Taizo Ishida is a Portfolio Manager at Matthews International Capital Management, LLC and manages the firm’s Asia Growth, Emerging Asia and Japan strategies. Prior to joining Matthews in 2006, Taizo spent six years on the global and international teams at Wellington Management Company as a Vice President and Portfolio Manager. From 1997 to 2000, he was a Senior Securities Analyst and a member of the international investment team at USAA Investment Management Company. From 1990 to 1997, he was a Principal and Senior Research Analyst at Sanford Bernstein & Co. Prior to beginning his investment career at Yamaichi International (America), Inc. as a Research Analyst, he spent two years in Dhaka, Bangladesh as a Program Officer with the United Nations Development Program. Taizo received a B.A. in Social Science from International Christian University in Tokyo and an M.A. in International Relations from The City College of New York. He is fluent in Japanese. Taizo has been a Portfolio Manager of the Matthews Asia Growth Fund since 2007, of the Matthews Japan Fund since 2006 and of the Emerging Asia Fund since its inception in 2013.

Ms. Dutt is focused on supporting the BigSur Patners weekly Investment Committee.  She presents the Investment Committee with broad market and investment research, using BigSur’s institutional and independent research sources.  She further supports the Investment Committee by participating in the third party manager selection process and on-going due diligence of preferred investment vehicles.  Ms. Dutt also supports the Advisors with portfolio analysis, utilizing both risk management and analytical software.

David joined Threadneedle in 2008 as a Fund Manager specializing in Commodities. His principal responsibilities are to establish Threadneedle’s capabilities in this asset class and to develop a suitable product range to complement the company’s equity, bond and property offerings. David has more than 25 years’ investing experience encompassing commodity and derivative-based roles.

Robert Stammers, CFA, is director of Investor Education for CFA Institute. Prior to joining CFA Institute, Mr. Stammers was the principal for his founded company A2O Consulting where he consulted to aide real estate owners, lenders, and syndicators, develop and analyze structured real estate investments. There he developed strategy for obtaining debt and preferred equity capital as well as created finance related marketing materials and research papers for various clients. Mr. Stammers has authored over 100 articles on various financial and investment topics for several investment periodicals such as Forbes and Investopedia. He served as a senior equity analyst with Long Term Short Term, Inc, where he was responsible for the creation of new investment tools and instructional products to provide the revenues for two new investment education companies. As a senior executive for several institutional fund managers, Mr. Stammers was the portfolio manager for a $1 billion enhanced real estate fund, a $1.2 billion private timber fund, and several pension fund separate accounts. Mr. Stammers has his Bachelors of Arts in Economics from Connecticut College and his Masters in Business Administration from Emory University and obtained his CFA designation in 1997.

Ray Ruga is the Co-Founder of CVOX Group. He has over 20 years of diversified and specialized international political, governmental and corporate experience along with having worked for five U.S presidential campaigns, The White House, The Pentagon, a U.S. development agency and two Fortune 10 financial services companies.

Ben Wallace joined Henderson in 2011 as an Investment Manager. Prior to that, Ben was a Senior Investment Manager at Gartmore. Before joining Gartmore in 2002, Ben worked at Deutsche Asset Management, where he managed UK equity funds from 1997-2002. Ben graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a BCom (Hons). He is also a member of the UK Society of Investment Professionals.

Sharat Shroff is a Portfolio Manager at Matthews International Capital Management. He manages the firm’s Pacific Tiger and India strategies and co-manages the Asia Growth and Asia Focus strategies. Prior to joining Matthews in 2005 as a Research Analyst, Sharat worked in the San Francisco and Hong Kong offices of Morgan Stanley as an Equity Research Associate. Sharat received a Bachelor of Technology from the Institute of Technology in Varanasi, India and an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, in Calcutta, India. He is fluent in Hindi and Bengali. Sharat has been a Portfolio Manager of the Matthews Pacific Tiger Fund since 2008, of the Matthews Asia Growth Fund since 2007, of the Matthews India Fund since 2006 and of the Matthews Asia Focus Fund since its inception in 2013.

Lydia So is a Portfolio Manager at Matthews International Capital Management. She manages the firm’s Asia Small Companies strategy and co-manages the Asia Science and Technology strategy. Prior to joining Matthews in 2004 as a Research Associate, Lydia was a Portfolio Associate at RCM Capital Management. She started her investment career at Kochis Fitz Wealth Management. Lydia received a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Davis. She is fluent in Cantonese and conversational in Mandarin.