PE Leadership Forum 2022 – Redefining strategic approaches to operational excellence

Noah Gellner (Managing Director, Compliance), has been with CPP Investments since 2017 where he leads the compliance program in the APAC region. Prior to joining CPP Investments, Noah held legal and compliance roles with a leading Asian private equity manager and with a global asset manager. Noah is a lawyer by training and practiced at global firms in New York. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Noah worked in international fixed income in operations and finance.

Mr. Alvin Lam is an operating partner with CVC Capital Partners. Alvin joined CVC in 2005. Prior to joining CVC, Alvin was a Principal with the Boston Consulting Group’s Greater China practice and worked for Philip Morris International in a regional business development role. Alvin holds a BSc Degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MBA from the Wharton School and an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

Patrick Cordes is Chief Operating Officer of BPEA EQT. Patrick worked for BPEA from 2006 until 2022, when the company joined forces with EQT and was renamed BPEA EQT.

Patrick is a member of BPEA EQT’s Portfolio Management Committee and Exit and Liquidity Committee and is responsible for overseeing the professional support functions, including investment structuring, fund operations, portfolio monitoring, legal and compliance and market risk and jointly oversees the human capital function. Patrick is also responsible for overseeing BPEA EQT’s philanthropic activities and serves on the Board of Social Impact Partners.

Patrick is a Member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and graduated from Lehigh University, where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Economics.

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Trinnie So is Director, Compliance (Asia) at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan based in Hong Kong. Trinnie joined Ontario Teachers’ in 2015 and looks after 3 offices in Asia: Hong Kong, Singapore and India. Prior to joining Ontario Teachers’, she held similar positions at Fidelity Institutional Asset Management, BlackRock and Barclays Global Investors. Trinnie has 2 decades of experience in the asset management industry in Asia, covering a wide selection of products covering retail mutual funds, hedge funds, ETF's, private equity, infrastructure, and fixed income. Trinnie is a Certified Public Accountant (AICPA), and graduated from the University of British Columbia.

Sofia is an Investment Director of Sterling Private Management Limited, a family office based in Hong Kong, where she is responsible for private market investments. She has over ten years of experience investing in private equity funds, co-investments as well as direct impact investments.

Prior to joining Sterling, she was with Grace Financial Ltd., an affiliated entity to Sterling, where she helped translate the firm’s values into ESG and its subsequent implementation into the investment process since 2011. Sofia received both her Master and Bachelor of Science degrees in Financial Economics from Handelshögskolan at Gothenburg University in Sweden, and speaks English, Swedish, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Queenie Ho is a Partner and Head of Investor Relations at Affinity Equity Partners. Queenie joined Affinity in 2004. She is a Member of the Investment Committee, and Valuation and Portfolio Review Committee of Affinity. She currently serves on the board of directors of Trimco International. Before joining Affinity, Queenie was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. Queenie holds a BSc in Economics with first-class honours from the London School of Economics, a MPhil in Finance with distinction from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Harry is a partner from EY Hong Kong with more than 14 years of experience in providing assurance and advisory services to EY’s local and international financial services clients, including large asset owners and managers. Harry has advised and supported local and international asset managers in Hong Kong with the adoption and implementation of Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) climate-related risk management and disclosure requirements and Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) sustainable investing principles. Furthermore, in recent years, Harry advises banks and asset management clients on structuring of green and sustainability-linked transactions / products, such as green bond or sustainable fund. Harry also specializes in organizational governance and controls over ESG, investment portfolio carbon footprint, as well as sustainability reporting and assurance. Harry has led attestation work for a number of significant sustainable finance transactions in Hong Kong, and these projects required in-depth materiality assessment of ESG risks and priorities for the issuers, such as energy saving, ESG rating, employee and community engagement and etc. Harry is a member of EY internal ISSB working group in Asia-Pacific region. Over the last few months, Harry has led numerous client and regulator sessions and presentations regarding exposure drafts issued by ISSB on sustainability reporting.

Amy is the Chief Operating Officer as well as the Chair of ESG Committee at FountainVest Partners (Asia) Limited. FountainVest Partners was founded in 2007 and is a leading Asian private equity fund with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. Prior to joining FountainVest in late 2019, Amy worked for 4 years as the CEO of Save the Children Hong Kong.

