Peter Cornelius
Managing Director
ALPINVEST PARTNERS
Peter Cornelius is a Managing Director at AlpInvest Partners, which is part of the Investment Solutions group of The Carlyle Group. At AlpInvest Partners, he is responsible for analyzing the economic and financial environment for private equity markets and examining the implications for the firm’s strategic asset allocation. Mr. Cornelius joined AlpInvest Partners in 2005 from Royal Dutch Shell, where he was Group Chief Economist. Previously, he was chief economist and Director of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Program. Prior to that, he was head of international economic research at Deutsche Bank and a senior economist with the International Monetary Fund. He also served on the staff of the German Council of Economic Advisors. Mr. Cornelius was a visiting professor at the Vlerick Business School, an adjunct professor at Brandeis International Business School and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University. He serves on the Board of Directors of the BTI Institute and is a research fellow of the Emerging Markets Institute at Cornell University. He also serves on the advisory boards of the Private Capital Research Institute at Harvard Business School and the Institute of Private Capital at the Kenan–Flagler Business School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as well as on EMPEA’s Latin American Council. Mr. Cornelius studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science and received his doctorate in economics from the University of Göttingen. He is the author of International Investments in Private Equity (Elsevier, 2011) and a co-author of Mastering Illiquidity (Wiley, 2013).
Maurice Gordon
Managing Director and Head of Private Equity
GUARDIAN LIFE INSURANCE
Maurice Gordon is a managing director and the head of private equity.
Mr. Gordon has extensive experience originating and leading both direct and co-investment transactions and has managed institutional private equity portfolios with a wide range of structures, including buyout, venture capital, mezzanine and special situation partnerships, hedge funds and private placements. He has served on numerous boards of directors and fund advisory boards.
Prior to joining Guardian in 2010, Mr. Gordon spent more than six years as a senior manager at the Stockwell Capital co-investment fund. Before that, he was a managing director and head of The Hartford Insurance Company's private equity investment group. He also was managing general partner and head of CIGNA Investment Corporation’s mezzanine limited partnerships. Mr. Gordon began his investment career at The Northern Trust Bank. He has over 25 years experience in private equity investing and portfolio management.
Mr. Gordon holds B.A. and M.S. degrees in economics from the University of Illinois and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Suneel G. Kaji
Director – Co-Investments & Emerging Strategies
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT COMPANY (UTIMCO)
Suneel G. Kaji addresses UTIMCO's co-investment efforts across both private equity and credit, as well as Asian private investment strategies. Mr. Kaji has over 15 years' experience in control and minority investing (private equity, special situations, and mezzanine), principally in the US & Pacific Rim. Mr. Kaji has served as a Senior Adviser to Accordion Capital, the principal investment affiliate of Accordion Partners, a New York private equity consultancy. Mr. Kaji was previously a Managing Director-Private Investments at The Rohatyn Group/TRG Management in New York and Hong Kong, after having been a Principal at Crown Capital Group, a mid-cap private equity firm established by DLJ, Aurora Capital, and Drexel Burnham alumni. Previously, Mr. Kaji had been a Vice President at DLJ Merchant Banking Partners in New York and Hong Kong after having started his career at Goldman Sachs and Salomon Brothers in PIA and M&A, respectively. He received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Bachelors of Science in Economics, magna cum laude, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Peter Keehn
Global Head of Private Equity
ALLSTATE INVESTMENTS
Peter Keehn is Global Head of Private Equity at Allstate Investments, a subsidiary of the Allstate Corporation that manages approximately $85 billion on behalf of Allstate’s insurance subsidiaries and pensions. Mr. Keehn leads a team located in Chicago and London that manages Allstate’s $5 billion global fund and direct portfolio, covering corporate and Infrastructure/Real Asset investments. He represents Allstate on numerous fund advisory and portfolio company boards. From 2007 to 2010 Mr. Keehn also established and managed Allstate’s UK-based investment affiliate. He joined Allstate Investments in 2003. Previously he was a Principal at Waud Capital Partners and a Director at Northwestern Investment Management Co. Mr. Keehn has an AB from Brown University, an MBA from Northwestern University, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Hemal Mirani
Managing Director
HARBOURVEST PARTNERS (ASIA)
Hemal Mirani rejoined HarbourVest's senior management team in Asia in 2015 to focus on investments and investor relations across the Asia Pacific region.
