Director-General of Investment Promotion at InvestHK

Ms Alpha Lau has been Director-General of Invest Hong Kong, the government department responsible for attracting and facilitating direct investment into Hong Kong, since November 2023.

She serves on the government’s Trade and Industry Advisory Board, Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board, International Business Committee, Air Silk Road Task Force, Task Force on External Relations, Task Force on Promoting Web3 Development, Task Force on Promoting and Branding Hong Kong, Mega Events Coordination Group, and on the Market Development Committee of the Financial Services Development Council.

Prior to joining the government, Ms Lau held various senior roles in multinational and Chinese financial institutions, with experience in personal wealth and corporate coverage, risk management, fintech, transactional banking and M&A project management.

Ms Lau holds Bachelor and Master (Hon.) Degrees in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford, and a Certificate in further education from Tsinghua University, Beijing.

・Over 2 decades of experience covering M&A, LBO, PMI and operational roles (C-suite) level

・As part of XIB, Gaurav is advising multiple Japanese companies on overseas M&A and strategic partnerships with special focus on India

・Prior to XIB, Gaurav was a Director/Head of M&A at US$4 billion automotive components group in India.

・Led one of the biggest inbound acquisition from Indian company into Japan i.e. Acquisition of the iron casting and steel forging business of Asahi Tec Limited with presence in Japan, Thailand & China (Revenues of JPY 45bn)

・Moved to Tokyo in 2015 to serve as CFO responsible for Post Merger Integration

・Began his career at Grant Thornton India and spent 10 years focusing on M&A advisory and Fund raising

Yuji Kato is a Managing Director at ARCHIMED.

Yuji has over two decades of expertise in the corporate investment sector, including roles such as the Managing Director responsible for Asia Business Development at GE Healthcare, the Head of Japan office at Permira, and the Board Member COO/CIO at a Japanese governmental fund. Yuji also has various growth investment experiences at independent venture capitals. Throughout his tenure in private equity, he has held several board positions, including Sushiro (a restaurant chain) and EMW (a high end beverage distributor).

Before embarking on his investment career, Yuji worked for the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, OECD (Paris), investment banking at Morgan Stanley (Tokyo) and Merrill Lynch (London).

Kevin Smythe is the Managing Director of VISTRA Japan KK.

Kevin has been working for VISTRA in Japan for over six years, supporting inbound expansion into the Japanese market for clients around the world. In Japan, VISTRA provides outsourced back-office solutions, including accounting, banking, and payroll.

Before joining VISTRA, Kevin’s background was primarily in accounting. He began his career as an auditor at EY in Silicon Valley, supporting multinational technology companies. He later worked in private industry, leading internal accounting functions. These experiences included cross-border projects between the US and Japan, eventually bringing him to his current work here in Tokyo.

Rodrigo González is the Director for Tokyo of Economist Intelligence Corporate Network.

He works closely with regional business leaders to assist them in economic and market trends, business competitiveness, monetary and fiscal policy and general economic advisory to help them optimise their business strategies and further enhance their connections to their c-suite peers.

He has vast experience in statistical analysis, strategy consulting and market research in different industries in and outside Japan. Rodrigo is a published author in environmental and transport economics and has spoken at international conferences in global warming and fiscal policy throughout the world.

Rodrigo holds a PhD in Economics from Keio University and is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Japanese.