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 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 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 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 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 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 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 (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, Director, 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.