Hemal first joined HarbourVest in 1997 and spent eleven years developing relationships with leading Asian private equity managers and working with our investors and consultants across the region to advance and optimize their private market investment programs. She rejoined HarbourVest after six years with CVC Capital Partners in Hong Kong, where she was head of investor relations in Asia and Chief Administrative Officer.
Hemal received a BA in Commerce from Sydenham College (Bombay) in 1989, an MA in International Studies with a Japanese language concentration from the Joseph H. Lauder Institute, and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School in 1997. The latter two were part of a joint degree program at the University of Pennsylvania. Hemal speaks fluent Japanese.
Michael Taylor
Managing Director
HARBOURVEST PARTNERS (ASIA)
Michael Taylor joined HarbourVest in 1998 in the Boston office. He is focused on primary partnership investing. In 2014, Mr. Taylor relocated to Asia to complement our local teams and act as a member of our global leadership team in Asia. Mr. Taylor has experience across all investment areas of the HarbourVest platform – in addition to his current focus on partnership fund investments, he was originally a member of the direct team and also focused on secondary interests in partnerships and direct portfolio acquisitions. He serves on the advisory boards of partnerships managed by Battery Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Pamlico Capital, Spark Capital, Stone Point Capital, Ventizz Capital Partners, and Vestar Capital Partners. Mr. Taylor also serves on the Board of Directors of Earth Networks (weatherbug.com).
He joined HarbourVest after several years with Morgan Stanley’s investment banking division. Mr. Taylor served as a Lieutenant Commander with the United States Navy, as a Naval Aviator.
He received a BS (with distinction) from the United States Naval Academy in 1986 and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1995.
Gaurav Ahuja
Managing Director
CHRYSCAPITAL
Gaurav Ahuja is a Managing Director with ChrysCapital and has been with the firm since 2004. He is responsible for the LP Relations and Fund Raising functions at ChrysCapital. Mr. Ahuja is a member of the Investment Committee and sits on the board of Infogain, ChrysCapital’s IT Services portfolio company. Prior to joining ChrysCapital, he was in the M&A group at Lazard Freres in San Francisco and Merrill Lynch in New York.
Mr. Ahuja received an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Economics from the University of Virginia.
Hans Allegaert
Managing Director
CITIC CAPITAL PARTNERS
Hans Allegaert is a Managing Director of CITIC Capital Partners based in New York. CITIC Capital Partners, the private equity arm of CITIC Capital, invests globally in companies which are capitalizing upon the growth and productive resources of the Chinese economy. The firm currently manages USD4.7 billion of committed capital and operates in China, Japan and the U.S. Since inception, the team has made over 50 investments globally across a number of sectors including Consumer Products, Healthcare, Industrial and Business Services.
Tony Jiang
Co-Founder and Partner
OCEAN LINK
Mr. Tony Jiang is a co-founder and partner at Ocean Link. He leads all of Ocean Link's investments, and he currently serves on the board of eLong, Mafengwo, Yitiao, New Century Kaiyuan Hotels, Ruby Hotels & Resorts, and Mind Education. Prior to founding Ocean Link, Mr. Jiang was with The Carlyle Group from 2006 to 2016 focused on private equity investments in Asia. Earlier in his career, Mr. Jiang worked in the investment banking division of Deutsche Bank. He received a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University with full scholarship.
