JJ Ang
Chief Financial Officer
SENDO.VN
As chief financial officer (CFO) of Sendo, JJ Ang is responsible for all of the company’s financial functions including accounting, FP&A, capital-raising and investor relations. His career spans more than 15 years across investment banking, merchant banking, private equity and operations management. At various stages of his career, JJ lived and worked in New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Peru, and now Vietnam. Prior to joining Sendo, JJ served as the CFO of Tamshi Group and spent his time between Singapore and Peru developing one of the largest cacao plantations globally. Before that he was a co-founder and partner at Emergebridge, a merchant bank in Singapore focused on cross-border capital raising transactions as well as private equity co-investments alongside family offices from Europe and Asia. JJ started his career in investment banking with Bank of America Merrill Lynch out of New York in 2007, and made the switch to investment banking with Royal Bank of Scotland out of Hong Kong from 2010 to 2014. JJ earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies, from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Seon Han Bae
Partner and Head of Overseas Investments
STIC INVESTMENTS
Seon is a partner at STIC Investments (“STIC). He joined STIC in May 2005. He currently leads STIC’s Overseas Investments team.
Prior to joining STIC, Seon worked at Samsung Electronics and Samsung Electro-Mechanics for fourteen years.
One of Seon’s highlighted roles at Samsung organization was working as an investment manager at Samsung Corporate Venture Capital Group, where he focused on identifying strategic partnerships and venture capital investment opportunities for Samsung Group.
Seon holds a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering from Korea Maritime University and an MBA degree from University of Birmingham.
Huai Fong Chew
Regional Lead, Funds, East Asia & the Pacific
INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION
Huai Fong is the Regional Lead for the East Asia Pacific PE Funds team of the International Finance Corporation (“IFC”) where she is responsible for leading investments into funds in the region.
Prior to joining IFC, Huai Fong spent five years with Deutsche Investitions-Und Entwicklungsgesellschaft MBH (“DEG”) where she had a primary coverage of Southeast Asia. She led fund investments and co-investments in the region as well as managed a portfolio of funds through her Advisory Committee positions. Before DEG, Huai Fong was with UOB Venture Management where she did direct equity investments into growth stage companies in Southeast Asia and China.
Huai Fong holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and in Economics (Honors and Dean’s list) from the Singapore Management University. She is a CFA charterholder.
Willson Cuaca
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
EAST VENTURES
Willson Cuaca is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of East Ventures, a Southeast Asian early-stage investment fund and the VC pioneer of Indonesia. The firm started investing in 2009 when no one believed in the potential of Indonesia’s consumer Internet.
East Ventures has funded hundreds of early-stage companies in Southeast Asia since their early days. Most of the companies have received subsequent funding rounds and are riding on top of Indonesia’s middle-class consumer growth. The firm has also exited investments through M&A to local and international companies. Last year, East Ventures was named the most consistent top performing VC fund globally by Preqin, and most active investor in SEA and Indonesia by various media.
Thuy Vu Dropsey
Executive Director
AFFIRMA CAPITAL
Thuy Dropsey is an Executive Director in the Southeast Asia team for Affirma Capital (formerly known as Standard Chartered Private Equity) since 2016 and heads up Vietnam and Thailand coverage. Prior to Affirma Capital, Thuy was a Vice President at Lombard Investments, establishing the fund’s office in Ho Chi Minh City and overseeing investment strategy, deal sourcing and portfolio management in Vietnam. Prior to joining Lombard in 2011, Thuy was a Senior Associate at Mekong Capital, a Vietnam-based private equity fund manager. At Mekong, she originated and evaluated potential investments and was responsible for the execution of value-added projects for the firm's portfolio companies. Earlier in her career, Thuy was a Senior Finance Associate for Bain Capital Credit in Boston. Thuy began her professional career in 2005 at Ernst & Young as a Senior Auditor in its Asset Management group in Boston.
Thuy graduated summa cum laude from Suffolk University, Boston (2005) with a B.S. double major in Finance and Accounting, and is a non-active licensed Certified Public Accountant, State of Massachusetts.
