THE FULL TEAM
Philo Alto (李家仁)
Founder & CEO
Philo is an ex-investment banker (Goldman Sachs and Citigroup) who is passionate about doing good while doing well. He is the founder and CEO of Asia Value Advisors, a Hong Kong-based philanthropy and leadership advisory platform that seeks to inform, inspire and engage individuals and organizations to create sustainable impact.
In 2013, he co-founded Asia Community Ventures, a non-profit organization that hosted an Impact Investing Forum in Hong Kong alongside The Rockefeller Foundation. He co-authored two reports: “Mind the Gap: Lessons and Findings from EngageHK" (August 2013) and "Adopting the London Principles: Policy Considerations to Grow Impact Investing in Hong Kong" (July 2014).
In November 2014, Philo convened an inaugural Foundation Philanthropy Roundtable in Hong Kong bringing together over 50 foundation leaders as well as practitioners to explore what’s next in creating sustainable value.
Philo received his MBA and MPA at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School. He is a board director of the Harvard Club of Hong Kong, member of the Impact Investing Policy Collaborative, officer of the Harvard Business School Association of Hong Kong, and scholarship committee member of the HBS Association of HK Trust Fund offering scholarships to HK NGO leaders to study at HBS for the Strategic Perspectives of Non-profit Management program.
His views and blogs have been featured in a recent book The Power of Impact Investing (authored by Judith Rodin of the Rockefeller Foundation), as well as the Economist, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Lien Centre for Social Innovation, among others.
Angie Tang (鄧安琪)
Senior Advisor
As AVA Senior Advisor, Angie provides strategic advice on business development in philanthropic consulting and tactical direction on marketing and communicating the firm's key value propositions.
She is a columnist on U.S. politics and policy toward Asia in The Diplomat, the premier current affairs magazine in the Asia Pacific region. From 2009 to 2014, Angie served as Executive Director of the Committee of 100, a Chinese American leadership organization dedicated to advancing U.S. - China relations. Prior to her executive leadership position in the non-profit sector, Angie was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as a regional executive of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Before joining the federal government, Angie was a cabinet official in the administration of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. She started her career in public affairs as a policy coordinator to New York City Council President Andrew Stein.
She was elected Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served on the Board of Directors of several non-profit organizations. Currently a Trustee of Berkeley College, she is a recipient of several leadership awards including the 2013 Above & Beyond Chairperson Award from New York's City & State magazine and luxury watchmaker Breguet’s recognition for Philanthropy Advancement in 2015. Angie is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, Princeton University, and Columbia Business School.
Soo Choi
2017 Volunteer Consultant
Soo is a lawyer and has worked in International Funds Group at Sidley Austin and Private Equity Group at Jones Day. She has advised fund managers to launch and scale their businesses. Soo has also represented investors regarding proposed investments.
Soo wishes to leverage her skillset and experience gained from private practice to contribute to larger causes by supporting the growth of impact investing in Asia.
She holds a BA in Political Science from Duke University and JD from Cornell Law School. She is a member of the New York Bar and Phi Beta Kappa.
Stephanie Choi
2017 Volunteer Consultant
Stephanie has spent the past decade working as Institutional Equities Sales at Citigroup, where she advised institutional investors ranging from global pension funds to multi-asset hedge funds. In this capacity, she has built a foundation of market knowledge, investment principles and an investor network in Europe as well as Asia.
With this experience, she has developed passion and belief in expanding the scope of traditional investments, and the importance of finding synergies between financial, strategic and social investment objectives.
Stephanie holds a BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Cambridge, where she was also awarded a Prince Philip Scholarship.
Tiantong Yan
2016-2017 Volunteer Consultant
Tiantong rejoins AVA as a volunteer consultant. He recently graduated from Peking University, majoring in urban studies and sociology. He is currently taking a gap prior to pursuing an MPA program of SIPA Columbia in the fall of 2017.
Tiantong has delved into regional development, sociology, and public policy at Peking University, aiming to help improve social well-being. He would also like to combine his take-aways from the private sector with his commitment to social sector. Tiantong most recently worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation China and UNDP China.
Amanda Yik
2017 Volunteer Consultant
A dynamic ex-lawyer and NGO senior manager, Amanda is a published author and researcher on social and environmental issues. She has extensive experience in content curation, research, facilitation and stakeholder engagement. Amanda authored and co-authored over 10 research publications, and her writing has appeared in numerous publications including South China Morning Post, China Daily, HK01, Hong Kong Business, Hong Kong Lawyer, HR Magazine and Ming Pao Daily to name a few. Fluent in both English and Chinese, she is now an independent writer and consultant with a core focus on sustainability, corporate social responsibility, women’s empowerment and personal transformation.
