Tra H. Le
Acting Chairman, Board of Directors
HOCHIMINH STOCK EXCHANGE
Mr. Tra H. Le is currently Acting Chairman of Board of Directors, Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HOSE). Mr. Le started his career as a professional in an international accounting firm prior to joining the Securities Market Development Dept., State Securities Commission (SSC) in 1997. He significantly contributed to the setup and launch of HOSE in 2000, and appointed Department's Deputy Director before permanently moving to assume the position of Executive Vice President, then Deputy CEO, and Acting President & CEO at HOSE.
Mr. Tra H. Le was an Edward S. Mason fellow, and earned his Master in Public Administration degree (MPA), with dual concentration on Leadership and Financial Market Analysis, from Harvard Kennedy School in 2004. Trained as an economist at Hanoi University’s Department of Economics, Mr. Le also completed the globally prestigious US Department of State’s Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program on Strategic and Financial Management at the Boston University in 2003, with professional affiliation at US SEC and FED offices in Boston.
Nguyen Cong Ai
Partner
KPMG
Dr. Nguyen Cong Ai has been working for KPMG since 1998, in Slovakia and Vietnam of which he has been involved in providing market entry advisory services to many international companies seeking investment opportunities in Vietnam. Being in contact with Government Agencies, the State Bank of Vietnam, local banks and business communities throughout Vietnam for years, Dr. Ai has extensive business and government network.
Dr. Ai’s expertise lies in market entry research, commercial due diligence, strategy formulation, market feasibility study, strategic business location analysis, acquisition target identification and analysis and assistance with investment licensing and post-licensing compliance.
Dr. Ai is currently leading the Strategy Group and Partner – Ho Chi Minh Office, Advisory Services.
Tim Burroughs
Managing Editor
ASIAN VENTURE CAPITAL JOURNAL
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.
Paul DiGiacomo
Managing Director
BDA PARTNERS
Paul DiGiacomo is a Managing Director. He joined BDA in 1997, and has lived in Asia since 2000. Mr DiGiacomo founded and heads BDA’s SE Asia practice, and oversees the teams in Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, and Singapore. Mr. DiGiacomo has advised clients on transactions in most Asian markets. He has advised both blue chip corporate clients such as Arkema, Celestica, Ecolab, Jardine Matheson, Minor Group, Molex, Rexel, ST Technologies, Thomson Education, and ThomsonReuters, and financial sponsors such as Actis, EQT, Fortress, LDC, Mekong Capital, Navis Capital, Prudential, Standard Chartered PE and VinaCapital. Mr. DiGiacomo was educated at Trinity College (BA Hons, Political Science).
Hang Do
Chief Operating Officer
SCOMMERCE
Hang serves as Chief Operating Officer in charge of finance, investment & special projects at Scommerce, the holding group of GHN and Ahamove, Vietnam's leading modern logistics provider. Hang was previously Vice President of Business Development and External Relations at Seedcom - Scommerce's main investor. Seedcom invests & operates a portfolio of 10 companies across retail, logistics, technology and agriculture. Many of Seedcom companies are pioneer start-up in its respective sector, such as GHN for ecommerce delivery, The Coffee House for F&B and Juno for fashion retail.
Hang is the founding curator of Global Shapers Ho Chi Minh City, an initiative of the World Economic Forum that nurtures Vietnam’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and promotes social impact projects. She represented Vietnam’s startup community in prior dialogues with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Myanmar (2013) and with U.S. President Barack Obama in Ho Chi Minh City (2016).
Hang holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and B.A. from Oberlin College.
Yen Do
Associate and Country Manager, IW Vietnam
PATAMAR CAPITAL
Based in Vietnam, Yen leads Patamar’s effort investing in woman-led companies. Prior to joining Patamar Capital, Yen was a Business Intelligence Analyst at Trust Circle Vietnam Ltd., a local financial technology start-up.
Prior to Trust Circle, Yen started her career as an investment banking analyst in Vietnam’s leading brokerage firm, Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HSC). At HSC, Yen participated in all phases of M&A transactions including deal sourcing, due diligence, valuation, investment materials preparation, and term sheet negotiation in the pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries. Yen was the main analyst for two US$10m+ sell-side advisory pharmaceutical deals.
Yen has a passion for community development which led her to become a dedicated member of Global Shapers Ho Chi Minh City Hub, leading projects in start-up ecosystem development and education. She has also volunteered at local non-profit organizations supporting childhood education.
Yen graduated cum laude from North Central College, Illinois where she pursued a B.S. in Finance and B.A. in Global Studies, and served as a board member of multiple student-led organizations.
Lana Duong
Vice President
OPENSPACE VENTURES
Lana Duong is a Vice President in the Investments team of Openspace Ventures, a venture capital fund with over US$150 million in assets under management and investing in Southeast Asian tech startups. She leads the fund's investment activities and portfolio in Vietnam.
Previously, Ms. Duong worked in the investment group of Temasek Holdings, the Singapore-based global investment fund with c.US$200 billion of assets under management, and in the investment banking division at Citigroup and BoA Merrill Lynch in London.
She holds a BBA First Class Honours degree from the National University of Singapore and a CEMS Master in International Management from the London School of Economics & Political Science in the UK and Erasmus University in the Netherlands. She's a member of the Forbes Vietnam 30 Under 30 list.
Jessica Hilston
Founder
WOMEN OF VIETNAM
Jessica Hilston is an Australian/ Vietnamese Entrepreneur, with a Bachelors in Management and Marketing / Diploma in International Trade. Hilston relocated to Vietnam in the summer of 2014, and Founded Women of Vietnam - A Network for Women, Founded by Women to Empower Women. And is the fastest growing online community of inspiring and ambitious Women in Vietnam.
Hilston is actively involved in Vietnam's Startup Scene, and is passionate about community building and empowering women through personal development and professional workshops. In 2016, Hilston was invited by the Australian Ambassador Craig Chittick and Australian Consulate-General Karen Lanyon to participate in an Innovation Roundtable discussion.
Hilston has also spoken at The Global Entrepreneurship Week hosted by The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), Tech Fest 2016 (Endorsed by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam) for the Women Entrepreneurship Panel, and Echelon Thailand 2017 to discuss Market Access opportunities into Vietnam.
Hilston is currently working on expanding ‘Women of Vietnam’ to integrate as ‘womenow’ to connect, and empower the women across the ASEAN Regions.
Andy Ho
Chief Investment Officer
VINACAPITAL
Andy Ho serves as Chief Investment Officer of VinaCapital Group, and Managing Director of the VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF), which is traded on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. Since joining VinaCapital in 2007, Andy has helped VOF's net asset value surpass the US$1 billion mark, deployed over US$1 billion on privately negotiated deals and led over US$700 million in exits via strategic trade sales. In 2016, VOF was the top performing Vietnam-focused fund, gaining 25.5%. Andy is a leading authority on investing in developing markets, privatizations, and private equity deals in Vietnam, regularly speaking at events around the region and appearing in the media.
Prior to joining VinaCapital, Andy was director of investment at Prudential Vietnam, where he looked after the company's capital market portfolio and developed its bank investment strategy, which provided a return of four times over an 18-month period. He also served as manager of Prudential's mutual fund, PruBF1. Andy also held various management positions at Dell Ventures (the investment group of Dell Computer Corp.) and Ernst & Young.
Andy earned a BS in Finance and Accounting from the University of Colorado Boulder, and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a Certified Public Accountant in the US.
David Ireland
Senior Partner
Navis
Mr. Ireland is a Senior Partner of Navis based in Thailand and an Investment Committee member. Mr. Ireland joined Navis in 2001 where he focuses on investments in Thailand and Vietnam and has been involved in numerous transactions across South East Asia and Australia.
Prior to joining Navis, he spent five years in Vietnam working for the Vietnam Fund, as an investment professional. He has also served as Vice President for Business Development for Exodus Communications based in Singapore. David is a qualified lawyer and practiced for a large firm in the US from 1990-1993.
Mr. Ireland serves as a Director or Executive Committee Member at a number of portfolio companies including, Theodore Alexander, Cherry Valley, Christian Liaigre, OPV, Hanoi French Hospital and Nitipon Clinics.
Mr. Ireland has been resident as an adult in Asia since 1993 and spent significant portions of his childhood in Taiwan, Japan and Vietnam. He has a JD from the College of William & Mary, a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Virginia and an Advanced Management Diploma from the University of California – Berkeley Haas School of Business.
Kyle Kelhofer
Vietnam Country Manager
IFC
Speaker bio coming soon
Joseph Khoo
Vice President, Direct Investments
PARTNERS GROUP (SINGAPORE) PTE. LTD.
Joseph is a Vice President in the Direct Investments team within Partners Group, focusing on the origination and execution of investment opportunities within Southeast Asia. He has more than 10 years of investment and corporate finance experience focusing on leveraged buyout transactions across Asia-Pacific.
Geetali Kumar
Senior Investment Officer
DEG
GeetaliKumar is Senior Investment Manager at DEG and is based in Singapore. She isresponsible for sourcing, structuring and managing equity investments as wellas investments in private equity funds in South East Asia. She brings over 10years of experience in private equity investments focusing on buyouts, growthcapital and impact investments across the developing economies of Asia.
Bert Kwan
Managing Director
NORTHSTAR GROUP
Bert Kwan is a Managing Director at Northstar Group, a leading Southeast Asia-focused private equity firm with $2.9 billion of committed capital.
Bert has 18 years of growth equity and leveraged buyout investment experience across a broad range of sectors in Asia and the United States. Prior to joining Northstar last year, Bert was a Managing Director and Head of ASEAN at Standard Chartered Private Equity, where he spearheaded the platform’s entry into Vietnam and led investments in Golden Gate Group, NKid, M-Service, and Loc Troi Group.
Earlier in his career, Bert spent nearly a decade with the private equity investment arm of Lehman Brothers in New York, Silicon Valley and Hong Kong.
Bert graduated with a J.D. from Yale Law School and a A.B. from Princeton University.
Ha Lam
Co-Founder
TRIIP.ME
Ha co-founded Triip.me is a VC-backed sharing economy platform for unique and private local experiences, connecting people who desire to experience local culture with those who are looking to offer specially designed tours. Currently, the platform focuses on creating unique local experiences in 98 countries and 655 cities with over 6,000 hand-picked tours. Ha previously spent over 9 years in the travel industry in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Her passion comes from bringing joy to every single person she meets. Out of that passion she sold her house and bootstrapped Triip.me in its early days, to connect travelers and local experts around the globe. Ha is also a cultural explorer and a mother of three. Ha was recently included in the Forbes Asia’s ‘30 under 30’ in 2016.
Marcel van Miert
Executive Chairman
VIETNAM AUSTRALIA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
Marcel van Miert is an entrepreneurial and internationally experienced leader with strategy, change/turnaround, growth and general management expertise in private, PE-owned and listed entities in the K-12, Tertiary, Foundation and EFL education sectors, both as an executive and non-executive.
He is currently the Executive Chairman of The Vietnam Australia International School, Founder/Owner of Europreneur Consultants in the UK, Board Director of Sommet Education, Switzerland and Board Advisor to VUS in Vietnam.
Other than fulfilling his roles above he advises owners of and investors in Educational businesses on Strategy, Investment and Management.
Rohan Monga
Head of International
GO-JEK
Rohan Monga is currently the Head of International at GO-JEK. Previously, he was the COO of GO-JEK. Prior to working at GO-JEK, he did Customer Experience Strategy at Amazon Japan as a Senior Program Manager, Finom LLC as a Co-Founder, and Bain & Company Japan as a Senior Associate Consultant.
Mr. Monga is highly experienced in Management Consulting and creating strategies to enhance customer experience thus he draws on his vast knowledge of strategy development to accelerate the growth of GO-JEK.
He holds a B.A (Bachelor of Arts) degree, majoring in Economics from Brown University and MBA from the University of Chicago – Booth School of Business.