Before Save the Children, Amy spent nearly two decades in financial services with institutions including JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, and Merrill Lynch, working in the US and Asia, having worked as an investment banker, head of strategy, COO and Head of Regulatory Change Management. Amy is a Board Member of Langdi Pharmaceutical and serves on the Board of Rädda Barnen Service AB, a Swedish social enterprise focusing on Child Rights in business. She is a graduate of Georgetown University and has an MBA from Columbia University and she was also a Certified Public Accountant qualified in the District of Columbia, USA. Amy is a Hong Kong native and has a 21-year old daughter and a 16-year old son. She is a spiritual practitioner and teaches meditation as a volunteer on a regular basis.

Wayne Bannon is General Counsel for The Carlyle Group in Asia. The Carlyle Group opened its first office in Asia in 1998 and has nine offices across seven countries with dedicated investment teams operating across buyout, growth capital, leveraged loans, and energy sectors. Carlyle has invested over US$18bn across Asia since 1998. Wayne joined Carlyle in 2007 having previously worked for a number of years in Tokyo as regional counsel for the Securitized Products Group and the Leveraged Finance Group of a US Investment Bank and prior to that position Mr. Bannon worked in the London, Tokyo and Hong Kong offices of the international law firm Allen & Overy LLP.

James co-heads Allen & Overy's Asia Pacific Funds & Asset Management group. His practice focuses on clients active in private equity and other alternative assets, where he has a broad range of experience covering traditional fundraisings, secondary transactions, mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments and capital markets transactions. He regularly guides clients in structuring funds and transactions to address a wide range of regulatory, tax and transactional issues. James is recognised as a leading lawyer by the industry’s most prestigious legal publications, including Chambers Asia Pacific, Chambers Global, Legal 500, and IFLR1000.

One long-term client applauds James for being “very knowledgeable about the market.” Chambers Asia Pacific 2022 Investment Funds, Greater China (International Firms)

Richard Blair is a Senior Managing Director and the General Counsel Asia Pacific.

Before joining Blackstone in 2019, Mr. Blair was an M&A partner at the law firm of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and worked in London, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Mr. Blair received a Bachelor of Laws with European Legal Studies from King’s College London and a Diploma in European Legal Studies from Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

Samantha Tan, is BlackRock’s Head of Alternatives Tax in the Asia Pacific region. She advises on all tax aspects of fund and investment structuring and fund operational matters for BlackRock’s Alternatives businesses in APAC, including real estate, private credit, infrastructure and private equity solutions.

Samantha is currently the Co-Chair of the Technical Committee – Tax Sub-Committee of the Hong Kong Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, and represents the Association in discussions on tax policy with various government bodies. She is also on the tax committees of AIMA and ANREV.

Professional background

• Adam is a Hong Kong based Partner in Ernst & Young’s International Tax & Transaction Services practice focusing on Private Equity and Real Estate Funds as well as LP direct investing for SWPF clients. He has more than 25 years experience in Asia Pacific as a senior tax professional.
• He has deep knowledge and understanding of the entire front to back product lifecycle for private funds; including – fund raising, subscription documentation, fund formation, acquisitions, deal documentation, co-investments, due diligence, reporting and compliance (local, mid-tier and US tax), tax audits, valuations, reserves, transfer pricing, refinancing, restructures, corporate governance and legal entity management.

Sally is part of Macquarie Asset Management’s tax and structuring team on the private market side, since joining in 2016. Her focus is on the structuring of investments by Macquarie-managed funds, as well as fund establishment and ongoing tax management for the funds. During her time with MAM, Sally has worked in Sydney as well as New York. She is currently based in Hong Kong and looks after the tax and structuring of MAM’s funds and transactions in Asia. Prior to joining Macquarie, Sally spent 4 years in KPMG’s M&A tax team in Sydney. Sally has a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of International Relations from the Australian National University, and is a qualified lawyer in New South Wales, Australia.

Brandan Wing rejoined Morgan Stanley as an Executive Director in June 2021 and is responsible for overseeing operations across the Morgan Stanley Investment Management private funds platform. Mr. Wing has over twenty years of experience advising private funds on all aspects of their tax functions, including acquisition structuring, fund set up and design, as well as managing global tax risks and meeting cross-border tax obligations. Mr. Wing in his previous roles spent ten years advising the Morgan Stanley private funds business in Asia, either in the capacity of an in-house tax adviser or as an outsourced tax service provider. Mr. Wing is a qualified Chartered Accountant (Australia and New Zealand) and completed his Bachelor degree in Commerce, with merit, from the University of New South Wales.