mary then spent 13 years, as a special situation and private equity investor, building and managing investment portfolios for ADM Capital, Och-Ziff, Nomura and Mount Kellett. She has been based in Hong Kong for 17 years.
Ranjit Shah
Managing Partner and Co-founder
GAJA CAPITAL
Mr Shah is a managing partner and co-founder of Gaja Capital and is based in Mumbai. Prior to co-founding Gaja Capital in 2005, Mr Shah had over 24 years of operating experience as an entrepreneur and manager.
Over 13 years at Gaja Capital, Mr Shah has led investments in the consumer and financial services sectors. He currently serves on the board of three of Gaja Capital’s active portfolio companies.
Prior to co-founding Gaja Capital in 2005, Mr Shah has held CXO roles in the telecom, technology and luxury sectors and also worked with leading investment banking and management consulting firms in India. As an entrepreneur, Mr Shah co-founded an asset finance company which he took public. He had been an active public markets investor and has also made personal private equity and corporate venture capital investments.
Mr Shah has an MBA from the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from IIT Bombay. He is a member of the CII – PE/VC National Committee and is closely involved with the Ross School’s activities in India.
Kyle Shaw
Founder and Managing Partner
SHAWKWEI & PARTNERS
Kyle Shaw is the founder and managing partner of ShawKwei & Partners, a private equity fund manager based in Hong Kong and Singapore investing in Asian advanced manufacturing and service industries. ShawKwei is actively involved in managing portfolio companies and has specialist operating skills in areas such as revenue growth, margin expansion, and capital efficiency.
Kyle has managed investment portfolios starting in 1990 with Security Pacific National Bank in Hong Kong, then in 1993 with the Tudor Investment Group in Shanghai, and in 1998 establishing ShawKwei & Partners. Prior to private equity, Kyle worked in the oil industry with Union Texas Petroleum in Houston and Tidewater in Louisiana and Singapore. During his private equity career, Kyle has served on the board of directors of numerous companies in China, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan including Flextronics, China Fangda Group, YongLe Tape, Amos Holdings, and Beyonics.
Kyle received an MBA degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 and a BS Commerce from the University of Virginia in 1983. He studied Mandarin Chinese at Taiwan’s National Normal University Language Institute for foreign students in 1985, and has lived over 30 years in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Taiwan.
Rebecca Victoria Smith
Head of Listings and Capital Markets, APAC ex-China
NASDAQ
Rebecca is head of origination, capital markets relationships, business development and client relationships in Asia. Rebecca has had 20 year’s capital markets experience. Rebecca was Managing Director, APAC for Nasdaq (2000-2012), Co-Head of Client & Issuer Marketing for Hong Kong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (2012-2013) and Executive Director, APAC Origination for Deutsche Bank AG (2013-2016). Rebecca is a permanent resident of Hong Kong and is currently based in Hong Kong covering the region
Yar-Ping Soo
Partner
ADAMS STREET PARTNERS
Yar-Ping Soo is a Partner primarily specializing in Asian pan-regional leveraged buyouts as well as country focused funds, specifically in Greater China, Japan, Korea and Indonesia. She leads the Asian practice, and actively participates in all fund investment decisions at Adams Street and is responsible for managing relationships with several of Adams Street's managers. Ms. Soo is a member of the Adams Street Primary Investment Committee.
Prior to joining Adams Street, Yar-Ping was a Senior Vice President of GIC Special Investments (GICSI), which is the private equity arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. She spent more than a decade at GIC and worked in their New York, Redwood City and Singapore offices. Ms. Soo was the Head of Asia/Emerging Markets based out of Singapore, leading GICSI’s investments in leveraged buyout funds, growth capital funds and co-investments.
Ms. Soo is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien and Malay.
Jeff Staples
Chief Operating Officer
UNITED FAMILY HEALTHCARE
Dr. Staples received his medical training at Columbia University and his Post-Graduate training in Hawaii. Prior to joining UFH in 2016, Dr. Staples worked in the Middle East for 5 years, where he was recruited by The Cleveland Clinic as CEO of Sheik Khalifa Medical City, the largest hospital in the UAE. He subsequently served as the Group COO for the Al Noor Hospital Group, also based in the UAE, where he led a highly successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange. Prior to his time in the Middle East, Dr. Staples was Division President of North Asia for the Parkway Group, and was based in Shanghai. Dr. Staples has lived abroad, in Asia and the Middle East, for more than 20 years.