Khanh Ngo
Director of Finance and Corporate Development
TIKI CORPORATION
Khanh Ngo is Director of Finance and Corporate Development at Tiki Corporation, a leading B2C eCommerce platform in Vietnam. Tiki was founded in 2010 and has grown by triple-digit consistently in last 8 years. The company is famous for its extreme customer-focused approach with unique TikiNOW (2h delivery service) and 100% authenticity commitment. Tiki is backed by JD.com, VNG, Seedcom among others. Last year, the company successfully raised series C which was one of largest investment into a technology company thus far.
Prior Tiki, Mr. Ngo was a strategy consultant at The Boston Consulting Group (South East Asia) focused on financial institutions, CPG, Oil & Gas, and Manufacturing with a diversified client portfolio from Indonesia, Thailand, India, Japan, and Vietnam. Before BCG, he was founding analyst of an investment research company covered South East Asia market. He started his career as a business consultant at Deloitte Vietnam after graduation.
He received his CFA charter in 2014 and become a member of The Hong Kong Society of Financial Analysts
Henry Nguyen
Managing General Partner
IDG VENTURES VIETNAM
Henry Nguyen currently serves as the Managing General Partner of IDG Ventures Vietnam, a private equity firm focused on consumer, technology, media, and telecom investments in Vietnam. One of three General Partners, Henry concentrates on fund strategy, government relations, general management and operations, and communications. The IDG Ventures team has made over 40 investments since its inception in 2004, including VinaGame (VNG Corporation), BHD Media Holdings, GES Vietnam, VTC Online, VatGia, YAN Media Group, VC Corporation, Goldsun Focus Media, and Topica EdTech Group among others.
Prior to founding IDG Ventures Vietnam, Henry has worked at Goldman Sachs, Harvard Medical School, and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Henry is also the Developmental Licensee for all McDonald's restaurants in Vietnam as well as the Chairman and Publisher of Forbes in Vietnam. With a deep passion for sports, he established the Saigon Heat pro basketball team in the role of the Chairman & Owner, which competes in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), and the Vietnam University Games (VUG), the country's official organizer of university athletics. He is the current President of the Vietnam Basketball Federation (VBF), elected for the the five-year term from 2015 to 2020. In addition to his sports activities in Vietnam, he is also the Vice Chairman & Owner of the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC), the newest club in Major League Soccer (MLS).
Henry is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and an Asia 21 Fellow of the Asia Society. He recently was bestowed an additional honor by the Asia Society in Southern California as being an "Asian Game Changer," for his leadership in bridging cultures through policy, business, arts, and education initiatives. He was also honored with the John Connor Humanitarian Award 2015 by Operation Smile due to his deep contribution in the role of the Chairman of the Board of Advisors for Operation Smile Vietnam. He has served on the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, and is currently a member of the Advisory Board of ASEAN Business Club, the regional business platform to support Southeast Asian economic integration. He currently acts as the Board Member of IDG Ventures's prominent investment portfolios and also serves on the Board of Viet Capital Securities, British University Vietnam and keeps the Vice Chairman role of Fulbright University Vietnam. He has been featured in on-air interviews CNBC's Entrepreneur Asia, Bloomberg Business, Bloomberg's High Flyers, and other media including CNN and the BBC.
Henry earned his B.A. in Classics at Harvard University, and his M.D. and M.B.A. from Northwestern University Medical School and the Kellogg School of Management. He is married with twin daughters who are four years of age.
Stanley Nguyen
Senior Vice President
CENTRAL GROUP
Stanley is the Head of Business Development of Central Group Vietnam and responsible for property acquisition as well as business development for Central Group in Vietnam. He closed more than US$1.5Bn investments via M&A with Central Group Vietnam, amongst others are BigC Hypermarket, Lanchi Mart, Zalora and more than US$100Mn investments in properties and land bank. Before Central Group, he was with a US$250Mn Private Equity fund based in Vietnam.
Central Group Vietnam is investing and operating a nationwide multi-format retail chain in Vietnam such as hypermakets, supermarkers, consumer electronics, fashion brands and shopping malls.
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.
Jeff Olson
Joint Managing Partner-Vietnam
HOGAN LOVELLS
Jeff Olson is Joint Managing Partner of Hogan Lovells' Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi offices and leads the firm's M&A and Private Equity practice in Vietnam.
