CEO Today Business Women of the Year Awards

www.ceotodaymagazine.com 68 CEO Today Business Women of the Year Awards 2018 HONG KONG CHRISTINA GAW Managing Principal and Head of Capital Markets at Gaw Capital Partners ABOUT CHRISTINA GAW It’s not the first time Christina Gaw – called by some “one of the best fundraisers in Asia” – has excelled in an industry dominated by men. Long before leading the real estate global capital markets activities at Gaw Capital Partners, she was already at the top of her career in the investment banking field. The secret to her success: “I’m passionate about what I do, going to work every day is fun for me; landing every mandate remains the most satisfying, and to work with an incredibly talented team is what excites me most,” she says. As Managing Principal at Gaw Capital, Christina works closely with limited partners relating to capital raising and new product developments. She is known to be exceptionally articulate when it comes to what different parties – employees, managers, vendors and limited partners – need. Her day-to-day work includes communicating with investors, developing new products, fundraising, marketing and attending to the company’s positioning in the industry. Christina, a Business Administration graduate from the University of San Francisco, also serves as Executive Director of Pioneer Global Group (224.HK ). Founded by her late father Anthony Gaw, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed conglomerate is principally involved with investment in properties, hotels and financial investment holding. In 2005, Christina’s brothers Goodwin and Kenneth Gaw co-founded Gaw Capital – a successful business the siblings were able to take true ownership of. Prior to joining Gaw Capital in early 2008, Christina had already made a name for herself after almost 16 years in the investment banking world as a Managing Director with Goldman Sachs and UBS. Her previous roles included Head of Asia Equities Distribution and Head of the APAC Capital Introduction team in Prime Brokerage. Christina’s previous roles equipped her with extensive experience in covering some of the world’s largest institutional investors as well as strong knowledge in corporate governance and risk management. After working at Goldman Sachs for nine years, Christina continued her career at UBS. In hindsight, she considers it a wise career move as it exposed her to two globally recognized investment banks. One being more US-centric culture, and the other one more European centric culture. “Those experiences gave me tremendous insights into how large global companies operate,” she says. Gaw Capital always demonstrates its corporate DNA, characterized by its team’s creativity, passion and responsibility in every project that they do. Christina says her most memorable deals have been the 2014 US$1 billion acquisition of Pacific Century Place in Beijing, and that of the iconic InterContinental Hong Kong Hotel in 2015, and most recently, an acquisition of a portfolio of Hong Kong neighborhood estate shopping malls in 2018. Beyond corporate life, Christina is also a passionate advocate of female leadership and has worked to promote women equality in the community. She is a board member of The Women’s Foundation (HK), where she mentors young female professionals, and encourages youth in society to embrace gender equality. “I think it would do the world a lot of good to have more female professionals in the workplace,” says Christina. “That’s why I became a board member of The Women’s Foundation, which works to address the area of inequality. We do a lot of research to raise public awareness and advocate for policy change to give women and girls better opportunities. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a full-time career while raising a family of four children, and I want to let young professional women know that they don’t have to give up one for the other.” Christina is passionate about education, serving as a Corporate Member of The Cheltenham Ladies’ College Council. She is also an Executive Committee Member of the St. Paul’s Co-educational College Alumni Association (SPCCAA) and Chairlady of the SPCC mentor program, as well as the school supervisor of TWGH SC Gaw Secondary School in Hong Kong. This energetic and passionate business leader certainly finds herself in a unique place of influence, setting the bar for many ambitious professionals looking to follow in her footsteps. FIRM PROFILE Gaw Capital Partners is a uniquely positioned private equity fund management company focusing on real estate markets in Greater China and other high barrier-to-entry markets globally. Specializing in adding strategic value to under-utilized real estate through redesign and repositioning, Gaw Capital runs an integrated business model with own in-house asset management operating platforms in retail, hospitality, property development and logistics. The firm’s investments span the entire spectrum of real estate sectors, including residential development, offices, retail malls, hospitality and logistics warehouses. The firm has raised five commingled funds targeting the Greater China and Asia Pacific region since its inception. In addition to managing opportunistic funds in Vietnam and the US along with a Pan-Asia hospitality fund, the firm also provides services for separate account direct investments globally. Gaw Capital has raised more than USD$10 billion of equity since 2005 and manages USD$18 billion of assets as of Q1 2018. www.gawcapital.com