Wen Tan
Co- Head of Private Equity Asia Pacific
ABERDEEN STANDARD INVESTMENTS
Wen Tan oversees Aberdeen Standard Investments’ Asia Pacific private equity strategy and is also a member of its investment committee. Mr. Tan was a Partner at FLAG prior to joining Aberdeen via the firm’s acquisition in 2015. Prior to joining FLAG in 2012 upon the firm's acquisition of Squadron Capital, he served as a Managing Director at Squadron and a member of the investment committee. Prior to joining Search Investment Group (Squadron Capital's former parent) in 2004, Mr. Tan was with Ernst & Young's China M&A group, focusing on cross-border transactions. He also served as an M&A investment banker with Lazard in London, initially as an execution specialist across a range of sectors, including a number of transactions involving private equity houses, and subsequently as a specialist in the financial institutions group. He was also a chartered accountant with KPMG's financial services division in London where he worked primarily with Asia Pacific banking groups including HSBC and Standard Chartered. Mr. Tan speaks Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese as well as Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia. Mr. Tan holds a BA from Cambridge University.
Hua Fung Teh
Chief Financial Officer
ONE CHAMPIONSHIP
Hua Fung Teh is Chief Financial Officer of ONE Championship. He oversees various aspects of the company’s operations including finance, human resources, corporate development, media rights and digital partnerships. He also leads key strategic and business development projects for the company in multiple geographies.
Hua Fung was previously a Principal at global private equity firm TPG Capital, where he was a senior member of the Southeast Asia investment team. He also served on TPG's China and US teams. Prior to TPG, Hua Fung was an aviator with the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and held leadership positions both at the RSAF and at Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, where he was a key member of the team that brought Formula One to Singapore.
A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Business School, Hua Fung sits on the Steering Committee of the Milken Institute Young Leaders Circle (Asia), and is a member of The Forum of Young Global Leaders at the World Economic Forum.
Emmett Thomas
Partner, Head of Asia
ADVANTAGE PARTNERS
Emmett joined Advantage Partners in 2007 to lead the firm's activities in Asia ex-Japan. Advantage Partners is one of the leading Private Equity firms in North Asia, having invested over US$ 3.0 billion in more than 70 companies over the last 20 years. Mr. Thomas is the managing partner of Advantage Partners Asia Fund and has led investments for the firm in a variety of industries including media, telecom, consumer and industrial segments.
He currently serves on the Boards of several Advantage Partners portfolio companies across Asia. In addition, he oversees Advantage Partner’s portfolio company actvities in Asia ex-Japan. Mr. Thomas started his career in Tokyo at TSE-listed SMC Corporation, the factory automation manufacturer. Subsequently he spent 18 years at the Monitor Group, the global strategy consulting firm, the last 10 of which he was President of Asia. Currently, he is a Director of the Harvard Business School Association of Hong Kong and serves on the MBA Advisory Board of Hong Kong University. He graduated from Duke University with a B.A in Economics and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has resided in Asia for more than 25 years.
Denise Tjokrosaputro
Business Development Director
PARAMOUNT ENTERPRISE
Paramount Enterprise was founded in the early 2000s with the development of Paramount Land. Now considered Indonesia's biggest privately owned property company, it has expanded its arm into several industries, namely Hospitality (Parador Hotel Management Company), Healthcare (Bethsaida Hospital and Seraphim Life Center), Energy (Hydropower), Retail (Bateeq - apparel), Media (MPGMedia), Education (Matana University and IndonesiaX), Logistics (JET), Agriculture and Fishery.
Hoang Duc Trung
Deputy Managing Director
VINACAPITAL
DMD of VinaCapital Group incharge of DFJ VinaCapital L.P. - With more than 19 years of experience in business consultancy, corporate operations, and venture capital, Trung is responsible for early stage, high-tech, information and communications technology (ICT) and media investments in the Southeast Asia (SEA) region. He has served as a board member for Series A companies with successful, regional exits. Trung’s current investments includes an equity crowdfunding platform focusing on SEA.
Trung graduated with an MBA from the Maastricht School of Management in Holland.
His past experience includes:
- Serving as a board member and as an executive for various start-ups in sectors such as mobile value-added services, financial technology, out-of-home media advertising (OOH), and media entertainment.
- Providing corporate financial expertise as a board member for companies in sectors such as media, internet, employment, hospitality, internet of things (IoT), and media entertainment.
- Leading a diversified professional services group specializing in logistics, manufacturing, trading, and financial services as a Chief Executive Officer. In this capacity, he successfully received funding from prestigious investment funds throughout Asia.
- Leading PricewaterhouseCoopers Indochina as its Head of Business and Management Consulting, where he worked across the Indochinese and SEA territory, in addition to the United States.
- Training c-level executives on corporate processes and systems at a mini-MBA course in Vietnam.
Donald Wihardja
Partner
CONVERGENCE VENTURES
As a Partner in Convergence Ventures, Donald brings his 20 years experience in technology and investment in Indonesia to evaluate and invest in over 30 tech startups in Indonesia. He and his team in Convergence actively mentor these startups and sit in their boards as needed. Donald's main interest is in Fintech, as he operated payment gateway services startups prior to founding Convergence Ventures.
Donald is also active in building the Indonesian Tech Startup Ecosystem by advising various government ministries in Indonesia on the tech ecosystem. He is a Deputy Head of AMVESINDO, Indonesia's Venture Capital Association, and Head of the Event Committee of NEXTICORN platform to curate Indonesian tech startups and regional Series B VC.
Rebekah Woo, CFA, CAIA
With degrees from LSE, Yale and CFA, CAIA professional designations, Rebekah has more than 18 years of investing experience. Rebekah started her career with the government of Singapore, both in Singapore and New York. She then spent more than 6 years with a multi-billion single family office in New York, investing across asset classes. Rebekah then joined J.P. Morgan Asset Management, followed by a career at Canada’s 2nd largest pension plan, CDPQ where she became the 1st local employee when it opened its Asia Pacific HQ in Singapore, covering investments throughout Asia. She was most recently with Lu International, a leading fintech company sponsored by Ping An Group, focusing on sourcing and selecting investments. Rebekah also contributes actively as an investor and advisor to several startups, angel / VC groups (BANSEA) as well as non-profits where she was a nominated committee member at Singapore Institute of Directors (SID), promoting diversity in corporate governance.
Timothy Zee
Managing Director
PAG ASIA CAPITAL
Mr. Zee is a managing director of PAG Asia Capital, the private equity arm of PAG, based in Singapore. Prior to joining PAG in 2011, Mr. Zee was managing director, head of Asia Pacific real estate, and head of Hong Kong investment banking for Daiwa Capital Markets, having completed landmark listings including AIA Group Limited in Hong Kong and Hutchison Port Holdings Trust in Singapore. Mr. Zee has also held senior positions with major global financial institutions including Barclays Capital, Salomon Smith Barney, GE Capital and Bank of America. Mr. Zee is a member of the adjunct faculty at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at Singapore Management University and also serves on the LP Advisory Committee of HealthpointCapital, a New York-based orthopedic devices private equity firm.
Mr. Zee holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in finance and international business from The University of Texas at Austin and an MBA in finance and marketing from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Wei Zhou
Founding and Managing Partner
CHINA CREATION VENTURES (CCV)
Wei Zhou is the Founding and Managing Partner of China Creation Ventures (CCV). Before starting CCV, Wei was Managing Partner at KPCB China and led its TMT investment group. The companies that he backed include JD.com (NASDAQ IPO: JD), JD Finance, VenusTech (Shenzhen IPO: 002439), Manzuo.com (acquired by SuNing), ID5.com, CreditEase (NYSE: YRD), Rong360, China Valley Mobile Finance, Ximalaya FM, Miaopai Mobile Video (Yixia.com), ULUCU (NEEQ: 837110), Miaozhen Systems, Asia Innovation Group, Tan Tan Mobile Social, Meican.com, Scinor Water (acquired by TRCE: 300332), KJY Water (NEEQ: 835159), Arrail Dental, etc.
Before joining KPCB China as a founding member, Wei was the CEO of Shanghai Hanbo Tech Co., a leading e-payment solution provider, which was later successfully acquired. Prior to that, Wei held senior positions at Start Computer Group (SH: 600734) since 1994. As the youngest executive, he grew from a regional operation leader to the supervisor of the entire e-payment ecosystem and corporate M&A. He led the company throughout its startup stage, IPO, to the following years of fast growth.
Wei has been honored as Most Influential Venture Capitalist by Fortune, FT China Leader Venture Capitalist, and China Venture Best Venture Capitalist, 21st Century Economy Annual Investor, CV Awards Best Venture Capitalist.
Wei also serves as a governor and treasurer of China Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (“CVCA”).
Wei holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.