AVA Advisory Board
Jonathan Chang
Advisory Board
Jonathan is a social entrepreneur and motivational speaker, having founded and co-founded four startups across multiple industries in Silicon Valley and Manhattan. He is the Executive Director of Lien Centre for Social Innovation and an Adjunct Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at Singapore Management University. Jonathan has played a key role in securing Ashoka Changemaker Campus accreditation for SMU, the first campus in Asia to receive this honor.
Jonathan co-founded a social enterprise, working with organic and non-GMO farmers and food manufacturers in California and helping them achieve supply chain sustainability and market growth. Through a fellowship from Columbia's Earth Institute, Jonathan traveled to Rwanda to teach social entrepreneurship and conduct research on how to use entrepreneurship as a tool for social change. His other research includes a case study on entrepreneurship in rural India for Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a book about government and innovation with Esko Aho, former Prime Minister of Finland. Jonathan has also given a TEDx talk at Harvard.
Jonathan earned his degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Jonathan was a recipient of Stanford GSB's Miller Social Change Leadership Award and and Harvard Law School’s Digital Problem Solving Initiative Fellow.
Scott Lawson
Advisory Board
Scott has recently relocated back to the US but continues to be actively involved in the local space space. Prior to his return to the US, Scott was CEO of SOW Asia and in that capacity, he has engaged with Hong Kong’s diverse stakeholders, establishing critical connections from the public, private, academia and non-profit sectors to channel valuable financial and non-financial resources towards the impact investing space. He began his career at the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO and has since developed a strong network from over 30 years of experience with cultural, education and religious non-profit organizations in Hong Kong and China. Scott earned his MA in International Affairs/Economics from George Washington University and an MDiv from Columbia Theological Seminary.
Mikko Perez
Advisory Board
Mikko Perez has a successful track record investing in and operating innovative technology, new media and telecom-related ventures. Prior to leading Ayannah, he was Director of Finance & Business Development at mobile messaging start up, Chikka and helped steer Chikka to profitability. He also spearheaded the company's international expansion prior to its acquisition by PLDT (NYSE: PHI).
Prior to this, he was an investment manager at Next Century Partners where he managed private equity on behalf of Soros Fund Management, LLC and several institutional investors. He was also an investment banker at JP Morgan Chase (Hambrecht & Quist) in San Francisco where he advised technology ventures.
Mikko is proud of his humble beginnings. Growing up, his father was an entrepreneur struggling to build a small business and they didn't have a lot of money. But, Mikko was granted a merit scholarship to study at Xavier School, the elite school for the sons of wealthy Filipino-Chinese families in the Philippines. Mikko went on to graduate with a BSc in Management (with Honors) and a BA in Development Studies (with Honors & Award for Excellence) from the Ateneo de Manila University.
Upon graduation, Mikko turned down several lucrative job offers to work in multinational corporations and spent the first years of his professional career organizing farmers’ and fisherfolk organizations in rural Philippines. He then started an aquaculture and seafood processing venture that eventually employed several hundred people from rural communities. Then, to fulfill his father’s birthday wish, Mikko went to get his MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Mikko now serves on the board of corporations and foundations but he remains connected to the barrios by actively supporting social entrepreneurship and sustainable development initiatives in emerging markets.
Angel Young (楊慧旋)
Advisory Board
Angel was most recently a Director at Asia Value Advisors (AVA) before rejoining Nielsen Company as Managing Director for Hong Kong and Macau in 2016. She is now a non-executive Advisory Board member for AVA.
A native of Hong Kong and an accomplished business leader with a Nielsen career spanning almost 20 years, Ms. Young possessed all-rounded expertise in understanding consumer behaviour across what they watch and buy. With a breadth of industry experiences across Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, she was instrumental to the success of recent major product enhancements and capability building efforts. Ms. Young was the Business Process Improvement (BPI) leader of Nielsen Greater China.
On a personal front, Angel is involved in various community engagements such as the Mentoring Program at The Women Foundation. She also volunteers with NGOs such as Kids4Kids, Community Business, and the Good Lab.
Angel holds a Bachelor of Arts & Science degree from the University of Toronto.
