Chapters
AAAIM creates ongoing engagement at the local level with events to provide educational and networking opportunities for AAAIM’s membership throughout the year.

Ada Chu
Managing Director, State Street

Karen Chung
Vice President, HarbourVest

Clara Farnsworth
Vice President, Wellington Management

Aileen Keaney
Director of Finance, Ethos Capital

Adhi Mallik, CFA
Vice President and Product Strategist, Acadian Asset Management

York Lo
Head of Alternative Product and LLCs, John Hancock Investment Management

Tim Hsia
Founder and Managing Partner, Context Ventures

William Huston
Founder and CIO, Bay Street Capital Holdings

Chris Shen
Co-Founder, Revere VC

Ed Suh
Founder and General Partner, Alpine Ventures

Aakar Vachhani
Partner, Fairview Capital Partners

Timothy Wang
Managing Partner, Westly Group

Letitia Yang
Senior Vice President of Investor Relations, The D. E. Shaw Group

Thao Buuhoan
President & Chief Operating Officer, Rice Hall James & Associates

Elton Cho
Principal, Ares Management

Paul Hayama
Partner, Avante Capital Partners

Monisha Jayakumar
Portfolio Manager, Allspring Global Investments

Kevin Ma
Co-founder & Managing Partner, Diversis Capital

Karen Parks
Principal, Gallant Capital Partners

James Atwater
Managing Director, Investor Relations, Marathon Asset Management

Sandeep Bidani
Managing Director, Nomura

Thomas Cheung
Portfolio Manager, Head of Research & Investments, Millburn Ridgefield Corporation

Rebecca Chia
Head of Business Development and Investor Relations at Atalaya Capital Management

Emily He
Investor, New York-Presbyterian Hospital

Brian Kim
President, Ducenta Squared Asset Management

Linda Luu
Vice President, The Blackstone Group

Edward Shim
Business Development, Kirkoswald Asset Management

Li Tao
Vice President, PIMCO

Yelin Wen
Investment Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Joyce Zhang
Senior Investment Officer, The Wallace Foundation

Linda Choi
Chief Operating Officer, Kabouter Management, LLC

Batchimeg Ganbaatar
Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Nomadic Venture Partners

Coco Li
Investment Officer, Gresham Partners, LLC

Steve Yoon
Investment Officer, Illinois Police Officers' Pension Investment Fund

Thao Buuhoan
President & Chief Operating Officer, Rice Hall James & Associates
Thao Buuhoan joined Rice Hall James & Associates (RHJ), a boutique investment firm headquartered in San Diego in 2000, and was initially responsible for Institutional Marketing and Client Service. In 2009, Thao assumed responsibility as President and Chief Operating Officer and leads the growth and strategic initiatives of the firm. She also oversees Operations and Trading in addition to her Marketing and Client Service responsibilities. Prior to joining RHJ, she was a Marketing Manager at State Street Global Advisors in Hong Kong, responsible for sales and marketing to Asian institutions. Thao is a former board member of AAAIM and remains involved as a co-chair of the Southern California chapter. She is active with a number of affinity groups focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Thao received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Paul Hayama
Partner, Avante Capital Partners
Paul Hayama is a Partner of Avante Capital Partners, the largest women-owned private credit and structured equity fund in the US. Based in Los Angeles, Mr. Hayama is responsible for identifying, executing and managing investment opportunities. He currently manages the fund’s deal execution, due diligence and portfolio management activities. Mr. Hayama joined Avante in 2009 as a founding member of the firm and serves on its investment and management committees.
Mr. Hayama has over two decades of lower-middle-market debt and equity experience. Prior to Avante, he held positions at Allied Capital and Houlihan Lokey. Mr. Hayama serves on the board of Katahdin and holds numerous other board observer positions.
Paul is a frequent speaker on a variety of investor panels ranging from mezzanine debt to consumer products to aerospace and defense investing. He is also a recurring lecturer on unitranche and mezzanine debt as part of the Certificate in Private Capital Markets program at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Business School.
Mr. Hayama graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California. A native of Hawaii, Paul lives with his wife and two children in Manhattan Beach. When he isn’t coaching his kids’ sports teams, you can find him cheering loudly in the stands.

Kevin Ma
Co-founder & Managing Partner, Diversis Capital
Kevin Ma is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Diversis Capital. He is the Chairman of the Board of Caligor Coghlan Pharma Services, PureCars, FORM, and Black Box Intelligence and sits on the boards of RFi Group, Tempo, Marketron and ServicePower. Prior to co-founding Diversis in 2013, Kevin held positions in private equity, strategy consulting (BCG), investment and operational roles. As such, he brings a transaction, due diligence and operational transformation skill set to the team.
Kevin graduated as a Joseph Wharton Scholar and Benjamin Franklin Scholar from the Management and Technology Program (M&T) at the University of Pennsylvania with a BS from The Wharton School and a BS in Electrical Engineering with a concentration in Computer Science, Telecommunications and Robotics. He was born and raised in the Los Angeles area.

