Emerging Leaders Initiative

Justin Cheng is a Principal at Willowridge Partners, a private equity firm focused on secondary investments. At Willowridge, Justin is responsible for evaluating, underwriting and executing investments across limited partnership interests, direct company interests and other private equity liquidity solutions.

Before joining Willowridge in 2019, Justin was an Investment Banking Associate at The Alberleen Group, where he worked on public offerings, private placements and advisory transactions for middle-market companies across a range of industries.

Justin is also a member of the Milken Institute Young Leaders Circle.

Justin holds a Bachelor of Science in Business & Political Economy and Computer Science from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

Max grew up in Massachusetts and attended Brown University, where he studied Applied Mathematics and Economics before starting his career at Morgan Stanley. Eager for new challenges, he headed west to San Francisco to join Golden Gate Capital, where he grew as an investor and learned the ropes of credit.

Looking to broaden his perspective, he returned east to pursue his MBA at the Wharton School, an experience that shaped both his thinking and his network.

After business school, he joined Owl Rock Capital just as the firm was growing as a new private credit platform. Eight years later, he’s still there, now as Vice President within the Direct Lending group, having grown right alongside the firm through its transformation into Blue Owl Capital. His focus today is healthcare and consumer investing, work he finds especially meaningful given its real-world impact.

He’s grateful for the mentors and opportunities that shaped his path, and glad to help pave the way for others.

David Kim is a Vice President in Blackstone Innovations Investments (BXII). He is focused on executing the firm’s principal strategic investments in early-stage cybersecurity, enterprise software, financial technology and property technology companies. Since joining Blackstone, Mr. Kim has been involved in the firm’s investments in 7AI, Method Security, Veza, 73 Strings, Norm Ai, and Adaptive Shield, among others.

Prior to joining Blackstone in 2022, Mr. Kim worked at Vector Capital, where he was a member of the private equity investment team focused on making control-oriented investments in enterprise software companies. Earlier in his career, Mr. Kim was an analyst at Evercore in the technology M&A and private capital advisory teams.

Mr. Kim received a BS in Operations Research: Engineering Management Systems, summa cum laude, from Columbia University. He serves on the board of Korea Finance Society, the largest professional network of global Korean finance professionals.

Peter Chung is an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley and a member of the firm’s Private Credit group, where he focuses on originating, underwriting, and negotiating private credit investments. He is based in Los Angeles and has over 10 years of credit investing experience.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Peter held investing roles at Golub Capital and Cyprium Investment Partners, where he underwrote and managed debt and equity investments in middle market companies across various sectors. He began his career as an investment banking analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Peter holds a B.B.A. in Finance from Temple University.

Alice is an Executive Director at UBS in New York, where she works in Prime Brokerage Capital Introduction, advising hedge fund managers on capital strategy and connecting them with institutional investors. Prior to joining UBS, she was a member of Credit Suisse’s U.S. Prime Brokerage team. Earlier in her career, she spent a decade in Hong Kong at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, building expertise across equities and prime brokerage before returning to New York in 2017.

Alice began her career at Deloitte & Touche, where she became a Certified Public Accountant. She holds a dual degree in Public Accounting and Finance from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Outside of work, Alice enjoys reading, traveling, exploring New York’s vibrant restaurant scene, and photography.

Nikki Reyes will join Piney Lake Capital later this year to lead the firm’s capital formation and investor relations function. Piney Lake Capital is an alternative credit firm focused on providing capital solutions. Previously, Ms. Reyes spent nine years at Benefit Street Partners on the Business Development team, where she was responsible for capital formation and investor relations. Prior to Benefit Street Partners, she worked in UBS’ Private Funds Group.

Ms. Reyes earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.

Anita Sonawane is a Principal at Sagard Private Equity Solutions focused on sourcing and conducting due diligence on private equity and venture capital funds, co-investments, and secondaries. Previously, she held roles at J.P. Morgan and Bessemer Trust. She holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School, an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of Oxford, and a CFA designation. She currently serves on the boards of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, the Roosevelt Institute, and the Macaulay Honors College Foundation.

Cathy Sun is a Vice President on the Healthcare team at Welsh, Carson Anderson & Stowe, having joined in 2021. She is involved in many of the firm’s healthcare technology and pharma value chain investments. Her deal experience includes WCAS’s investments in Leiters, EnableComp and Norstella.

Prior to joining WCAS, she worked in the Industrials Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Evercore Partners. Cathy attended Columbia University and received an B.S. in Operations Research: Financial Engineering and a minor in Computer Science. In the community, she is involved with Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) and the Women’s Genetics Center in New York, a collaboration between Columbia University Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian and the New York Genome Center.

In her spare time, Cathy enjoys long runs in Riverside Park, playing tennis and writing about Chinese art. You can often find her, however, at one of many cash-only restaurants netting out her runs with a great bowl of noodles. Cathy grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and flies back often.

Daniel Wu is a Vice President at ATL Partners, a sector-focused middle-market private equity firm based in New York. At ATL, Daniel works across the full investment lifecycle, with responsibility spanning sourcing, deal execution, and portfolio company management. He also takes on a broad range of firm-building responsibilities that extend beyond the investment process.

Prior to ATL, Daniel was an Investment Banking Senior Analyst at Citigroup, where he worked in the financial sponsors group covering private equity and alternative asset management clients, as well as the Global Healthcare Corporate Banking group covering large- and mid-cap public healthcare clients.

Daniel holds a B.S. in Management with concentrations in Finance and Business Analytics from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, with a minor in Philosophy. When the work phone isn’t buzzing, Daniel enjoys training for the NYC marathon, backpacking, and finding great hole-in-the-wall restaurants.

Mr. Yun is a Principal at Phoenix Merchant Partners, a private investment firm providing financing and investment solutions to middle-market businesses, where he focuses on capital formation and investor relations. He previously led the firm’s business management and human resources functions. Prior to joining Phoenix, he served as a Director in the Office of the CEO & CIO at ORIX USA and previously held roles as Director of HR Strategy and Chief of Staff.

Before joining ORIX USA, he was a Vice President on the Executive Compensation Strategy & Planning team at JPMorgan Chase & Co., where his team supported the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors, managed compensation strategy for the Operating Committee, prepared the CD&A section of the annual proxy statement, and engaged with shareholders and proxy advisors regarding voting policies. Prior to that, he was a Vice President within JPMorgan Asset & Wealth Management. He began his career as an Analyst at GLG.

Mr. Yun holds a BS in Finance and Management from the State University of New York at Albany, completed an Economics program at Seoul National University, and holds an MS in OB Systems & Analytics from NYU Tandon.