THE FULL TEAM

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.

 Angel recently joined Asia Value Advisors (AVA) as a Director, leading its local market and resource development. 

Prior to AVA, Angel was a Vice President at The Nielsen Company with twenty-year experience in market research and extensive experience in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) markets / clients across Greater China. Angel’s last role at Nielsen was as Six Sigma/Lean Business Process Improvement leader for its Greater China businesses.

She was also a client partner for Nielsen's biggest client in Greater China, focusing on 360 degree assessment of its business issues and providing consultancy around channel / competitive landscape understanding.  

At AVA, Angel seeks to leverage her business skills to help organizations improve their overall effectiveness in delivering sustainable value.

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.

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.

Dr. Maja Šoštarić is a graduate of the Master in Public Administration (MPA) program at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), focusing on finance. She obtained her PhD in Political Science from University of Vienna (with research stays in Paris and Osaka), and her MA in Economics from Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.

Prior to joining AVA, Maja worked as researcher at Harvard. She is also a CFA candidate. Previously, Maja worked as a diplomat, having lived in nine different world countries. Maja spent summer 2015 in South East Asia, authoring a white paper on impact investing in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Jesamine is a social entrepreneur and advocate for social justice. At Brown University, she majored in International Relations where she worked with a team to develop the Brown University Sustainable Investment Fund that invests in socially responsible companies in order to achieve long-term capital gains and create societal benefits.

As the Product Manager of the Tink Knit social enterprise, she recruited mothers into the pilot program that seeks to improve the lives of low- income single mothers by teaching them knitting skills and selling their products in the bookstore. In addition, Jesamine has managed various culture clubs and performance groups, including Hapa Club, Daebak K- Pop Dance Group, and Badmaash Indian Fusion Dance Company, promoting cultural diversity and community enrichment on campus.

Tiantong joins 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's interest in the social sector began when he was working at a volunteer association that seeks to help female students in rural areas. This early experience encouraged him to delve into regional development, sociology, and social work at Peking University to help improve social well-being. He finished an exchange semester at the Department of Sociology of University of Wisconsin-Madison focusing on Poverty Studies and Community Development, during which he affirmed his commitment to social sector. Tiantong most recently spent a semester working at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation China as an intern.

Alicia joins AVA as a volunteer consultant after completing her coursework to receive her Executive Masters in Public Administration from NYU and UCL, focusing on the development of the charitable and social enterprise sectors. She recently completed a cost benefit analysis for a youth charity in London to analyse its programme efficiency. Prior to her EMPA she was an education entrepreneur in Beijing and previously worked in management consultant and private banking in Mainland China and Hong Kong. She also holds an MBA from INSEAD. Alicia is passionate about community development and while living in Beijing was an organizing committee member of Lean In China, as well as coached ultimate frisbee to youth.

Prior to starting her MBA education at School of Management (SOM) at Yale University, Pauline joins AVA as a volunteer consultant. After obtaining her BBA degree in International Business and Global Management (IBGM) with a minor in Economics from the University of Hong Kong, Pauline pursued her career in various financial institutions including Goldman Sachs and BlackRock. Most recently at BlackRock where she covered the Private Bank distribution, she was deeply inspired by the emerging trend of impact investment among Asian private clients. She looks to add value to the social impact sector by contributing her commercial experience and investment management knowledge.

While volunteering for AVA, Pauline also spent 2 months working for Social Ventures Hong Kong (SVHK) under its Investment and Incubation team. One of the initiatives that she focused on was Business 2.0 - a consultancy project to advise corporates to incorporate social impact elements into their core business models. Pauline was one of the organizers of the Impact Investment Forum of +HK Acumen and has international volunteering experience in Cambodia and Taiwan.

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 engages 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 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.

Paolo is currently pursuing a Master in Public Policy (MPP) at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to Harvard, he worked as a corporate sustainability consultant at Business for Social Responsibility (BSR). His projects have focused on working with global companies on opportunities in Myanmar’s garment, extractives, and telecommunications industries, especially around labor rights topics. Moreover, Paolo has helped a range of companies across industries with human rights impact assessments, materiality analyses, stakeholder engagement, as well as carbon, water, and energy benchmark studies.

Paolo moved to Hong Kong following his posting in Haiti as a financial coordinator for Doctors Without Borders. Prior to that, he was a fixed-income sales trader at Goldman Sachs in London. Originally from Italy, he speaks English, French, Spanish, and Italian, as well as basic Mandarin and Portuguese. Paolo holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Economics from University College London and an M.Phil. in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge.