After a small dinner with mutual friends, James and I found ourselves looking for somewhere to smoke a cigar together. We ended up at the Grand Hyatt pool, and what was meant to be one cigar became three. The conversation moved from careers to families, from markets to values. What surprised me was how much we had in common: not just the cross-border backgrounds, but a shared philosophy about how wealth should be managed. We both believed that the best structures are simple, liquid, and built to last.
By the time the ash fell, I knew I had found something rare. Not someone with answers. Someone with judgment. Someone I could trust. James now serves as a Director of Pacific Hawk OFC. He's the person I call when I need to think something through, the one whose instincts I trust when mine feel uncertain. He helps me position the fund with the right families and strategic investors, particularly in China. But more than any title, what matters is this: he understood what I was trying to do, and he believed it was worth his name.
To understand why that confidence means so much, you need to understand where James came from.
James's experience was built long before that poolside conversation.
He grew up in Beijing and was part of the first wave of students to attend college after China reopened in 1977. He studied English at Beijing Foreign Language Institute, then made his way to the United States. There he earned degrees in computer science and information systems and later on, obtained his MBA at Duke.
James began his career in pension investments at New York Life Insurance Company in New York and later worked at Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital in both New York and Hong Kong. There, he helped his firms champion financial market reforms across Asian countries and proprietary cross-border tickets for institutional and private clients in the Pacific and Gulf regions.
Currently a partner at Ajia Group, James oversees the private investments of select individuals and families from Asia and the Middle East. He is well versed not only in the breadth of his transactional expertise but also in his deep understanding of, and commitment to, building enduring, trust-based relationships. With a career devoted to bridging global capital with local wisdom, he has advised some of the region's most respected family offices and private investors.
"First-generation wealth in Asia is often speculative," he's told me. "Second generation becomes more conservative. You have to understand who you're actually talking to."
James brings a unique global perspective to Pacific Hawk Global Fund OFC, shaped by more than two decades in international finance, private investments, and family office advisory. His analytical depth, cultural fluency, and a steady hand approach to every investment dialogue truly represents a welcome dimension to Pacific Hawk. As Director, he plays a strategic role in shaping the fund’s long-term direction and aligning its approach with the evolving needs of global families.
James also currently serves on the advisory board for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, covering East Asian Markets. He helped his alma mater spearhead its footprint in Kunshan, China. Today, the school remains one of the top foreign universities with a full campus presence in mainland China.
His experience matters to families. Market conditions change; human priorities don't. James has seen boom times, downturns, and the long stretches in between where wealth is actually built. He brings hard-won perspective without becoming cynical. He respects risk without glorifying it. And he understands that planning a family's financial future requires both strategic thinking and personal understanding of the people who will live with the decisions.
When I asked James to join Pacific Hawk OFC, he didn't hesitate. When someone later asked him why he said yes, his answer was simple: "I just wanted to help Ann."
We'd already spent enough late nights talking about families, markets, and what good planning actually looks like. He knew what I was building. High liquidity. A several decade-long track record built through managers I'd worked with personally. Professional investment managers, some of the best in the world. A structure where 87% of the fund can be accessed within a day if needed. This isn't about chasing returns. It's about putting money aside that is liquid and safe for the next generation. Protecting this generation and the one after.
James had seen enough in his career to know the difference between something built to last and something built to impress. He looked at Pacific Hawk OFC and recognized it was sound. That recognition, from someone with his background, meant everything to me.
He's seen first-generation founders who built everything from nothing and second-generation heirs learning to carry what they've inherited. "Families in this region rarely fit a single mold," he's told me. "The ones who do well have advisors who understand that."
Our roles are different, and that's the point. I make the investment decisions, run the day-to-day, sit in the rooms where plans get built. I guide conversations around purpose, family governance, and the practical boundaries that prevent conflict. I sit with families, understand what's non-negotiable, and build plans that reflect their priorities. It feels unhurried because it is. Families make better decisions when you remove false urgency and focus on clarity.
James is the person I turn to when I need perspective. After a difficult conversation with a family. After a market shift that changes the landscape. After the kind of week where everything feels harder than it should. He's been through enough to help me see clearly. If he weren't here, it would be a disaster. Not just because I'd need an other director. Because I'd lose someone I trust.
We chose Hong Kong deliberately. Early in my career, I worked with families whose names defined generations of wealth: the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, the Cadburys. But in 1997, I made a choice. I believed the next generation of great families would be built in China. The future wasn't in preserving old money. It was in helping new legacies take shape.
That belief is why James matters. The Pacific Hawk OFC is Hong Kong's first SFC-registered Open-ended Fund Company. A transparent, onshore vehicle where families can park and grow capital with confidence. For us, it's proof that asset management can work here, in HongKong, for the families who will define the next century.
This partnership isn't random. Our clients have built significant wealth; now they want to preserve both money and family relationships across generations. That takes more than good returns. It takes guidance that is practical, values-based, and understated. Having someone likeJames standing with me says something about what we're building.
Two long careers, one shared alignment: do the right work, with care, for families who value substance over display. James joined Pacific Hawk OFC because he believed in what I was building. I asked him because I needed someone I trusted.
If you value privacy, clarity, and plans that hold up under pressure, I'd love to meet. Perhaps not always by a pool with cigars, but with the same honest approach.