Gabriel Ho Ji-Min
Managing Director
DYMON ASIA PRIVATE EQUITY
Gabriel Ho Ji-Min is a Managing Director and member of the Investment Committee of Dymon Asia Private Equity (DAPE), where he oversees investments in Southeast Asia. DAPE manages approximately SG$1 billion of committed capital, and is the private equity arm of Dymon Asia Capital, which manages approximately US$4.5 billion in total AUM.
Prior to joining DAPE, Gabriel worked at Baring Private Equity Asia, Morgan Stanley, and the Singapore Government. He has 14 years of private equity and investment banking experience, and has completed investments and divestments totaling c.US$900 million for 10 companies across Asia. At DAPE, he has led investments and divestments in healthcare, education, consumer and business services, and these portfolio companies have operations and presence across Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Taiwan.
Gabriel currently serves as Chairman of Asia Medical Enviro Services and as Director of Select Group, Rudi’s Fine Food, and Continental Deli. Other directorships include positions previously held on the boards of UEMS, Asia Integrated Facility Solutions, Asia Facility Solutions, and Lutheran Care Community Services.
Gabriel received his M.A. from Harvard University in 2006, and a B.A. in Economics (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Chicago. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Tran Huu Duc
Chairman & CEO
VIISA
Mr. Tran Huu Duc is currently the Chairman cum CEO at VIISA; Head of FPT Ventures; and Permanent Vice Chairman of the Vietnam FinTech Club.
In 2001, Tran Huu Duc became the youngest director in FPT Software's history when he was appointed as the Director of Software Center No. 5 of the company. From 2010 to 2012, he was the Chief Technology Officer of FPT Digital Company (FMA). From 2013, he held the position of Director of FPT Trading and a member of FPT Technology Council. In 2015, Tran Huu Duc became the Director of FPT Ventures and since 2016, he has been the Chairman cum CEO of VIISA.
David Ireland
Senior Partner
NAVIS CAPITAL PARTNERS
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.
Thomas Lanyi
Managing Director
CDH INVESTMENTS
Dr. Lanyi is a senior Private Equity professional with 19 years of experience. Based in Singapore, he currently serves as a Managing Director at CDH Investments, where he co-leads CDH's Southeast Asian and global 'Cross-border' investment activities.
Established in 2001, CDH is one of the most well-established alternative assets fund management companies in China, managing close to US$20billion in client assets across different strategies and funds. The firm specializes in investment opportunities in the consumer and healthcare sectors.
Prior to joining CDH, Dr. Lanyi held senior roles at Mekong Capital and Templeton Private Equity. Dr. Lanyi lived in Vietnam between 2007-2012 and continues to manage CDH's office in HCMC.
Dr. Lanyi is the Chairman of the Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (SVCA).
Thach Le Anh
Director
VIETNAM SILICON VALLEY RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT CENTER (VSV R&D)
Ms. Thach Le Anh (MBA) is an entrepreneur, angel investor and senior expert in the startup field.
As a successful businesswoman with more than 20 years of extensive experiences in creating companies, market research and development, commercializing technology as well as leadership skills, startups under her mentorship have successfully raised venture capital with multi-million-dollar valuations, such as Lozi, TechElite, Schoolbus, Ship60. Besides coaching startups, she has delivered training on venture capital methodologies for hundreds of potential investors, mentors, policymakers, incubator managers and universities through a series of VSV programs like VSV Investor Bootcamp and Angel Camp, ACA operation.
Ms. Le Anh is a senior advisor to the Vietnamese government in designing and implementing programs to build a national startup ecosystem (Project 844/QĐ-TTg approved by the Prime Minister on May 18, 2016; SpeedUp program of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology). She has acted as guest speaker at many reputable domestic and international forum such as Vietnam Business Forum 2019, Danube business forum.
Ms. Le Anh has an MBA degree from the Southern California University (USA). She received a scholarship from the Newton Fund to participate in Innovation Fellows Leadership (LIF) program at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford (UK).
Henry Lee
Managing Partner
HENDALE CAPITAL
Henry Lee has close to 30 years’ experience as an investor, fund manager, corporate financier, and fund allocator in global and Asian markets. His extensive experience encompasses private and public investments, hedge funds, private equity and venture funds, managing asset management companies and family office operations.
