Joe Dowling

Senior Managing Director & Global Head, Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM)

Joe Dowling is a Senior Managing Director and the Global Head of BAAM, where he oversees and leads all of BAAM’s investment activities.

Prior to joining Blackstone in 2021, Mr. Dowling led Brown University’s endowment, including as Chief Executive Officer from July 2018 to July 2020 and Chief Investment Officer from June 2013 to July 2018. Mr. Dowling also served as interim Chief Financial Officer of the University from May 2019 until January 2020, leading all finance and treasury functions as well as cash and debt management.

Before joining Brown University, he was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Narragansett Asset Management, where he managed funds for institutions, pension funds, and endowments. Mr. Dowling has also worked for First Boston and Tudor Investments.

Mr. Dowling has a B.A. from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Jamie Thomson

Chief Executive Officer, Vulcan Forged

Jamie Thomson is the CEO of Vulcan Forged, a premium blockchain game studio, dApp incubator and cross-chain NFT marketplace. Vulcan Forged is the creator of popular web3 gaming titles such as VulcanVerse, Forge Arena, Berserk and over 15 other games and dApps with over 200,000 users in the community. In 2021, Vulcan Forged created Elysium, its own proprietary proof-of-stake blockchain that was purpose-built for gaming, dApps and other metaverse activity. Building on the success of their hit web3 gaming titles, they are soon launching a patented metaverse-as-a-service engine, MetaScapes.

Michael Garrow

Chief Investment Officer & Co-Founder, HS Group

Michael Garrow is the CIO, Chairman of the Investment Committee, and Co-Founder of HS Group. Mr. Garrow has over 20 years’ experience in finance, based in Hong Kong and New York. His focus and training spans alternative investment fund seeding, direct co-investments, portfolio management and capital markets.

Prior to HS Group, Mr. Garrow was a founding member of Blackstone Strategic Alliance, and led Blackstone’s Asia co-investments and Asia fund-of-funds. Based in Hong Kong and New York with Blackstone, he led their global emerging manager portfolio program as well. Previously, Mr. Garrow advised internal macro, multi-strategy and equity hedge funds for the incubation program at SAIL Advisors, a large Hong Kong-based family office, as a member of its investment team. Mr. Garrow started his career as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York, and moved to its Global Capital Markets team in Hong Kong in 2002 as a member of its Greater China group.

Mr. Garrow graduated magna cum laude from Brown University and grew up in Toronto, Canada.

Baldwin Emmanuel Choy

Head of Hedge Funds & Family Office Sales, Hong Kong, Bloomberg L.P.

Baldwin Emmanuel Choy is Head of Hedge Funds & Family Offices at Bloomberg L.P based in Hong Kong. He leads Bloomberg’s APAC Hedge Fund business, manages a team which oversees sales strategies to grow Bloomberg's franchise across financial data and enterprise solutions.

He joined Bloomberg in 2014 in Singapore where he managed Regional Banks and Brokers relationships across South East Asia. Baldwin started his career at MUFG in Corporate Banking covering regional corporates.

Baldwin also sits on the Hong Kong chapter of Bloomberg's Women Buyside Network with a mission to inspire and invest in the next generation of women buy-side leaders through education on diversity and active engagement via Bloomberg's Philanthropy mentorship program.

Baldwin graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelors in Accounting.

Bonnie Yu, CFA, FRM

Director - External Portfolio Management, CDPQ

Bonnie Yu, CFA, FRM oversees the development of CDPQ’s external portfolio management program within the Asia Pacific region. Ms. Yu joined CDPQ in 2008 and has been based in Singapore since 2015. Prior to CDPQ, she worked at Desjardins Securities and HSBC Securities, specializing in public equities and options trading. She originates from Hong Kong and was educated in Quebec, Canada from an early age. Ms. Yu holds an MBA in Investment Management from Concordia University.

Kher Sheng Lee

Managing Director, Co-Head of APAC and Deputy Global Head of Government Affairs, AIMA

Kher Sheng leads AIMA’s policy and regulatory initiatives in the APAC region and also operates as a senior ambassador for AIMA and the industry it represents. In his role, he works closely together with Michael Bugel (his Co-Head of APAC) to shape and deliver AIMA’s strategy for the APAC region. He is commended by the Financial Times in the FT Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyers which observed he "has played an important role developing asset management standards in Hong Kong". He has been named to the Corporate Counsel 100: Asia Pacific by the global legal rankings publication Legal 500 which identifies "an array of the most influential and innovative in-house lawyers in Asia".