Monisha Jayakumar
Portfolio Manager, Allspring Global Investments
Monisha Jayakumar is a portfolio manager for the Systematic Investments team at Allspring Global Investments (formerly Wells Fargo Asset Management). Monisha manages the suite of factor enhanced strategies using quantitative, research-driven and customized factor investing approaches. Monisha earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a master’s degree in quantitative finance from Princeton University.

Linda Luu
Vice President, The Blackstone Group
Linda Luu is a Principal on Blackstone’s seeding business, the Strategic Alliance Funds. Prior to joining Blackstone in 2018, Ms. Luu was involved in manager evaluation, selection and monitoring across investment strategies at PAAMCO. She began her career in the investment banking department of Credit Suisse. Ms. Luu received a BA in Economics from Columbia University, where she graduated cum laude, and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Karen Chung
Vice President, HarbourVest
Karen Chung joined HarbourVest in 2019 and leads business development for direct co-investment opportunities in buyout, growth equity, and mezzanine investments.
Karen was previously a senior business development manager at L.E.K. Consulting, working initially on the Boston team and then relocating to London to build the firm’s European business development organization. Prior to this, she was a principal and founding member of the private equity team at Bulger Capital. Her previous experience also includes working on the investment team at TA Associates and as an investment banker at Robertson Stephens.
Karen received a BA (cum laude) in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University.

Adhi Mallik, CFA
Vice President and Product Strategist, Acadian Asset Management
Adhi Mallik is a Vice President and Product Strategist at Acadian Asset Management, focusing on Hedge Funds. Prior to joining Acadian in 2021, Adhi was Global Head of Institutional Product Strategy at State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), and before that, a Portfolio Strategist within the Active Quantitative Equity team at SSGA. Previously in his career, Adhi was in Product Management at PIMCO, focusing on retirement income product development and commercialization. Adhi has an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and an undergraduate degree in Economics from University of California, San Diego.

Emily He
Investor, New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Emily (Xiaoyue) He is Senior Investment Associate at Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, a $3.5 billion private foundation based in NYC focused on providing grants to improve the health and well-being of underprivileged communities in the State of New York. Emily is responsible for including sourcing, due diligencing and evaluating investment managers across strategies and geographies, developing asset allocation strategies, and conducting thematic market research. Previously, Emily was with The Rockefeller Foundation as part of the investment team responsible for managing a $4.5 billion endowment portfolio. Prior to joining Rockefeller, Emily was a Portfolio Management Associate at PAAMCO Prisma. She started her career in equity sales trading at China International Capital Corporation in Hong Kong.
Emily holds an M.B.A in Finance and Strategic Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, an M.Phil in Economics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a B.S. from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. She is a CFA Charterholder.

Yelin Wen
Investment Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Yelin Wen, investment officer, joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in February 2016. Yelin is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and recommending potential new buyout, venture, real estate, energy managers in the illiquid space by conducting thorough investment due diligence including analysis of investment strategy, process, organization and portfolio positions and performance; reviewing and monitoring the performance of managers.
Previously, Yelin was a vice president with the J.P. Morgan Asia NY Investor team. In this role she executed brokerage trades, developed investment ideas and recommendations, and explored private equity opportunities for investors. She also served as a credit default swap broker with Cantor Fitzgerald, a sales and product manager with Intercontinental Exchange, and a credit trader with J.P. Morgan.
Yelin earned BA degrees in both economics and mathematics from the University of Virginia, and received the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in September 2011.
Yelin lives in New York City with her husband and daughters and enjoys golf and travel.

Elton Cho
Principal, Ares Management
Elton Cho is currently a Principal with Ares Management, specifically in its Credit Group, where he focuses on investments in U.S. corporate credit. Prior to joining Ares in 2016, Elton was a Research Associate in the High Yield Group at Fidelity Management & Research Company, where he focused on investments in the Consumer, Retail, and Apparel sectors. Elton holds a B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, from Amherst College in Economics, Environmental Studies and Mathematics, and was an Addison Brown Scholar. Elton got involved in AAAIM in 2019 as a part of the Southern California chapter and now serves on the leadership committee of Ares’ AAPI ERG, “Elevating Asian Voices.” His roots to the community stem from his upbringing in Koreatown, Los Angeles, where he still spends most of his free time. Otherwise, he is an avid enthusiast of bouldering, top-rope climbing, and tennis.

Batchimeg Ganbaatar
Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Nomadic Venture Partners
Batchimeg is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Nomadic Venture Partners, an early stage venture capital firm investing in digital solutions decarbonizing mining, manufacturing, and transportation. She is passionate about innovation and has supported startups to large corporates on growth strategy, product launch, brand building, and business development. As a marketer, she has worked with brands like Airbnb, Allstate, Boeing, KraftHeinz, Twitter, and more. Batchimeg has been a a tech founder and nonprofit leader. She is currently completing her MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and received her B.S. in Marketing from University of Illinois at Chicago.