Advertise on podcast: AAAIM High ELI

Our guest for today's podcast is Nitish Agarwal, who is the CEO & CIO at Orion Capital Asia, a Singapore based private credit investment manager. Nitish has over 30 years of experience in private debt markets across Asia.  Nitish started Orion in 2013 to focus on performing credit to middle market companies in Asia Pacific – the platform has completed more than US$2.3 billion of private loans.  Prior to Orion, he was Managing Director at Barclays Capital in Singapore. He started his career with Bank of America in Mumbai and later relocated to Hong Kong.  Joining me as co-host on the podcast is Jacqueline Chew, Managing Director focused on Client Solutions for Orion Capital Asia.

Joining us today is Leena Bhutta, the Chief Investment Officer of the Doris Duke Foundation. Leena leads an internal investment team responsible for managing the foundation's endowment which fully supports the foundation's operating budget – enabling a more creative, equitable and sustainable future.     Leena began her career in technology investment banking at Goldman Sachs before transitioning to global equity research at Joho Capital, a multi-billion-dollar, global hedge fund. Following several years as a direct investor, she shifted her focus to mission-driven capital, establishing the investment program for the Hollyhock Foundation—a private foundation created by the founders of Joho Capital.    Leena holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Leena also serves on the Board of Directors of TIFF Investment Management and is a member of the Investment Committee for the Robertson Foundation.   Leena's journey is truly inspiring, and I am excited to share our conversation with you. 

Our guest for today's podcast is Cristina Chen-Oster who is the Founder & CEO of M2M Capital, which provides real-time market-informed valuations and liquidity solutions for private companies. Previously, Cristina served as the Head of Americas Distribution for S64, a global Alternatives Solutions business committed to optimizing private market access. Cristina spent the bulk of her career on Wall Street including tenures at Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Natixis in institutional solutions and equity structured products. Cristina is a CFA charter holder and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from MIT. Without further ado, here is our conversation with Cristina Chen-Oster.

To celebrate our 100th podcast, I invited Brenda Chia, Chief of Capital Development of Paladin Capital Group and one of the original six founding Board Members of AAAIM to talk about all things AAAIM – past, present, future – and what we hope for the community going forward.

Our guest for today's podcast is Wendy Li, Chief Investment Officer of Ivy Invest.  Before founding Ivy Invest, Wendy spent her career as an institutional investor managing billions of dollars for some of New York's largest endowments and foundations. Most recently, Wendy was Managing Director of Investments at the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation (MCHF). At MCHF, she was responsible for developing the foundation's investment strategy, sourcing and executing investments across asset classes, and exercising day-to-day management over MCHF's $4B portfolio. Prior to MCHF, Wendy held similar responsibilities at UJA-Federation of New York. She began her career in the Investment Office of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Wendy is a graduate of Columbia University and a CFA charterholder.   Without further ado, here is our conversation with Wendy Li.

Our guest for today's podcast is Richard Chau, Chief Investment Officer of the Tulane University Endowment. Richard joined Tulane in 2013 and was promoted to CIO in 2021. Prior to Tulane, Richard helped manage a multi-billion dollar global private equity portfolio in Bessemer Trust's Private Equity Funds Group. Before Bessemer, Richard worked in the investment office at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. His previous experience also includes investment banking at Houlihan Lokey and investment consulting at Cambridge Associates.   Richard has a BA in Economics and Chinese from Williams College and an MBA from Columbia Business School.   Without further ado, here is our conversation with Richard Chau.

Our guest for today's podcast is Tina Suo, Head of Alternative Credit for the Office of NYC Comptroller.  Tina joined the Office of the NYC Comptroller as a Senior Investment Officer in the Alternative Credit Group in August 2019. In this role, she assisted in making investment recommendations and advising on the alternative credit portfolio consisting of public and private non-traditional credit-oriented investments that include below-investment-grade debt. In May 2022, she was promoted to Head of Alternative Credit to oversee the alternative credit portfolio for the five New York City retirement systems.   Prior to the Office of the NYC Comptroller, Tina held roles in manager selection, risk management, trading, and portfolio management at leading sell-side and buy-side firms including PIMCO, Goldman Sachs, and New York Life Investments. Tina received her M.B.A. degree from London Business School and B.S. degree in Information and Decision Sciences from University of Science and Technology of China. Without further ado, here is our conversation with Tina Suo.

Our guest for today's podcast is Sandor Hau, Managing Director and President of Charlesbank Credit. Sandor oversees the firm's opportunistic Credit team and investing strategy.  Sandor joined Charlesbank in 2016 from Nomura Securities, where he was a Managing Director and Head of Corporate Credit and Special Situations. Previously, he was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and Head of Credit Investing and Private Equity within the principal strategies group.   Sandor was born and grew up in rural Lancaster, PA, and is a big Philadelphia sports fan. He currently lives in Rye, NY, and is actively involved with community and sports activities with his four kids. He likes running, basketball and racquet sports. He is actively involved with the Korean American community as co–chairman of The Korea Finance Society. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Without further ado, here is our conversation with Sandor Hau.

Our guest for today's podcast is Michel Lowy, who co-founded SC Lowy in 2009. SC Lowy specializes in non-investment grade credit opportunities outside the United States, focusing on opportunistic corporate lending. SC Lowy has deployed $4.8 billion in capital and manages $1.6 billion in assets, with a presence across nine offices in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Michel has focused on distressed, special situations and private credit investing for his entire career spanning more than 25 years.  Before launching SC Lowy, Mr. Lowy founded Deutsche Bank's distressed and strategic investments group for Asia Pacific in 1999. Based in Singapore, New York and lastly Hong Kong, he built and led a dominant Asia-focused proprietary trading and investment team over the span of 10 years, while later adding Latin America to his mandate. Without further ado, here is our conversation with Michel Lowy.

Our guest for today's podcast is Philip Yau who is a Managing Director at GI Partners.  Phil serves as a member of the firm's Executive Committee and is head of the firm's capital formation-business development team. His responsibilities include managing strategic relationships, developing new business initiatives, and overseeing the capital formation efforts. Prior to joining GI Partners, Phil spent over 24 years in investment banking, including 12 years as a senior leader of the UBS Private Funds Group.   I met Phil at the most recent AAAIM National Conference held in Los Angeles.  Phil sought me out and shared his desire to be featured on the podcast in order to pay tribute to both his parents who served as great role models for Phil and his brother Andrew.  Phil's father, Dr. Stephen Yau, Is a famous professor of computer science who is still teaching after 63 years at 89 years old.  Phil's mother, Victoria Yau, was a well-recognized contemporary artist.   Without further ado, here is our conversation with Phil Yau.

Our guests for today's podcast are Jen Vigilante and Maine Park, Counselors at College Labyrinth. College Labyrinth provides a highly personalized framework for students to pursue genuine interests, enriching the journey to college while finding the right next step.    Most recently, Jen spent the past decade working in the Princeton University Undergraduate Admission Office, where she was an Associate Dean primarily responsible for the New York City schools, evaluating more than 2,000 applications each year.    Maine is a long time friend AAAIM.  During her own children's college application processes, Maine recognized the incredible value in reassuring and steering parents and students through an often difficult period. In Maine's own words, "Every child, including my own, has such different interests and strengths. It can feel overwhelming to try and find the right school, the right word, the right deadline! By starting College Labyrinth, I became the guide I wish I had when going through this process. My goal is for College Labyrinth to help students achieve more than just an acceptance letter, but an honest and healthy understanding of who they are and who they might become in the future."    Without further ado, here is our conversation with Jen Vigilante and Maine Park. 

Our guest for today's podcast is Tim Hsia, founder and Managing Partner of Context Ventures, a venture fund that invests in military veteran founders and also in consumer startups. Some of Tim's startup investments prior to Context Ventures include Workflow (acquired by Apple), Morning Brew (acquired by Business Insider), The Hustle (acquired by HubSpot), and Thredup (which IPO'd).  Tim is also the CEO & Founder of Media Mobilize (an online ad network, marketing agency, and media company).   Tim is a distinguished honor graduate of West Point and was commissioned as an infantry officer in the US Army. Tim transitioned from active duty in 2010 and graduated from Stanford's Graduate School of Business and Stanford Law School in 2014. While at Stanford he taught ROTC to cadets at Stanford and Santa Clara University.   Tim is the eptiome of the word "grit".  Without further ado, here is our conversation with Tim Hsia.

Our guest for today's podcast is Vishal Bhutani, Chief Investment Officer of AMS Children's Fund (AMS), a new fund launching in early 2025.  Together with David Gaynes, Vishal is forming AMS to capitalize on the growing interest by institutional investors in the Indian equity markets.  Vishal believes that the middle market opportunity in Indian equities is one of the best investment opportunities available today.  Leveraging his experience as an event driven portfolio manager, AMS believes it will be able to achieve superior risk adjusted returns.   Vishal has spent the bulk of his 20 year investment career as an Event Driven investor, investing across the capital structure.  Joining me on the podcast is Clark Cheng, CEO and CIO of Merrimac Corp, a large single family office with investments in hedge funds, private equity, venture capital and real estate AND David Gaynes, co-founder of AMS Children's Fund.   So why should investors care about the Indian equity markets now?  Vishal provides many insights and answers why in this podcast.   Without further ado, here is our conversation with Vishal Bhutani.

Our guest for today's podcast is Darren Xu, Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager of Questline Capital. Questline Capital is a long/short equity fund focused on the gaming, media and communications sectors. After almost a decade as an investor at Farallon Capital Management, Darren decided to leave his job and will be launching his fund in the 1 st quarter of 2025. Darren started his career in investment banking in Mergers and Acquisitions at Citigroup after graduating with two degrees, one in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania and the other in Business from the Wharton School. I named this podcast "Living the dream: playing video games for fun and for work." Literally, that is what Darren does. How fun is that? So, how does one create a career playing video games. Well, we are here to find out. Without further ado, here is our conversation with Darren Xu.

Our guest for today's podcast is Dave Lu, Managing Partner of Hyphen Capital, an early stage venture capital firm focused on Asian American founders. Dave is a veteran of the technology industry, having founded two prior companies: Expo and Fanpop, as well as having worked at Apple, eBay, Cisco, Yahoo and Sony. Dave produced the Emmy-winning HBO documentary 38 at the Garden about Jeremy Lin. Amidst the rise of anti-Asian hate during the pandemic, Dave led a movement with an open letter signed by 8,000 leaders including President George Bush and the CEOs of Google, DoorDash, Zoom and others that was published in the Wall Street Journal and launched Stand with Asian Americans. Dave sits on the advisory board of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific Center and the Asian Pacific Fund. Dave received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and his BA from the University of Pennsylvania. To say that Dave is a role model would be an understatement.  I applaud Dave for his selfless efforts to help inspire and galvanize change for the AAPI community.    Without further ado, here is our conversation with Dave Lu.