Judging process

The judging process is rigorous and thorough to ensure that all the entries receive full consideration and that the true winners are chosen.

Judges will take part in a judging conference call, where the winners will be decided, where one expert per category will be asked to summarise the judges comments and provide any additional input as required. Judges have discretionary power to move submissions into alternative categories that they think may be more suitable. All judges are required to sign a disclaimer form to keep information about entries and the final winners confidential.

The judging panel

The judges are carefully selected for their wealth of experience and expertise, as well as their absence of conflicts of interest.

PLEASE NOTE: Judges do not judge any categories that their company has been entered in and are obliged to declare that they have no conflicts of interest prior to judging.

  

Adam Fiore
Adam Fiore,Chief Operating Officer, Flowering Tree Investment Management
Adam Fiore is Chief Operating Officer at Flowering Tree Investment Management, an Asian equities manager, having joined at inception in 2008. For the previous 6 years he was at Apex Capital, where he had broad operations, risk management and investor relations responsibilities, as well as serving as general counsel and chief compliance officer. Prior to that, Adam was in the investment advisor practice group at Shartsis Friese LLP. From 1995 to 2000 he was a U.S. Capital Markets associate at Clifford Chance in New York and London. Adam received his J.D. from NYU in 1993 and obtained a BA in political science from UCSD in 1989.

Steve Knabl
Steve Knabl,COO & Managing Partner, Swiss-Asia Financial Services
Steve Knabl, COO & Managing Partner of Swiss-Asia Financial Services Pte Ltd. Steve is a Swiss national with 18 years of extensive experience in Wealth Management, Alternative Fund Management and Financial Services fields. Steve is also the current President of the Association of Independent Asset Managers in Singapore (“AIAM”).
Steve joined Swiss-Asia in January 2008. His responsibilities encompass deal & project negotiation and structuring of Funds and Private Wealth Management deals in Asia, Operations Management, Legal & Compliance, Technology, Finance, HR, Due Diligence processes and Structural Risk Management for the firm as a whole. Previously Steve was the Head of Trading and Treasury for Swissquote Bank in Geneva for ten years.
Steve is a frequent guest lecturer at the Singapore management University (SMU) MBA hedge fund class to provide insights on the Hedge Fund industry and is a frequent speaker at international Wealth Management conferences and forums in Asia.
Steve attended the University of Neuchatel – Switzerland, in the “Faculte des Sciences Economiques” and continued to acquire a Bachelor of Sciences Degree (BSc) in International Hospitality Management at the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne – Haute Ecole Spécialisée (HES).


Craig Lindsay
Craig Lindsay,Senior Partner, China Alpha Fund Management
Mr. Craig Lindsay has over 35 years’ experience in Asset Management and Proprietary Trading. Mr. Lindsay’s focus has been in the areas of Risk Management, Middle Office, Finance, Operations and Compliance/Regulatory.
Mr. Lindsay currently is the Senior Partner of China Alpha Fund Management (HK) Limited and has worked with the founder of the China Alpha Fund since 2007.
Prior to China Alpha, Mr. Lindsay held senior executive positions with Goldman Sachs and Co, Tokai Asia Limited, Sattva Asia Opportunities Fund, CITIC Securities International Investment Management and the China New Economy Fund.
Mr. Lindsay also serves in various public organizations. He is past Chairman and current Director of the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute, Hon Treasurer of St. John’s Cathedral and Trustee of Bloomfield College in New Jersey USA. Mr. Lindsay has previously served as President and Governor of the Hong Kong American Club. Mr. Lindsay holds a MBA in Finance from Rutgers University School of Business and a BA from Bloomfield College. Both Institutions are in New Jersey USA.

Nanda Lokanathan
Nanda Lokanathan, Managing Director and CEO, Caygan Singapore
Nanda is the Managing Director and CEO of Caygan’s Singapore office and the Director of its U.K. subsidiary. He has worked in hedge funds in Asia for over a decade, with experience in trading, operations, legal & compliance and risk management of multiple asset classes, strategies and investment regions.
Nanda began his hedge fund career with GCI Investment Management (GCI IMS) in Singapore as a trader for multiple strategies and asset classes. He then progressed within the firm to focus on fund operations, legal & compliance and risk management. Nanda also contributed to the firm’s FoHF operations, evaluating the trading, operational, personnel and infrastructure setup of hedge fund managers in Asia. Over the years, he has gained expertise in fund structuring and has established several new Cayman domiciled hedge fund structures including corporations, SPCs, unit trusts and umbrella trusts.
In 2013, Nanda became the COO of GCI IMS and was responsible for the firm’s operations, compliance and risk management activities. In 2014, together with the CIO of Caygan, he initiated a spin-off from GCI to establish Caygan (Singapore and UK). Today, Caygan manages over US$400 Million and counts pension and sovereign wealth as clients.
Prior to working in the hedge fund industry, Nanda was with Citi in Singapore focusing on alternative investments.
Nanda holds a Bachelor of Computer Science, Masters of Science in Applied Economics and a Masters of Law (LLM), and has studied at a number of universities including the National University of Singapore, University of Pennsylvania, Singapore Management University and the University of London.
  

Mark Voumard
Mark Voumard,Founder, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Gordian Capital Singapore Private Limited
Mark is Founder, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Gordian Capital Singapore Private Limited.
Mark who has over 3 decades of experience in Asia was also a founder in 2003 of Teneo Partners Japan Limited, a Tokyo based, fully licensed securities company and Japan’s premier placement agent, prior to establishing Gordian Capital Singapore in 2005.
During his career, Mark has lived and worked in Melbourne, Zurich, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong and Singapore including 20 years in Tokyo and is a fluent Japanese speaker. His career primarily focused on managing sales teams specialising in Japanese, European, Asian and U.S. equities and Equity Linked products servicing a wide client base that included Japanese, Asian and Australian institutional investors and hedge funds based in Japan, Asia, the US and Europe and business development. Firms he has worked with include Baring Securities, Paribas, W.I. Carr, D.E. Shaw and KBC Securities Japan. At Gordian Capital, he has been involved in the structuring and launch of 38 funds (hedge, private equity, venture capital, real estate, and private credit) since 2005.
Mark is registered with the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a Registered Representative, holds an authorised corporate representative licence under the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Member of the Singapore Chapter of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) and serves on the International Advisory Board of the International Family Office Association (IFOA). Mark who was born in Melbourne and holds both Australian and Swiss citizenship studied Economics and Japanese at Monash University.


Ronnie Wu, CFA
Ronnie Wu, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, Penjing Asset Management (Asia) Limited
Mr. Wu is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Penjing Asset Management (Asia) Limited. He is responsible for investment oversight and overall business direction of Penjing.
Mr. Wu has over 24 years of industry experience in asset management. Prior to Penjing, Mr. Wu co-founded of Vision Investment Management Ltd (“VIM”) in June 2000. As Head of Investment, he led a team of eight professionals, comprising six research analysts, a quantitative analyst and a risk manager. In this capacity, he oversaw all investment related activities, such as due diligence, manager selection, asset allocation, portfolio construction, performance analysis, and risk management.
Mr. Wu joined VIM from UBS Global Asset Management in Hong Kong (“UBS”) as Associate Director in 1997, a key team member responsible for managing two market-neutral, multiple strategies fund of hedge funds. Prior to UBS, Mr. Wu spent four years at Chase Asset Management in New York, where he was in portfolio management, responsible for managing traditional balanced portfolios for high net worth private banking clients. Mr. Wu holds a B.S. degree in Finance from University of Portland, USA and a MBA in Finance from San Diego University, USA. Mr. Wu is a Chartered Financial Analyst.