Jeff has more than 12 years' experience acting for private equity, venture capital and strategic investors on cross-border transactions in Asia and the US. He has represented clients across a broad range of industries including media and entertainment, hospitality, food and beverage, healthcare, education, consumer/retail, oil & gas, tobacco and professional services.
Jeff began his career in New York and relocated to Vietnam in 2012.
Chad Ovel
Partner
MEKONG CAPITAL
Chad Ovel has over 20 years’ experience leading value growth in Vietnam. Before joining Mekong Capital, he had a successful track record as a CEO leading the rapid growth of both a foreign-owned export manufacturing business and a local company operating in the sectors of construction, retail and manufacturing. Since joining Mekong Capital in 2013, he has led Mekong Capital’s successful investments in restaurant operator Golden Gate, which generated a 9.1x return upon exit, and in pharmaceutical leader Traphaco, which generated a 6.3x return upon exit. Chad holds an MBA from University of Chicago.
Mun Kit Pan
Director
TAEL PARTNERS
Mun Kit joined TAEL Partners since 2013, and is presently a Director in the Investment team, and covers the Vietnam market. He focuses on deal origination, execution and monitoring of the investments made in Vietnam. Prior to joining TAEL Partners, he was in Maybank Investment Bank in the Corporate Finance team, and OSK Investment Bank in the Debt Capital Markets team.
Dirk van Quaquebeke
Managing Partner
BEENEXT
Dirk van Quaquebeke is a Managing Partner at BEENEXT. Prior Dirk was a founding partner at Alps Ventures an early stage investor and company builder with a focus on South East Asia. He has personally built several companies from inception to profitability and/or exit which included KochaAbo (leading online supermarket – exit 2014), Clusterhaus (leading co-working group in Europe – profitable) or Duriana (leading c2c marketplace – exit 2016). He started his career in 2006 in London’s private equity and banking industry for 5 years.
Binh Tran
Partner
500 STARTUPS
Binh Tran is a partner at 500 Startups Vietnam, a seed stage fund investing in Vietnam-connected startups. Prior to 500 Startups, Binh co-founded Klout in 2008 which was acquired in 2014. Binh has also been investing in US based startups as an angel investor and LP since 2012.
Duc Tran
CEO
FPT VENTURES
Tran Huu Duc received master of computer science from Hanoi University of Technology and MBA from Hanoi School of Business.
He worked for FPT since 2001 through different roles: director of software divisions for US and Japan clients in FPT Software, Deputy CEO of FPT Mobile Applications, CTO of FPT Trading Group.
From 2015, he has leaded FPT Ventures a corporate VC to invest into tech startups. In 2016, he has concurrently acted as CEO of Vietnam Innovative Startup Accelerator (aka VIISA), an early stage fund founded by FPT, Dragon Capital and Hanwha Investment.
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.
Pete Vo
Managing Director
CVC CAPITAL PARTNERS
Pete joined CVC in 2015 with 9 years experience in private equities investing in Vietnam. Previously, he spent five years with private equities firm Vietnam Investment Group, where he was a director and partner. Prior to that, Pete was with Deutsche Bank covering Vietnam equities capital market and Vietnam Partners, a private equities investment company. Before coming to Vietnam, Pete spent 9 years with Citigroup in Manhattan, where he was most recently a Director doing structured credits and securitization deals.
Pete holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Xiaolin Zheng
Investment Director
JD.COM
Xiaolin is a Director in JD’s Strategic Investment team, and is responsible for developing and implementing the group strategy of JD via investments and M&A.
Prior to JD, Xiaolin was an Investment Director in LeEco’s Corporate Finance team. Between 2014 and 2015, she co-founded and held the title of Head of Finance and Business Development at YouJieYouHuan, a China P2P start up fintech company based in Beijing.
Xiaolin started her career as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch in 2009, and was an associate in Deutsche Bank’s Technology, Media, and Telecommunications team between 2011-2014. She was born and raised in China and received a full scholarship to study in Singapore and the US, graduating with a First-Honor Bachelor Degree (Major in Quantitative Finance) from the National University of Singapore.