Christopher Brown

Christopher Brown was the founder of Global Emerging Markets North America, Inc. Today, through GEM Investments America LLC, he oversees the New York office and manages private placements on a global basis for The GEM Group. He was on the Board of Directors of Bahrain-based VC Bank and co-sponsor of the GEM MENA Fund. In addition, he was Chairman of the CITIC-GEM Fund, and is a non-voting General Partner and Limited Partner of Kinderhook Industries. He served on the Board of Directors of the Global Leadership Foundation and is currently the Co-Chairman of L’Officiel USA and the Chairman of The Catholic Herald. He began his career with Drexel Burnham Lambert in Sales & Trading in 1985. He later joined Smith Barney as an Investment Advisor from 1986 to 1988 and worked for Shearson Lehman Brothers from 1988 to 1993. Mr. Brown attended UCLA.

Peter de Svastich

Peter de Svastich is a Managing Director of The GEM Group and a Director and Manager of several Gem subsidiaries. He is responsible for the overall operations of GEM in Latin America, Mexico and Southern Europe and interfaces with GEM entities worldwide in matters related to fund-raising, private placement opportunities, and legal and regulatory issues. Prior to joining GEM, he worked as a commercial and investment banker in Brazil, Argentina and France. He has been the CFO/COO/CCO for a number of hedge funds and funds of funds, most recently with Alpha Equity Management, where he helped sell a 25% equity stake to SunTrust Bank N.A. of Atlanta, Georgia. He served as President of Delegated Management S.A., a fund of funds and asset allocator in Geneva, Switzerland. He founded and ran WestHem International Group for 15 years, a boutique investment and asset management firm that also had a broker/dealer in New York. Prior to that he ran the International Division of one of Brazil’s top five banks in the 1970’s/1980’s and spearheaded its international expansion. He has formed joint-ventures in banking and alternative investments with N.M. Rothschild & Sons (Madrid), Banco Internacional y de Comercio Exterior (Santiago), Banque Francaise de Commerce Exterieur (BFCE) (Montevideo), and BNP (Rio de Janeiro). Peter received a B.A. cum laude from Princeton University, an LLB and JD from the Yale Law School, and a Latin American Teaching Fellowship from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Awais Khan

Awais Khan is a Venture Partner at the GEM group and has a decade of experience in startups, venture capital and private equity. Early in his career, he was a member of a startup team that led the growth of a digital technology company, Proxicom Inc., to a $300M exit. He was a cofounder of the venture capital group of KPMG LLP and worked with institutional investors on transactions and strategic investments of up to $2B into venture capital funds and high growth technology companies in Silicon Valley. He was also a senior advisor to the Chairman of Emerging Markets Partnership, a global private equity fund with $6B in assets under management. He has been actively involved in public policy as well and was appointed president of an initiative of the Obama administration to advise on and catalyze support for a $7.5B foreign economic assistance fund appropriated by congressional legislation. He has advised the US Treasury on foreign investment legislation, collaborated with USIDFC to launch a $100M fund, and worked with the leadership at the White House and the World Bank to devise a financing framework for development in Africa, which was announced by the President at US-Africa Leaders Summit. He has served on the boards of social impact firms and nonprofits around the world. He holds a BS in Computer Engineering and an MBA from London School of Economics and New York University Stern School of Business.

Gregory Van Beek

Gregory Van Beek is a Managing Director at Global Emerging Markets, focusing on special situation investments in both public capital markets and private opportunities. He brings 25 years of experience in private equity, portfolio management, investment research and strategy. Previously, Mr. Van Beek was Senior Vice President at Franklin Templeton Investments. Prior to that, he was Director, Strategy at Temasek International Ltd., the Singaporean sovereign investor. He was also Director and Investment Officer for the firm with transactional responsibilities in various sectors and markets, both emerging and developed. He began his career in Moscow, in the early days of the Russian capital markets, as an equity analyst. He has degrees in Russian and Business from Southern Methodist University, and an MBA from the American Graduate School of International Management.

Rick Joshi

Rick Joshi is Managing Director with Global Emerging Markets, where he is responsible for sourcing, structuring and monitoring minority investments in listed companies as well as private equity investments globally. He has made principal investments primarily in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Germany in industries including technology, pharmaceuticals, IT, energy, telecommunications, mining, manufacturing and media. At GEM, Mr. Joshi has overseen the completion of equity fund commitments and advisory transactions exceeding US$250M in aggregate value. He also advises the private equity fund GEM India Advisors on making early stage growth investments in India. Earlier, as the Mumbai-based Vice President of Investments with the merchant banking subsidiary of the Times of India Group, Mr. Joshi headed the Asset Management and Research functions, managing over INR500M in proprietary investments and advising on the parent company’s INR10B portfolio, which was among the largest proprietary portfolios in India at the time. Prior to that, Mr Joshi gained operating experience as Worldwide Product Line Manager with Oracle Corporation and as Product Manager with Intel Corporation in Silicon Valley, California. Mr. Joshi holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, an MS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Idaho and a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

John Fenton

John Fenton is a Vice President at Global Emerging Markets. He is responsible for developing and implementing the growth opportunities of public and private equity investments worldwide. Prior to joining GEM, he was a Business Development and Strategy Professional in the financial sector at Endava, a global technology firm. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science from Colgate University, and is a former D-1 NCAA Athlete and member of the CFC.

Sean Hehir

Sean Hehir is a Investment Analyst at Global Emerging Markets. His area of focus is the sourcing of new investments opportunities across Europe and Asia. Prior to joining GEM, he worked as an analyst with Bizintra, an Irish based trading firm. He graduated from Dublin City University, with a Bachelor of Actuarial and Financial Mathematics. During his time at Dublin City University, he acted as a Portfolio Manager in his college Managed Fund

Sam Boyle

Sam Boyle is an Investment Associate at the GEM Group. Prior to joining GEM, Sam worked as an analyst at Hannam & Partners, a boutique investment bank in Mayfair, London. He holds a Master of Science in Financial Engineering from Imperial College Business School, London, along with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Peyton Lucas

Peyton Lucas is an Investment Associate at The GEM Group. He is responsible for sourcing, analyzing, and implementing minority equity investments and private to public transactions. Prior to joining GEM, he was an Analyst at Precision, a Big Data Solutions firm, where he performed market research and utilized proprietary algorithms. He holds a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from New York University, and is a former D-III NCAA Swimmer.