Carrie Burke
Carrie Burke is a seasoned finance professional with nearly two decades of experience in banking and asset management. She has held senior leadership roles at Deutsche Bank and Barclays and most recently co-founded one of Singapore’s top Asia macro hedge funds, serving as Chief Risk Officer and Head of Investor Relations. Originally from China, she studied in the U.S. before making Singapore her home. A strong believer in the transformative power of education, Carrie is passionate about empowering underprivileged young women through university scholarships and is thrilled to serve on the global and Singapore boards of U-GO.
Tim Caflisch
Tim is a Partner of Finepoint Capital, a Boston based value-focused investment firm, where he runs the firm's equity business, with a core focus on Japan. Prior to joining Finepoint in 2015, Tim was a Principal at KKR & Co., where he worked in the company's Special Situations business in London and San Francisco from 2008-2015.
Tim graduated with a BA in Economics from Stanford University.
On joining U-GO:
“Education is the key to unlocking every young person’s potential. By giving young women the financial help to attend university, we give them a chance to chase their dreams and realize that potential. That opportunity is the best gift we can give to these young bright minds.”
Ben Happ
Ben Happ, CFA is a Partner at BERA PARTNERS, a Chicago-based investment consulting firm that helps institutional investors invest in the future of food. Prior to this, Ben was the Head of Marketing and Investor Relations at Myriad Asset Management, a Hong Kong-based hedge fund. Ben joined Myriad in 2015 from Credit Suisse, where he had senior Prime Brokerage roles in New York, Boston, and Hong Kong. He joined Credit Suisse in 2009 as the Hong Kong-based Head of Capital Services for the Asia Pacific region.
Prior to Credit Suisse, Ben served as Head of Business Development for Abax Global Capital, a Hong Kong-based hedge fund and private equity manager seeded by Morgan Stanley. His previous roles included Morgan Stanley and Allianz Hedge Fund Partners.
Ben earned a B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an M.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley.
On joining U-GO:
“The thing that excites me most about U-GO is its potential. The benefits of educating young women doesn’t stop with the individual, her family and future generations will also benefit from her potential earning power and life skills, and ultimately break the vicious cycle of poverty.”
Patricia Horgan
Patricia currently serves as an independent member of the Board of Directors of Goldman Sachs Bank AG. During her 38-year career in senior positions at some of the world’s leading financial institutions, Patricia has served as European Head of Leveraged Finance at UBS; European Head of Corporate Banking at UBS; Global Head of Private Wealth Management Lending at Deutsche Bank; Head of Investment Products at Credit Suisse; and Head of One Bank Collaboration at Credit Suisse.
She previously served as Chairperson of the Switzerland Development Board of Room to Read, and currently is a member of the Advisory Board of StrategieDialog21, a Swiss think tank devoted to fostering political dialogue in Switzerland.
A native of New Jersey, Patricia holds both US and Swiss citizenship and has resided in Zurich for 36 years.
On joining U-GO:
“Education has the incredible power to change lives and transition girls and their families out of poverty. We will make that change a reality with the support of friends and supporters of U-GO, and I’m confident that we can begin to make an impact by sending girls to school as early as this year.”
Martina Lauchengo
Martina spent 30 years as a marketing and product leader. She started her career working on market-defining software, Microsoft Office and Netscape Navigator. She teaches what she’s learned with SVPG and is a lecturer at UC Berkeley's graduate school of engineering. As a partner at Costanoa Ventures, she sits on multiple boards and coaches startups. She is the author of LOVED: How to Rethink Marketing Tech Products, a #1 Amazon Best Seller. Martina holds a B.A. in Political Science and M.A. in Organizational Behavior from Stanford University. She's a native Californian, mother of two, and proud wife to Chris.
Nicholas Nash
Nicholas Nash is the Managing Partner and a co-founder of Asia Partners and brings decades of experience in finance and strategy to the role.
Nick served as the Group President of Sea, Greater Southeast Asia’s leading internet company with an over $150 billion market cap, from 2014 to 2018. Among his achievements, Nick led Sea’s landmark initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, which raised approximately $1 billion of primary capital and which was the largest ever U.S. IPO of a company from Southeast Asia. Nick joined Sea after more than a decade with General Atlantic, most recently as the co-founder and head of GA’s Southeast Asia business. Three of Mr. Nash’s successful investments while with GA are now multibillion dollar NYSE publicly traded companies.
Prior to GA, Mr. Nash was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in New York. He was a member of the World Economic Forum’s ASEAN Regional Strategy Group from 2017-2018, is a member of the global Kauffman Society for leadership in venture capital, is a member of the Young Presidents Organization, and is a board member of Endeavor Indonesia. Nick received an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in Chemistry and Physics, magna cum laude.
On joining U-Go:
“We don’t know where Asia’s next unicorn might come from, I like to think that it might come from budding entrepreneurs that we haven’t even started out yet. Let’s support young ambitious talents who have the potential to shape and contribute back to their nation and communities, leaving lasting impact.”
Mariana Zobel
Mariana Zobel de Ayala is Senior Vice President at Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Consumer Bank overseeing Consumer Bank Marketing and Digital Platforms. Ms. Zobel de Ayala also serves as a board director and/or advisory committee member for a number of Ayala Group companies, across Ayala Land, AC Health, Ayala Group’s ACTIVE Fund and BPI’s Asset Management and Trust Company. She also serves as advisor on the board of Asia Partners.
Before this role, Mariana was Deputy Head of Ayala Malls, a subsidiary of Ayala Land responsible for just under two million square meters in leasable retail space around the country. In addition to directly overseeing Leasing Strategy & Development across the malls, Mariana was responsible for the build-out of Ayala Malls Labs / Digital & Data -- a new unit focused on commercializing synergistic opportunities leveraging technology and data.
Prior to this, she worked in Project Development for Alveo Land, and as a Corporate Strategy and Business Development Associate with Ayala Corporation, where she supported portfolio review across the conglomerate and business development interest in the healthcare sector. Mariana started her career at J.P. Morgan in New York City. She graduated from Harvard College with a BA in Social Studies (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics), and an MBA from INSEAD in 2020.