In 1996, Mr. Lee founded Hendale Asia, one of the first Asian-based multi-strategy alternative funds, after being a Principal at the Bass family office in Texas for 6 years. Hendale now specializes in direct private investments in globally. More recently, Mr. Lee was the CIO of Nan Fung – a large private real estate and investment conglomerate, where he managed a large diversified investment portfolio in excess of several billion USD. Prior to that, between 2003 and 2008, he managed large portfolios for the Asia operation of Sandell, a large global hedge fund and was an Executive Director of UBS Global Asset Management responsible for hedge fund allocations globally based in Hong Kong. He started his career as an investment banker at CS First Boston in New York and London in 1987.
His community work and directorships include being an Independent Non-Executive Director of the Bank of Xian, the leading local bank in Xian city, and a 2nd term member of the Xian China Peoples’ Political Consultative Committee (CPPCC). He is active in community and alumni affairs and holds various directorships and posts in organizations such as the HK Cancer Fund and the Mongolian Chamber and Mongolia Club (HK).
He is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese and English. Born and raised in Asia, America and Africa, Mr. Lee is a citizen of Hong Kong and Switzerland.
Hiroyuki Nishijima
Director of Corporate Strategy
KPMG
Hiroyuki started his career at KPMG as an auditor and has been providing assurance services for Japanese domestic and SEC listed companies as well as IT assurance services and SOX implementation assistance. Since 2010, Hiroyuki has successfully completed more than 80 cross-border M&A transactions including Financial/HR/Governance due diligence, structuring, SPA, and post merger integration assistance. From 2012 to 2014, he was on secondment to US subsidiary of Japanese Trading Firm as Director, where he worked primarily on strategy, structuring, due diligence, financial modelling/valuation, negotiation and PMI.
Richard A. Piliero
Partner, Head of Private Equity, Southeast Asia
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON
Richard A. Piliero is head of private equity with research responsibilities for companies and structuring investments in Southeast Asia. Prior to joining Franklin Templeton in 2001, Mr. Piliero was with Investor Growth Capital in New York (the Private Equity Division of Investor AB of Sweden) and Bears Stearns & Co., in the Investment Banking Department. He was also co-founder of Aigis Ventures LLC, a seed-stage venture capital company in the United States. He entered the financial services industry in 1996. Mr. Piliero holds a B.A., magna cum laude, in business economics and international relations from Brown University. He also spent a year at Oxford University, Worcester College, in the politics, philosophy and economics program. Mr. Piliero speaks English and French and has basic knowledge of Mandarin and Italian.
Koichi Saito
Founder & General Partner
KK FUND
Koichi Saito is founder & General Partner of KK Fund, a venture capital fund investing in seed stage internet and mobile startups across South East Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Since launched in 2015, KK Fund has made 29 investments including Vietnamese startups such as Jobhop,Med247 and Clavis Aurea.
Koichi previously worked at IMJ Investment Partners as Director and responsible for IMJ's investments throughout Southeast Asia.
Prior to IMJ, Koichi worked at Private Equity Fund founded by George Soros, and was engaged in several corporate and hotel acquisitions.
Prior to Soros fund, he worked at investment banking division at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, and served as an arranger of securitization of mortgages.
Koichi holds a Master of Business Administration degree from IE business school in Spain.
Manisha Shah
Chief Financial Officer
MOMO
Manisha is the CFO of momo, Vietnam’s leading e-wallet company. As part of the senior management team, her responsibilities include the finance, human resources, capital raising and investor relations. Over the last 20 years she has worked in corporates or advised clients in over 25 countries across the telecom, media, technology, financial services and auto sectors. She has worked at JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, TVS & Sons, Vodafone, and the World Bank. Manisha was born in Pittsburgh, USA and grew up in Mumbai, India. She completed her undergraduate studies at Colgate University where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a dual major in Economics and Asian Studies and received an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Luke Treloar
Director of Global Strategy Group and Head of Healthcare
KPMG
Luke is Director at Global Strategy Group for Vietnam and Cambodia, and has over 10 years of experience in management consulting and financial services. Luke’s professional experience has focused on developing clear and effective go-to-market healthcare and life science strategies across Asia. Luke has led the account services for many of the firm’s largest industrial accounts in Vietnam, Cambodia and China. These projects have often been challenging bespoke solutions for Fortune 500 firms operating in in challenging environments, with low levels of data availability and reliability.