2025 APAC Forum

Hisham Hamdan

Chief Investment Officer , Khazanah Nasional Berhad

Hisham Hamdan joined Khazanah in April 2011 from Sime Darby Berhad. He was appointed as Khazanah’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO) in March 2024, In addition to his role as CIO, he has also led Public Markets since 2018, which has a mandate to invest in more than 10 countries worldwide. Prior to Public Markets, he was responsible for the Auto, Agrifood and Iskandar Malaysia in Khazanah’s portfolio and served as Executive Director of Research. Datuk Hisham also serves as the Chairman of UEM Group and UEM Sunrise and the Board of Trustees of the Khazanah Research Institute.

He has over 30 years of working experience in senior leadership and board positions. His expertise spans a variety of corporate structures, encompassing businesses in various sectors and multiple countries. During his career, he spent 12 years in the capital markets, focusing on equity research and investment banking, working with various international investment banks.

During his tenure at Sime Darby, he served in various capacities since 2004, covering strategy and business development, healthcare, energy and utilities, and China. Previously, he held the position of Chairman of UDA Holdings Berhad, a member of the Board of Directors of Iskandar Investments Berhad, and a member of the Board of ValueCap.

He holds two degrees in Chemical Engineering and Industrial Management from Purdue University, United States. He has also attended the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Programme.

Ben Samild

SBAI Trustee; CIO, Future Fund

Ben Samild was appointed Chief Investment Officer of the Future Fund in August 2023, having previously served as DCIO, Portfolio Construction.

As CIO, Ben leads the Future Fund’s investment team investing A$250bn across all asset classes and geographies, with a particular focus on stewarding the Fund’s joined-up whole portfolio approach.

He joined the Future Fund in October 2013, as Director, Alternatives, following a 10 year career in the hedge fund industry, and 4 years as Head of Investment Strategy at LUCRF Super.

Ben is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments.

Ben completed a 6 year undergraduate degree at the University of Melbourne majoring in behavioural finance, psychology and history, and has a Masters of Applied Finance.

Betty Tay

MD, Head of External Managers Department, GIC

Betty Tay is Managing Director, Head of External Managers Department in GIC. In her current capacity, Betty oversees the day-to-day activities of the External Managers Department, including portfolio management for all of GIC’s public market external managers programs, manager selection and monitoring, operations and administration for the department. In addition, Betty is a member of GIC’s Business Continuity Plan Steering Committee.

Betty joined GIC in July 1999 as a Senior Portfolio Manager. She served as a Portfolio Manager within the Emerging Markets Group from 1999 to 2002. In this capacity, Betty was posted to GIC’s London office, and was instrumental in developing portfolio management expertise in non-Asia emerging markets. In 2002, Betty joined the External Managers Group.

Betty has over 20 years of experience in international financial markets including trading functions across various products in local and international financial institutions. She began her career as a proprietary trader with the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS). Prior to joining GIC, Betty spent 6 years as a Principal at Bankers Trust Company (Singapore). She served as the Head of the Foreign Exchange Forwards Division and managed the firm’s balance sheet in Singapore.

Betty graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1991 with a BSc in Mathematics. She also holds both Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations. She completed the Stanford Executive Program in August 2014. Betty is a member of the Investment Advisory Committee for the Lee Kuan Yew Fund for Bilingualism Limited.

Paula Volent

SBAI Trustee; Vice President & CIO, The Rockefeller University

Paula Volent is Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at The Rockefeller University, the world’s leading biomedical research university. Prior to joining The Rockefeller University in August 2021. Ms. Volent served as Chief Investment Officer and Senior Vice President at Bowdoin College, a private, residential college in Brunswick, Maine. At Bowdoin, where she was responsible for the oversight and management of the College’s endowment. Prior to joining Bowdoin in July 2000, Ms. Volent was a Senior Associate at the Yale Investments Office.

Ms. Volent has a BA from the University of New Hampshire; a Master’s Degree in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University; a Certificate in Conservation from the Conservation Center at NYU, with a specialization in the conservation of works of art on paper; and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. Prior to focusing on endowment management, Paula worked as a paper conservator at the New-York Historical Society, the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts, the LA County Museum of Art, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. She also ran a private paper conservation studio in Los Angeles, California.

She serves on the Board of Directors of MSCI, Inc.; the Board of Directors of 1st Dibs; a member of the Investment Committee of the Pritzker Family Foundation, a member of the Advisory Board of Girls Who Invest, a Trustee of the Skowhegan School of Art and Painting, and an Investment Committee Member of the Rockefeller Foundation. She is also Vice Chair of the Yale School of Management Advisory Board, a member of the Milken Institute’s Global Markets Advisory Council, a member of the Advisory Board of the Private Capital Research Institute and a member of the National Gallery of Art Investment Subcommittee. In 2020 Barron’s named Ms. Volent as one of the “100 most influential women in U.S. Finance.

Andrew Chan

Head of External Managers, Avanda Investment Management

Andrew is the Head of External Managers and joined the firm in 2017. He has oversight of Avanda’s external hedge fund investments and is the portfolio manager for the Avanda Absolute Return fund and Avanda Global Alternatives Fund series.

Prior to joining Avanda, Andrew spent 7 years working at Partners Capital in their London, Hong Kong, and Singapore offices. He was a key contributor to the management and day-to-day oversight of $5B of global hedge fund assets and $1B of multi-asset class Asian investments. In addition to his investment responsibilities, Andrew was also part of the outsourced CIO team, which gave portfolio and investment advice to various endowments and non-profits.

Andrew graduated with a Master's in Science from Imperial College London and a Bachelor's of Science from the London School of Economics.

Faris Jamal

Co-Head of Public Markets, Khazanah Nasional Berhad

Faris specializes in quantitative investment and risk management with over a decade of experience in the asset management industry. Currently co-heading the global public equity portfolio and heading the Developed Markets equity portfolio in Khazanah, Faris provides top-down investment strategies and framework across active-passive spectrum, equity styles, regions and sectors.

Faris is also responsible for the overall risk budgeting, portfolio construction, strategic and tactical allocation, and manager selection for the relative and absolute return mandates in the liquid assets space to ensure the portfolio achieves its risk-return objectives.

Razvan Remsing

Director of Investment Solutions, Aspect Capital Limited

Razvan joined Aspect Capital, the $10bn systematic investment manager, in July 2010 and is Director of Investment Solutions. Razvan is a member of Aspect’s Product Design Group and attends Investment Committee meetings. Razvan and his team are an integral part of the product development and research functions at Aspect and they provide quantitative expertise to Aspect’s clients on investment process and the development of new product ideas. Razvan’s primary responsibility is client engagement on matters relating to strategies, products, performance and research.

Prior to Aspect, Razvan worked at Skybound Capital, Clear Horizon Capital, and PeregrineQuant (now Vunani Fund Managers) in various quantitative research roles.

He graduated with distinctions in Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Physics from Rhodes University. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Theoretical Physics from Wits University and was awarded an MSc in Financial Mathematics from the University of Cape Town and is a CFA Charter holder.

Timothy Thong

Portfolio Manager, Total Portfolio Solutions , GIC

Timothy is a Portfolio Manager in the Total Portfolio Solutions department and is part of the team that oversees alternative investment strategies and quantitative solutions to maximise the impact of the total portfolio. These include GIC’s alternative investment model, portfolio of innovations and extensions, and alternative diversification and hedges.

He mainly focuses on researching and managing systematic cross-asset macro models and rates models, enhancing portfolio engineering frameworks, and managing relationships with external funds.

Jane Buchan

SBAI Chair; CEO, Martlet Asset Management

Jane is Chief Executive Officer of Martlet Asset Management responsible for firm strategy, organization and performance. Martlet is based in Newport Beach, CA and was founded in July 2018. The firm’s strategies include alternative risk premia and developing liquid strategies with a focus on fixed income.

Prior to this, Ms. Buchan co-founded and led Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company (PAAMCO), a Fund of Hedge Funds focused on institutional investors for 18 years. Under her leadership first as CEO of PAAMCO and then co-CEO of PAAMCO Prisma, the firm grew to $32 billion AUM placing it third globally in the league tables by the time of her retirement in July 2018 (HFM InvestHedge Billion Dollar Club).

Jane began her career at J.P. Morgan Investment Management in the Capital Markets Group where she was trained in quantitative fixed income portfolio management. She has been an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. She recently served as chairwoman of the board for the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA) and is a member of the Advisory Board for the Master of Financial Engineering Program at UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Jane holds both a PhD and an MA in Business Economics (Finance) from Harvard University. She earned a BA in Economics from Yale University. Jane has thirty-three years of experience in investment management and portfolio construction with institutional investors.

Charmaine Chin

Managing Director , Blackstone

Charmaine Chin is a Managing Director in Blackstone Multi-Asset Investing (BXMA) and the Head of Asia Manager Selection. Ms. Chin is based in Singapore and leads BXMA’s investment activities across Asia.

Before joining Blackstone, Ms. Chin worked at Fullerton Fund Management in Singapore where she was involved in managing a global portfolio of hedge funds, private equity and private credit funds. She also led due diligence for co-investments and late-stage growth investments. Prior to Fullerton, Ms. Chin spent 12 years as a Partner and Managing Director at K2 Advisors in New York, part of Franklin Templeton’s Alternatives division. There she oversaw all of K2’s investments in Asia, as well as all investments globally in credit and event-driven strategies. Prior to K2, Ms. Chin worked at Goldman Sachs in the Special Situations Group, focused on opportunistic investing across equities and credit.

Ms. Chin began her career in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs in New York and Hong Kong. Ms. Chin received a BA from Harvard University, where she graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Hisham Hamdan

Chief Investment Officer , Khazanah Nasional Berhad

Hisham Hamdan joined Khazanah in April 2011 from Sime Darby Berhad. He was appointed as Khazanah’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO) in March 2024, In addition to his role as CIO, he has also led Public Markets since 2018, which has a mandate to invest in more than 10 countries worldwide. Prior to Public Markets, he was responsible for the Auto, Agrifood and Iskandar Malaysia in Khazanah’s portfolio and served as Executive Director of Research. Datuk Hisham also serves as the Chairman of UEM Group and UEM Sunrise and the Board of Trustees of the Khazanah Research Institute.

He has over 30 years of working experience in senior leadership and board positions. His expertise spans a variety of corporate structures, encompassing businesses in various sectors and multiple countries. During his career, he spent 12 years in the capital markets, focusing on equity research and investment banking, working with various international investment banks.

During his tenure at Sime Darby, he served in various capacities since 2004, covering strategy and business development, healthcare, energy and utilities, and China. Previously, he held the position of Chairman of UDA Holdings Berhad, a member of the Board of Directors of Iskandar Investments Berhad, and a member of the Board of ValueCap.

He holds two degrees in Chemical Engineering and Industrial Management from Purdue University, United States. He has also attended the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Programme.

Ben Samild

SBAI Trustee; CIO, Future Fund

Ben Samild was appointed Chief Investment Officer of the Future Fund in August 2023, having previously served as DCIO, Portfolio Construction.

As CIO, Ben leads the Future Fund’s investment team investing A$250bn across all asset classes and geographies, with a particular focus on stewarding the Fund’s joined-up whole portfolio approach.

He joined the Future Fund in October 2013, as Director, Alternatives, following a 10 year career in the hedge fund industry, and 4 years as Head of Investment Strategy at LUCRF Super.

Ben is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments.

Ben completed a 6 year undergraduate degree at the University of Melbourne majoring in behavioural finance, psychology and history, and has a Masters of Applied Finance.

Betty Tay

MD, Head of External Managers Department, GIC

Betty Tay is Managing Director, Head of External Managers Department in GIC. In her current capacity, Betty oversees the day-to-day activities of the External Managers Department, including portfolio management for all of GIC’s public market external managers programs, manager selection and monitoring, operations and administration for the department. In addition, Betty is a member of GIC’s Business Continuity Plan Steering Committee.

Betty joined GIC in July 1999 as a Senior Portfolio Manager. She served as a Portfolio Manager within the Emerging Markets Group from 1999 to 2002. In this capacity, Betty was posted to GIC’s London office, and was instrumental in developing portfolio management expertise in non-Asia emerging markets. In 2002, Betty joined the External Managers Group.

Betty has over 20 years of experience in international financial markets including trading functions across various products in local and international financial institutions. She began her career as a proprietary trader with the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS). Prior to joining GIC, Betty spent 6 years as a Principal at Bankers Trust Company (Singapore). She served as the Head of the Foreign Exchange Forwards Division and managed the firm’s balance sheet in Singapore.

Betty graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1991 with a BSc in Mathematics. She also holds both Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations. She completed the Stanford Executive Program in August 2014. Betty is a member of the Investment Advisory Committee for the Lee Kuan Yew Fund for Bilingualism Limited.

Paget MacColl

Global Chief Operating Officer, Blackstone

Paget MacColl is a Senior Managing Director in Institutional Client Solutions (ICS), where she serves as the Global Chief Operating Officer. Ms. MacColl most recently served as the Global Head of ICS for Blackstone Multi-Asset Investing (BXMA).

Prior to joining Blackstone, Ms. MacColl spent 20 years at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM), where she served as the Co-Head of the Americas Institutional Client Business through which she was responsible for leading business strategy and client engagement with institutions across the US, Canada and Latin America. Prior to that, she led the institutional distribution and fundraising efforts in GSAM as the Global Head of Institutional Capital Markets.

Ms. MacColl earned a BA in Politics from Princeton University. In addition, she serves on the Board of Trustees of Greenwich Academy and The Children’s School.

Thomas Deinet

Executive Director, SBAI

Thomas Deinet was appointed Executive Director of the SBAI (previously known as the HFSB) in 2008. In 2007, Thomas joined the working group to project manage the development of practice standards proposed by 14 leading international alternative investment managers that led to the establishment of the SBAI.

Prior to joining the SBAI, he was a senior manager at Oliver Wyman, where he extensively worked with major financial institutions in Europe covering asset management as well as corporate and investment banking. Thomas also worked as an analyst in energy trading for a major commodities trading firm.

Thomas is a graduate of the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, with a major in industrial engineering and holds an MSc from Purdue University, USA. Thomas is a CFA charterholder.

Ziad Haider

Partner, Global Director of Geopolitics, McKinsey & Company

Ziad is a leader in our Geopolitics Practice. He counsels our clients on how to build out capabilities and frameworks to understand, monitor, and mitigate geopolitical risks and is our firm’s principal thought leader around building geopolitical resilience.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Ziad served in a range of senior roles relating to economic diplomacy and national security in the US government including as Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs, engaging with and supporting US businesses globally on market access, political, and regulatory risks; a Member of the Policy Planning Staff in the Office of the Secretary of State conducting strategic planning around Asia and geo-economics; a White House Fellow at the US Department of Justice; and a foreign policy legislative aide in the US Senate.

He previously practiced international law specializing in sanctions and investment disputes and worked with human rights organizations across Asia.

His writings on international affairs have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and the Nikkei Asia among other leading publications.

Ziad serves on the board of advisors of the International Rescue Committee, a leading global humanitarian and development organization, and is a non-resident senior advisor with the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS).