Nancy Kupfer
Nancy Kupfer is a lawyer and former hospitality industry executive who is passionate about expanding opportunities for women and advancing access to justice. After a distinguished career of more than two decades as Vice President & Assistant General Counsel for Marriott International, leading legal teams across Asia and Europe, she retired in 2020 and began focusing her efforts on human rights and refugee advocacy.
Nancy currently dedicates much of her time to providing pro bono legal services to refugees, asylum seekers, and other forced migrants in Hong Kong, where she has lived for nearly 30 years. She also volunteers with organizations supporting social justice, including Habitat for Humanity, HELP for Domestic Helpers, and, of course, U-GO.
Earlier in her career, Nancy practiced law with leading international law firms in New York, Singapore, and Hong Kong. She earned her law degree from Seton Hall Law School and her undergraduate degree in Political Science from Gettysburg College.
Nancy has spent most of her adult life living and working outside the United States, and has seen for herself the opportunities that education can create for young women to pursue their ambitions and make a difference in their communities.
Kashmira Daryanani
Kashmira Daryanani is a strategic business leader with over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. She is currently the Head of Marketing Activation for Asia Pacific at EQT Partners.
Prior to joining EQT, Kashmira spent more than a decade at BlackRock across New York and Hong Kong. She held a number of roles, including Head of Brand and Chief Operating Officer for APAC Marketing. She also led the firm’s philanthropy efforts in Asia for several years.
Born and raised in Curacao, Kashmira’s global experiences across the Dutch Caribbean, U.S.A., and Asia have deepened her understanding of diverse communities and the possibilities that arise when given opportunity. She is passionate about education and the role it plays in driving positive societal change, and is actively involved in social impact programs in Hong Kong.
Kashmira holds a BA in Economics from Stanford University and an MBA from HKUST Business School.
Jason Karas
Jason Karas is a business builder, international lawyer, company director and creative problem solver. With over 30 years of experience, Jason is a trusted adviser to individuals, companies, investors, trustees, family offices, receivers, charities and government. He has been involved in the management and resolution of some of the most complex disputes and investigations in Asia Pacific and pioneered dispute financing solutions in the region. Jason established his own law firm focused on dispute resolution in Australia in 2004 and in Hong Kong in 2009 and has been on the board of arts, legal and philanthropic organizations. He was recently recognized by Asian Legal Business as one of the Top 15 Litigators in North Asia and is considered by peers as ‘the best litigator in the market’, having built one of the leading dispute resolution teams in Hong Kong. Jason is also a startup investor in the technology and healthcare sectors and in his spare time enjoys collecting art and playing, coaching and watching tennis.
Josh Lewin and Kaavya Viswanathan
Josh and Kaavya are originally from New York, but moved to Asia in 2022. After four years in Singapore, they recently moved to Hong Kong and are excited to continue exploring Asia with their family. Josh & Kaavya firmly believe that so many of their children's opportunities will be due to circumstances beyond their control: the country in which they were born, the stability of home life, and the financial security of their parents. They were immediately drawn to U-GO as a highly scalable opportunity to dismantle those barriers for other young people.
Noel and Simon
Simon is Founder and CEO of MDRi, a new market insights and analytics business that is part of the London-based Mishcon de Reya Group. Noel is Head of Real Estate Development Asia-Pacific the Rosewood Hotel Group.
Fun fact: Amy first met Noel through the Cornell Hotel School alumni group.
Liz Miller
Liz Miller has spent the past 20 years in the financial services industry working in various roles and locations globally (New York, London and Hong Kong). At present she is a Managing Director with Bank of America in Hong Kong, leading the firm's Prime Finance Distribution effort in the Asia Pacific region.
Liz holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Princeton University.
She resides in Hong Kong with her husband Duncan and 3 daughters.
Jason Tudor
Jason Tudor is the Asia Pacific Chief Operating Officer for UBS Investment Bank. He joined UBS in 2019 and was previously the Head of Risk Intelligence and Special Reviews. He has over 30 years of trading, risk management and digitization experience, and ran global and cross-asset trading teams at Barclays, Lehman Brothers, Nomura and Citi. He has lived in the UK, Germany, Japan, Singapore and is currently based in Hong Kong. Prior to joining UBS, he acted as a litigation expert witness in several high-profile commercial disputes.
Jason has two daughters and two sons. He enjoys tennis, golf, rugby (touch rugby these days, plus coaching and refereeing at the junior level) and hiking.
Jason holds an MA in Engineering and Management Studies from the University of Cambridge.
Duncan Foster
Duncan Foster is a Managing Director within Morgan Stanley’s Institutional Equity Division where he co-heads the Asia Prime Brokerage business. Prior to relocating to Hong Kong in 2017, Duncan worked for Morgan Stanley in both London and New York. Duncan holds a Bachelor's degree in Business from Glasgow Caledonian University.
Duncan lives in Hong Kong with his wife Liz and their 3 daughters.