Jing (J.Y.) Jung
Deputy Director
INVEST KOREA (KOTRA)
Jinyo (J.Y) Jung joined KOTRA, the investment promotion agency of the Korea government for both inbound & outbound investment in February 2016. Invest KOREA, Korea’s national investment promotion agency, was established as part of KOTRA to support the entry and establishment of foreign businesses in Korea. Mr. Jung supports foreign investors making investment in Korea for both direct and indirect investment.
Mr. Jung’s previous positions include Manager at LG Group, he has been involved M&A for overseas energy and raw material investment projects and worked for establishing the Natural Resources Fund in Korea.
Mr. Jung holds a BCom in Accounting & Finance from the University of Sydney.
Tatsuo Kawasaki
Founding Partner
UNISON CAPITAL
Tatsuo Kawasaki is one of the founding Partners of Unison Capital founded in 1998. His investment experience ranges from retail, service, food, financial service, to manufacturing sector. Prior to joining Unison, he worked for Goldman Sachs Japan, McKinsey, and NextCard, an online credit card venture based in San Francisco. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Keio University and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.
Megumi Kiyozuka
Managing Director / Head of Japan
CLSA CAPITAL PARTNERS JAPAN KK
Megumi Kiyozuka currently serves as Managing Director (Head of Japan) of CLSA Capital Partners Japan. In this capacity, he is responsible for the overall investment activities of the firm and serves on the board of numerous portfolio companies. Prior to joining the firm in 2006, Mr. Kiyozuka was a Director focused on Japanese buyout opportunities in the consumer, healthcare, and industrial sectors with The Carlyle Group in Tokyo. He spent 6 years at Carlyle and was one of the founding members of Carlyle Japan. Prior to his tenure at The Carlyle Group, he was a Senior Manager at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, where he accumulated over 10 years of experience in M&A and syndicated loans across various countries in Asia. Mr. Kiyozuka received a B.A. in Economics from Shiga University and an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley.
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.
David Lin
Managing Director
PRIMAVERA CAPITAL
David Lin was previously a Managing Director for CITIC Goldstone Investment Co. Ltd, the direct investment arm of CITIC Securities. Prior to joining Goldstone, Mr. Lin was the Head of Global Fund Investments and Asian Direct Investments for Teachers’ Private Capital, the private equity investment arm of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Mr. Lin was involved in making a number of international private equity fund and direct investments.
Mr. Lin was a director on the boards of Almatis and New Zealand Yellow Pages Group, two of the direct investments he oversaw for Teachers’. Mr. Lin has sat on the advisory boards of a number of leading private equity funds and has been involved in the creation of several new private equity firms sponsored by Teachers’, including Actera Group (Turkey’s largest private equity fund), FountainVest (a China-focused growth equity fund), MBK Partners (one of Asia’s largest buyout funds), and Park Square (one of Europe’s largest private mezzanine debt funds).
Previously, Mr. Lin worked in investment banking at National Bank Financial and at GE Capital as a financial analyst. Mr. Lin holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.
Peter Mao
Partner
PANDA CAPITAL
In 2015, Peter Mao co-founded Panda Capital with 3 other uprising star investors Adam Li, Tony Liang and Ryan Li. Prior to founding Panda Capital, Peter served as VP of Qiming Venture Partners and has played an important role in the investment and management of Xiaomi, Yunzhisheng, Xiaoyi, Intelligent Automation and FraudMetrix etc.
Peter has rich experience in technology startup investment and currently focuses on new opportunities in entertainment, social network, consumption upgrade, and new technology areas. His portfolio includes Mobike, Atzuche, Face++, Qiniu, Roborock, Insta360, etc.
Rodney Muse
Co-Managing Partner
NAVIS CAPITAL PARTNERS
Rodney Muse is one of two Managing Partners of Navis. Mr. Muse leads investment teams in making, monitoring and exiting investments, sits on Investment Committee and sits on the boards and/or executive committees of several Navis portfolio companies. He has been active in Navis investments across many industries and geographies since Navis' inception.
Mr. Muse co-founded Navis in 1998 with Messrs. Bloy and Foyston with whom he worked while at The Boston Consulting Group.
He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts Hons degree from St. Lawrence University.
Euan Rellie
Co-Founder and Senior Managing Director
BDA PARTNERS
Euan Rellie is co-founder and Senior Managing Director of BDA Partners, the global investment bank for Asia, based in New York.
BDA Partners is a leader in cross-border investment banking involving Asia. BDA advises on M&A and capital raising. The firm has been consistently owned and managed by the same team since 1996. BDA has a track record of providing independent advice to blue-chip corporate and financial sponsor clients from North America, Europe, and Asia. BDA is headquartered in New York with offices in London, Dubai, Mumbai, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo. BDA was named Investment Bank of the Year 2017 by both The M&A Advisor and ACG New York. BDA formed partnerships with William Blair & Company in 2011 and Development Bank of Japan in 2017. www.bdapartners.com
He is BDA’s Global Head of Consumer & Luxury. He is also President of BDA Advisors Inc, the firm’s registered broker-dealer. Since founding BDA in 1996, Mr. Rellie has lived in Singapore, New York and London, and worked in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, India and the Middle East. 1990-1996, he worked for Schroders, the UK investment bank now part of Citigroup, in New York, London and Singapore. He was Head of SE Asia Execution for Schroders Asia-Pacific Regional Advisory Group. His clients have included AgFeed, Axa, C.R. Bard, CITIC Capital Partners, Dainippon Ink & Chemical, DuPont, Ecolab, Gores Group, Happy Socks, ICICI, Intel, Kraft Foods, Life Technologies, Lubrizol, Pfizer, Philip Morris, Platinum Equity, Sara Lee, Sigma-Aldrich, Singapore Technologies, Tenneco, Terex, ThomsonReuters, and Wockhardt. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was named 2014 North American Investment Banker of the Year, one of the Top 50 Global M&A Dealmakers (by The Global M&A Network), and Dealmaker of the Year in 2012 and 2016 (by The M&A Advisor).
Jason Shin
Managing Partner
VIG PARTNERS
Jason Shin is a co-founding partner of VIG Partners, which was founded in 2005. Mr. Shin sits on the investment committee of the Firm and is responsible for sourcing proprietary investment opportunities and overseeing execution of new investments and exits. He also acts as the primary partner in charge of several portfolio companies where he serves as the head of their management committees and leads the close monitoring of their operational and financial performances. VIG Partners is currently in its 3rd fund and have invested in 17 companies, 15 of which have been for outright control.
Mr. Shin brings extensive experience and network as one of Korea’s leading M&A bankers during his years at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr. Shin also has significant legal experience as a lawyer with Baker & McKenzie and Kim & Chang prior to becoming an investment banker in 1995. Prior to joining VIG, Mr. Shin was a Managing Director and the Head of Morgan Stanley’s Korea investment banking group and is credited with execution of many of Korea’s landmark M&A transactions, representing the Korean government, leading Korean banks and financial institutions, top 20 chaebol groups, and numerous multinational companies.
Mr. Shin earned his JD from the University of California, Berkeley Law School and holds a BA with honors from Northwestern University.
Edward F. Sippel
Managing Director, Co-Head, Asia
TA ASSOCIATES
Edward F. Sippel is a Managing Director at TA Associates. At the firm, he is Co-Head of Asia and manages the Hong Kong office which he helped open in 2011. Mr. Sippel focuses on minority equity investments, recapitalizations, and management buyouts of growth companies in the Asia Pacific region. He has 20 years of experience in deal sourcing, due diligence, structuring, portfolio management and exits across numerous Asian markets. On behalf of TA Associates, Mr. Sippel currently serves on the Board of Directors of SpeedCast Limited in Hong Kong and listed on the ASX, Nintex in Australia and US, YeePay in China, Yarra Capital Management (formerly Goldman Sachs Asset Management Australia) in Australia and was formerly on the Board of Directors of Forgame Tech in China, a TA Company listed on the HKSE. At previous firms, Mr. Sippel led deal teams for private equity investments across Asia and served on the Board of Directors of various companies including PowertTel Limited (ASX:PWT), Inter-Touch (Singapore), Protection One (NASDAQ: PONE), Tower Vision India, and Request Broadband (Australia), among others.
Previously, Mr. Sippel was a Partner at Quadrangle Capital Partners, a global private equity firm. He opened the Hong Kong office for Quadrangle in 2007 and headed the firm’s Asian operations. Prior to joining Quadrangle, Mr. Sippel was a Managing Director and Partner at TVG Capital Partners (“TVG”), a private equity firm based in Hong Kong focused on investments throughout Asia. Prior to TVG, Mr. Sippel was with The Asian Infrastructure Fund (“AIF”), a private equity firm based in Hong Kong. Prior to AIF, Mr. Sippel worked at Morgan Stanley in New York.
Mr. Sippel has lived and worked in Asia since 1997. Mr. Sippel received a BA degree from Georgetown University.
Michael Sng
CEO & Managing Partner, Chairman of the Investment Committee
TAEL PARTNERS
Michael Sng co-founded TAEL Partners in 2007 and brings over 35 years of experience in building businesses, undertaking financial transactions and forging relationships across Southeast Asia. Mr. Sng spent 16 years at Schroders where he held various senior positions and initiated Schroders’ businesses in Malaysia and was appointed the first Schroder’s country head of Malaysia. He was also responsible for the financial markets division for Southeast Asia as its head and board director at Schroders Singapore. In 1998, Mr. Sng was head hunted to establish UOB Asia, the investment banking subsidiary of UOB where he successfully built its entire investment banking business with presence in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
In TAEL, Mr. Sng has been responsible for building TAEL Partners and for successful investments in Singapore and Malaysia. Mr. Sng is now leading the Partnership's initiatives in new markets in Vietnam and the Philippines.
Mr. Sng graduated from National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in economics.
Hamilton Tang
Managing Director
CDIB CAPITAL INTERNATIONAL
Hamilton Tang is a Managing Director of CDIB Capital. Prior to joining he served as the group Chief Executive Officer of Simon Murray & Company and Managing Partner of SMC Capital China (“SMC”), a Greater China focused investment management firm in private equity, long only funds, hedge funds, fixed income, and other direct investments. Prior to that, his background includes appointments as co-CEO of a regional entertainment company and Vice President at Morgan Stanley investment banking division in New York and Hong Kong.
He received a JD-MBA from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, and an undergraduate degree from Harvard College.
Pei Zhou
Managing Director and Head of Healthcare
PAGODA INVESTMENT
Pei Zhou is Managing Director and Head of Healthcare at Pagoda Investment, a China based growth/buyout fund with emphasis on Healthcare, and Advanced Technologies. Prior to Pagoda, Dr. Zhou worked at CITIC PE (the largest PE fund in China) and Everbright Healthcare Fund.
Dr. Zhou has over 16 years of combined experience of scientific research and healthcare investment. He has extensive deal experiences, esp. cross-border experiences, in Healthcare Service, Biopharma and Med Tech. He has successfully invested in ICON, Ambrx, 3SBio, Biosensors, Beigene and etc.
Dr. Zhou has a Ph.D. degree in Biological Sciences from Dartmouth College; M.E. and B.E. in Biochemical Engineering from Tianjin (Beiyang) 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: JD), JD Finance, VenusTech (SZ: 002439), Manzuo.com (acquired by SuNing), ID5.com (acquired by Huaming Intelligence SZ:300462), CreditEase (NYSE: YRD), Rong360 (NYSE: JT), Tantan(acquired by Momo NASDAQ: MOMO), China Valley Mobile Finance, Ximalaya FM, Miaopai Mobile Video (Yixia.com), ULUCU (NEEQ: 837110), Miaozhen Systems, Asia Innovation Group,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.