Kher Sheng received his LL.B (Hons) degree from the National University of Singapore law school, and is admitted to practise law in Singapore (Advocate & Solicitor), Hong Kong (Solicitor) and England & Wales (Solicitor-Advocate with full rights of audience in all criminal and civil proceedings in the higher courts). He is appointed a Notary Public by the Chief Judge of the High Court of Hong Kong. He is a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (FSIArb). He is an accredited mediator with the Singapore Mediation Centre, and UK CEDR (for both commercial and workplace mediation). He is trained in negotiation and mediation with the Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. Kher Sheng has lived and worked in Singapore, London and Hong Kong. He is a CFA and CAIA charter holder.

Lily Jin

Merit Scholar, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Mailman School of Public Health

Lily is a Merit Scholar at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Mailman School of Public Health. Formerly known as the Inclusive Healthcare in Asia initiative, she authored the original investment report on healthcare investments and innovation in Asia. The initiative underwrites inclusive healthcare asset managers, businesses, and startups that advance health accessibility, equitability, and literacy. She hosted the inaugural Inclusive Healthcare Asia forum and was recognized by The Economist as a keynote speaker. Building on this momentum, she founded the New Health Investment Institute with the mission to accelerate healthcare investments while promoting innovation and inclusion through periodic investment research.

She is the founder of HerValue, the largest, only women empowerment organization for finance and investment in China. Under her leadership, HerValue made history by hosting the first diversity & sustainability investment conference in China and firmly put diversity, equity, and inclusion principles on the map in China. She was recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, and a woman community leader in the "Women community leader and Their Impact as Global Changemakers" textbook by IGI Global, a leading international academic publisher.

Lily also does investments in South Asia at a multilateral development finance institution, an organization that advances development by backing companies and asset managers in member nations. Prior, she was an international investment banker based in New York City.

Adam Watson

Partner & Co-Head of Asia Pacific, Partners Capital

Adam Watson is a Partner and Co-Head of Asia Pacific at Partners Capital, a global Outsourced Investment Office with over $45B of client assets under management.

He joined Partners Capital in London in 2009 before relocating to Asia to set-up the firm’s Hong Kong office in 2013 and Singapore office in 2015, where he is now based. He is the lead Portfolio Manager specialising in Asian multi-asset class investing, alongside being client CIO to a number of Asia Pacific client portfolios.

Prior to Partners Capital, Adam worked as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. He completed his undergraduate degree in Economics at the University of Cambridge and has a Masters in Finance degree with distinction from INSEAD Business School. Adam is also a CFA Charterholder.

Kay Van-Petersen

Tip of the Spear, Ascent Capital
Core-Contributor, The REFORM DAO
Advisor & Investor, RVVUP

KVP sits at the helm of Ascent Capital, an esoteric, always investing & independent thinking family office that has four prime objectives: 1. The ability to extrapolate from incomplete data 2. Strategic Advisory Across the domains of Crypto, Macro, Venture & AI… 3… Which then tends to ripple into Strategic Investments into early-stage ventures & opportunities

House Ascent Creed: Chasing Jupiter… House Ascent’s Words: Prescient Always, Rising Forever.

KVP is a core-contributor to the Reform DAO – that is setting the bell-curve on the next evolution of DAOs, by cultivating an ecosystem of investing, market making & full on-chain transparency. His current focus is around business development & strategic partnerships.

He is also a Strategic Executive Advisor to the HODL Group Board - a best-in-class Digital Asset Manager & Builder – where he helps map out their global strategy, as well as capital raising initiatives. The HODL group returned +8x in the 2020-2021 cycle, as of the end of Oct 2023, their Pro-Forma returns are at c. +70% & +40% for their systematic fund & fundamental fund.

Ascent is a founding NED & Angel investor in Rvvup - a third generation multi-rail payment platform that delivers new real-time open banking and digital currency payments, alongside Cards, PayPal, Apple Pay & BNPL - future proofing businesses with one simple integration, instant settlement, increased conversion and lower fees.

Ascent is also an Advisor & investor to AI Companies TriSpectra & Synthar – which will be featured at the 2023 Singapore Fintech Festival.

He is Investor & Advisor to SoGal Ventures – A VC fund backing unconventional founders (women & minorities) & business models (Fund One is tracking at +10x).

KVP brings over 20 years of experience across the global finance sphere, having worked in London, Hong Kong, New York, Rio De Janeiro, Singapore & Thailand - He currently spends his time between the latter two, as well as the Middle East which he feels is just on the cusp of its Renaissance.

