With more than 25 years’ experience in the Financial Services Industry, Simon has held a number of leadership roles in London, Hong Kong and Singapore. Simon was formerly CEO of Axa Investment Managers for Asia Pacific region and prior to that CIO of Lion Global Investors, Singapore. Prior to that, he was regional COO for Merrill Lynch Investment Managers for Asia – Pacific region. His experience includes significant time as an Analyst and Fund Manager working in London (Mercury Asset Management later Merrill Lynch Investment Managers) covering the publicly quoted markets of Europe and Emerging Europe, before progressing to senior leadership roles within the Fund Management industry as an Investment Team Leader at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers.

Simon has had significant experience in investment and commercial oversight and has held the relevant licences for his function in several jurisdictions, including London, Hong Kong (Responsible Officer) and Singapore (Capital Market’s Services Licence).

He advises PIOF team on investment risk management functions.

Nilesh Mehta currently leads Access Asset Managers, an Indian Private Equity Fund focused on the consumer sector SMEs in India. He has over 27 years experience in investing and financial services including 15 years in direct private equity with a consistently profitable track record.

Nilesh commenced investing in 1996 on behalf of clients as the Managing Director of Meghraj (a UK based private Bank) in 1996. In 2000, he founded Infinity II, a technology Fund to invest in Indo-US cross border technology investments.

Between 2005 and 2009, Nilesh was with Aureos India Advisors (Aureos), where he was part of the founding team that raised and managed a US$ 100 million fund to invest in SME opportunities. Aureos made 5 investments during his tenure. He led Aureos’ investments in Accutest Research Laboratories and Paras Pharmaceuticals, and played a support role for Aureos’ investments in Continental Warehousing, Hind High Vacuum, and Ordyn Technologies.

Nilesh is a Chartered Accountant and a management graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad where he also taught Finance and Control Systems as a visiting faculty for several years. He also holds a Bachelors of Commerce from the Gujarat University.

Nilesh is a Charter Member of TiE, Mumbai and sits on the Boards of a few public and private limited companies. He also is one of the founder trustees of Aavishkaar Micro Venture Fund that was set up to invest in socially relevant, sustainable and scalable rural businesses

Surinder Kathpalia serves as non-executive director on the boards of several companies, including many in the not-for-profit sector. These include the United World College of South East Asia and The Silent Foundation. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Investment Management Association of Singapore from 2005 to 2014.

A Singaporean national and Chartered Accountant, Surinder has over 30 years’ experience in Singapore and across Asia as a senior executive with Standard & Poor’s, as an investment banker with HSBC in London and Mumbai, and as a principal with Ernst & Young in Singapore and London.

Surinder was until December 2014 the Managing Director and Head of ASEAN & South Asia at Standard & Poor’s, having co-founded its Singapore office in October 1996. At S&P he pioneered the growth of several new businesses in the region: credit ratings, independent equity research, risk management and corporate governance services.

Surinder is a UK Chartered Accountant, a FCA of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Singapore, member of the Singapore Institute of Directors, and holds a Master’s degree in Management (Sloan Fellow) from the London Business School.

Pratap Nambiar is the founder and Chairman of Thought Perfect Pte Ltd, a Singapore based firm providing coaching and mentoring services to CEOs

Pratap has almost 40 years of international work experience across all continents. A qualified professional coach certified by the International Coach Federation, The Leadership Circle, and Marshall Goldsmith’s Stakeholder Centric Coaching, he is widely known as a passionate catalyst for change in the lives of the people he works with.

Earlier he was with Heidrick & Struggles as a Partner in their Leadership Consulting Practice in Asia Pacific. Prior to his executive coaching days, Pratap was a US Partner with KPMG, based in Singapore as Head of Global Markets for Asia Pacific, Head of Business Advisory services for Ernst & Young in Russia. Pratap has also held several senior leadership roles in consumer, industrial and professional services organisations where he successfully grew their business.

Pratap is an honours graduate in economics and statistics and a gold medal winner in his post-graduate studies in advertising and public relations. He is also a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM UK) with a MBA from the National University of Singapore. He was the Founder President (1996) of the Singapore branch of The Chartered Institute of Marketing and was conferred the CIM President’s Award.