About Us
John Lyn, MBA
Chairman
John has 24 years of experience in investment banking and private equity business.
Throughout his career, he has held senior management position at many bulge-bracket firms including JP Morgan Chase (New York, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong), Citigroup (Australia), Schroders Securities (Singapore) and HSBC Securities (Singapore).
John is an active board member for several listed and unlisted companies in Malaysia and Singapore. He is also the Chairman of Audit Committee for Etika Dairies Ltd.
John graduated with a Degree in Engineering from University of Leeds (UK) and an MBA from Washington State University (USA). He speaks English, Mandarin and Malay. For leisure, John enjoys playing golf.
Esmond Choo
Director
Esmond has 24 years of experience managing insurance and securities businesses in Asia-Pacific.
As the Executive Director of UOB Kay Hian, his direct responsibilities include Equity Capital Markets operations and business development.
Prior to joining UOB Kay Hian, Esmond was the Executive Director of RHB - Cathay Securities, overseeing the company’s finance department and managing their risk exposures.
Prior to that, Esmond was the Director for Sedgwick Management Services (Singapore) Pte. As the developer and manager of Sedgwick Captive Insurance resources in Asia, Esmond had extensive dealings with government authorities such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore and The Australia Tax Office.
Esmond holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Second Class Honours) from the University of Melbourne, and was admitted as an Associated Member (by examination) into the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia. He articled with Coopers & Lybrand, Singapore and Melbourne, and was a former Chairman of the Singapore Insurance Brokers Association Committee for Trust Accounting Rules.
Nguyen Xuan Minh, CFA
Director
Minh has 16 years of investment and fund management experience. Prior to co-founding VAM in 2006, Minh was with Franklin Templeton Investments for greater than 9 years. He joined Templeton Emerging Market Group, led by Dr. Mark Mobius, in 1997 as an Investment Analyst and subsequently, Chief of Representative Office for Templeton in Vietnam. Relocated to Singapore in 1998, Minh remained with Templeton till December 2006 as the Senior Vice President of the Group.
During his time at Franklin Templeton Investments, Minh was involved in co-managing a number of public and private equity funds. He was also involved in analyzing and evaluating many private and public investment opportunities in Taiwan, Korea and Vietnam. Being the technology sector analyst for the Group, Minh reviewed investment recommendations of technology companies in emerging markets. He was also a member of the Group's South East Asian Review team, which reviews investment recommendations by the analysts in the region.
Minh earned a Master of Science degree in Engineering from Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas in Moscow under full government scholarship and a Master degree in Applied Finance and Investment from the Securities Institute of Australia. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder and a licensed fund manager in Vietnam. He speaks Vietnamese, English and Russian. John has 23 years of experience in investment banking and private equity business.
Throughout his career, he has held senior management position at many bulge-bracket firms including JP Morgan Chase (New York, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong), Citigroup (Australia), Schroders Securities (Singapore) and HSBC Securities (Singapore).
Nguyen Hoai Thu, CFA
Director
Thu has 10 years of investment and fund management experience. Prior to joining VAM in 2007, Thu worked in consultancy, investment banking and asset management in Singapore. Thu started her career in finance at DBS Bank, where she worked as an analyst in the Asset Securitisation team, contributing to some of the first Real Estate Investment Trust IPOs and secondary offerings in Singapore. Subsequently, Thu transferred to DBS Asset Management, where she covered the real estate sector for Asian equity portfolios and oversaw a global property securities fund.
Thu's last position in Singapore was Portfolio Manager at BankInvest - a leading Scandinavian asset manager, where she co-managed Asian ex-Japan equities, with primary coverage of real estate, utilities, industrial, and consumer sectors.
Thu earned her Bachelor of Business Administration (1st class Honors) from National University of Singapore under the prestigious Dr. Goh Keng Swee Scholarship, awarded by the Association of Banks in Singapore, for which she was the first Vietnamese recipient. Throughout her academic career, Thu won numerous prizes and awards, and represented both Vietnam and Singapore in a number of international competitions and events. Thu is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder and a licensed fund manager in Vietnam. Thu speaks English and Vietnamese.
Mikiko Koga, CFA
Senior Advisor - Risk Management and Compliance
Mikiko joined VAM with 19 years of experience in business management, investment banking and auditing in Asia-Pacific. Her former employers include JP Morgan (Singapore), UBS (Singapore), Merrill Lynch (Japan) and KPMG (New Zealand). Mikiko has extensive experience in business reviews and product rollouts for both listed and over-the-counter products across asset classes. In her capacity as regional business manager (Asia ex Japan) for the Credit & Rates products, she chaired governance commitees and ensured business compliance for internal and external regulatory rules.
Mikiko holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Canterbury and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder.
She is also an Associate Chartered Accountant under the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants. Mikiko speaks English and Japanese