KVP stands out as a clear & independent thinker, with an esoteric global background spanning multiple countries & cultures. He possesses deep expertise in 1st principal frameworks across areas like Global Macro, Blockchain, AI, Finance & Geopolitics, along with a strong grasp of Strategy, Financials & Valuation.

He has worked across Investment Banking CF | M&A (Bottoms-Up) to Asset Allocation (investing) to being a Cross-Asset + Macro Investment Strategist (Top-Down).

Outside of filtering for exceptional opportunities & sapiens, he is a big-time sci-fi junkie, gamer, padawan martial artist & runner.

Debra Ng

Partner & Asia Region Head, Albourne

Albourne Partners was established in March 1994 in the UK as an independent specialist consultant focused on alternative investments. In addition to hedge funds, Albourne also advises on private equity, real assets, and risk monitoring. Since inception, it has expanded its geographic coverage, opening offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and now has a headcount of 588 in 12 locations. Albourne has 341 clients, who currently invest more than US$650bn in alternatives.

Albourne Partners was ranked #1 in HFMweek’s 2012 survey of the top 30 most influential investors and advisors in the hedge fund space. Albourne has also been twice honoured with The Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2006 and 2009 for the company’s outstanding achievement for advice to investors in hedge funds.

Debra is a Partner and Shareholder of Albourne Partners and has 25 years’ financial industry experience including equity research and broking, equity and fixed income asset management and alternative investments.

Alexandra McGuigan

Global Director, Strategic Initiatives, 100 Women in Finance

Alexandra McGuigan is the CEO and Founder of Inclusive Asset Management, a Singapore based consultancy firm that works with corporate clients to develop solutions based around creating a more inclusive Asset Management industry.

A sales and marketing strategist with a specialisation in alternative investments, Alexandra has successfully helped international fund managers navigate and develop a presence in the APAC region, raising over $2.5 billion AUM from institutional investors.

She has held senior positions with 100 Women in Finance, Tribeca Investment Partners and Shed Enterprises, and has worked with international fund managers, across asset classes including GAM, Adveq, Och Ziff, Diamond Asset Advisors and Qblue Balanced. 

She started her career in Asset Management at BNY Mellon Asset Management.

Alexandra completed the Wharton Certificate in Asset Allocation and Portfolio Construction. She is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst and a CAIA Singapore Chapter Executive; Holds an MBA majoring in International Business from UTS, Sydney and has a BA Media Communications from Sydney University. She has studied in Australia, France and the USA.

Charmaine Chin

Managing Director, Hedge Fund Solutions Group (BAAM), Blackstone

Charmaine Chin is a Managing Director in the Hedge Fund Solutions Group (BAAM) and the Head of Asia Manager Selection. Ms. Chin is based in Singapore and leads BAAM’s investment activities across Asia.

Before joining Blackstone, Ms. Chin worked at Fullerton Fund Management in Singapore where she was involved in managing a global portfolio of hedge funds, private equity and private credit funds. She also led due diligence for co-investments and late-stage growth investments. Prior to Fullerton, Ms. Chin spent 12 years as a Partner and Managing Director at K2 Advisors in New York, part of Franklin Templeton’s Alternatives division. There she oversaw all of K2’s investments in Asia, as well as all investments globally in credit and event-driven strategies. Prior to K2, Ms. Chin worked at Goldman Sachs in the Special Situations Group, focused on opportunistic investing across equities and credit. Ms. Chin began her career in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs in New York and Hong Kong.

Ms.ChinreceivedaBAfromHarvardUniversity,whereshegraduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Hassan Ahmed

Head of Southeast Asia, Coinbase

Hassan Ahmed is an experienced operator and investor in web3 and fintech. He is currently the Regional Director of Southeast Asia at Coinbase, the largest crypto platform in the world. Prior to this, Hassan served a dual role at GoTo Group as Chief Executive Officer of Coins.ph, the leading crypto brokerage in the Philippines, and Head of Strategy for Gopay in Indonesia.

Prior to moving to Singapore, Hassan was based in New York as Director of Finance & Operations at eToro USA, where he was responsible for the launch of their regulated crypto social trading platform in the US. He also served as Head of Business Operations at Venmo and Vice President of Strategy at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in prior roles.

Hassan obtained his Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Johnny Adji

Alternatives Investment Leader, Asia, Mercer

Johnny Adji is a Senior Investment Director at Cambridge Associates, based in Singapore, and a member of the Real Assets Investment Group. This global group sources and monitors real asset investments (real estate, infrastructure and global natural resources), manages real asset portfolios for clients, and researches trends that impact on the real assets industry. He is also a member of the Credit team, which identifies, evaluates, and invests in both private and public credit strategies (senior debt, distressed credit, structured credit, etc.).

Johnny works with Asian clients such as SWF, pensions, and families in building their global and Asian real assets and credit portfolios. Johnny is a real estate and private credit specialist and focuses on investment idea generation and due diligence mostly in Asia. He is a frequent speaker at real asset and credit conferences in the region. He is a member of the firm’s Real Assets Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Cambridge Associates in 2011, Johnny worked in real estate roles such as research, valuations, buy-side/sell-side advisor, including portfolio manager and COO of Ajia Partners, an Asian value-add real estate fund and Co-Head of International Real Estate at HanaDaol Trust in Seoul. He started his career in 1996 at JLL in Indonesia and also worked for CBRE in Korea. In addition to English, he speaks Bahasa Indonesia, Chinese Mandarin, and Korean and has worked in Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Singapore.

Staci Warden

Chief Executive Officer, Algorand Foundation

Staci Warden is the CEO of the Algorand Foundation, an organization dedicated to enabling an inclusive, decentralized, and borderless global economy - at scale - based on the Algorand blockchain technology. Prior to her current role, Staci was on the executive team of the Milken Institute, a leading financial think tank, where she led its work on capital market development, crypto/blockchain solutions, and innovative finance. Before Milken, Staci led JPMorgan’s EMEA public sector practice out of London and worked in sovereign debt capital markets in New York. Before JPM, she ran the Nasdaq’s two markets for microcap companies. She has also had senior roles at the U.S. Treasury Department, the Center for Global Development, and the Harvard Institute for International Development.

Staci has done business and worked with governments in more than 50 countries and has advised and spoken widely on the potential for crypto/blockchain to solve real-world problems and improve global inclusion. She sits on the Boards of the Global Blockchain Business Council, the Rwandan Capital Market Authority (Chair), and the Energy for Growth Hub. She serves on the advisory committees of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the European Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee (STOA), the U.S. Financial Technology Association, and Evolution Environmental Asset Management.

Jeremy Allaire

Co-Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Circle

Jeremy Allaire is Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Circle, a global financial technology firm that enables businesses of all sizes to harness the power of stablecoins and public blockchains for payments and commerce. Founded in 2013, Circle is the pioneer of USD Coin (USDC), the fastest growing, fully-reserved, and regulated dollar stablecoin. Governed by the Centre Consortium, led by Circle and Coinbase, USDC's market cap is more than $26 billion with over $800 billion in transaction volume. Previously, Mr. Allaire co-founded and led multiple global internet technology companies with thousands of employees, hundreds of millions of consumers served, and multiple successful public offerings on NASDAQ. He has provided expert testimony on digital assets and monetary policy before the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Government Affairs, US Senate Banking Committee, and he has been named to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) High-Level Advisory Group on FinTech. Mr. Allaire provides perspective and policy recommendations at the highest levels inside financial bodies across the US, UK, and Europe.

Anthony Scaramucci

Founder & Managing Partner, SkyBridge

Anthony Scaramucci is the Founder and Managing Partner of SkyBridge Capital. He is the author of four books: The Little Book of Hedge Funds, Goodbye Gordon Gekko, Hopping Over the Rabbit Hole (a 2016 Wall Street Journal best seller), and Trump: The Blue-Collar President.

Prior to founding SkyBridge in 2005, Scaramucci co-founded investment partnership Oscar Capital Management, which was sold to Neuberger Berman, LLC in 2001. Earlier, he was a vice president in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs & Co.

In 2016, Scaramucci was ranked #85 in Worth Magazine’s Power 100: The 100 Most Powerful People in Global Finance. In 2011, he received Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year – New York” Award in the Financial Services category. Anthony is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), vice chair of the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund Board, a board member of both The Brain Tumor Foundation and Business Executives for National Security (BENS), and a Trustee of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Foundation. He was a member of the New York City Financial Services Advisory Committee from 2007 to 2012.

In November 2016, he was named to President-Elect Trump’s 16-person Presidential Transition Team Executive Committee. In June 2017, he was named the Chief Strategy Officer of the EXIM Bank. He served as the White House Communications Director for a period in July 2017.

Scaramucci, a native of Long Island, New York, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Tufts University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.