Congratulations to CEO Jim Park and the entire staff at Association of Asian American Investment Managers (AAAIM) for organizing a fantastic Annual Meeting”Elevate 2025″ in New York City from Sep. 29 – Oct. 1. The opened its 2025 Annual Conference on September 29th with a sold-out attendance of 500 professionals. One of the opening panels of the first morning, “Breaking the Mold: Female Exceptionalism and the New Face of Leadership in Investments,” was about female leadership in the industry, focusing on the careers of four fantastic professionals who recounted their experiences breaking the glass and bamboo ceiling simultaneously, and providing concrete advice for the next generation. I was glad to catch up with friends like Candice Tse of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Sona Menon of Morgan Stanley after being inspired by their powerful conversation with Sonam Leki Dorji of AllianceBernstein and Mia Jung of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS). It was just the beginning of two great days of speakers and fantastic networking with so many friends and clients.
The quality of the speakers and topics was clear to everyone, as the conference sold out with a record over 500 professionals in attendance. I attended to network with clients and friends and stand as a reliable ally during times of adversity. Still, I came away smarter and more up-to-date as a result of the informative speakers on a wide variety of highly relevant topics impacting the investment business today. I was joined at lunch by Jim and Deepika “Dee” Sharma, formerly the Chair of the Board of the CFA Society of NY, and most recently a senior member of the OCIO team at BlackRock, whom I know through our mutual friend Daniel Gamba.
Additionally, dedicated members like York Lo, the Global Head of Alternatives for John Hancock Investments and the President of AAAIM’s large Boston Chapter, made a real difference assembling an amazing panel “Alternative Path to Fund Raising: Leveraging Wealth Management and Family Offices,” with Seiji Nishimura from Pictet Asset Management, Yelin Wen from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Valerie Wong Fountain, Crystal K. Ho, and Douglas Kim, all from Morgan Stanley. York and I had a great conversation on association governance (where I have spent a great deal of time during my career) over cocktails, as he is on the Board of Directors of AAAIM, along with Sona Menon from Morgan Stanley. Their volunteer time with the Association is really making a difference, and I look forward to attending future AAAIM events
There are many ways to measure the success of a conference, but one of the more reliable is the attendance at the last session on the final day. The Association of Asian American Investment Managers (AAAIM) Annual Meeting certainly stands out in attendee engagement from any conference I have been to over the last several years, with easily 3/4 of the 500 professionals (sold out!) in the room for the last panel over lunch on October 1. Kim Lew, CEO of Columbia University Endowment, a friend and former client, interviewed Divya Nettimi, founder of $2 bil hedge fund Avala Global. It was an inspiring close to a great event, hearing about how Divya broke through the stereotypes with a solid dose of strength tempered with humility and common sense.
Great work by Jim Park and his team at AAAIM to make all of this possible, and I have Elevate 2026 already in my calendar for next year