Speaker Bios
Richard Anslow, Partner, Ellenoff Grossman & Schole
Richard I. Anslow, a senior corporate and securities partner whose practice focuses on domestic and international securities, financings, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate representation. His practice encompasses representation of a variety of public and private company issuers, investors and investment banks. Skilled in Investor Relations, Venture Capital, Acquisitions, Securities, and Equities. Strong entrepreneurship professional with a J.D. focused in Law from Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University.
Laura Anthony, Partner, Anthony, Linder & Cacomanolis, PLLC
Laura Anthony is the founding partner of Anthony, Linder & Cacomanolis, where she has established herself as a preeminent authority in U.S. securities laws and going public transactions. As a prolific author and thought leader, she provides sophisticated counsel to domestic and international issuers navigating the complexities of SEC compliance and exchange listing standards. Her solution-oriented approach has made her a trusted advisor to C-suite executives and boards of directors involved in high-stakes capital markets transactions.
Drew Bernstein, Co-Chair, Marcum Asia CPAs LLC
Drew Bernstein is the Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of MarcumAsia, initially co-founder of Bernstein & Pinchuk LLP, a PCAOB registered accounting firm which has been providing SEC audit and advisory services to Asian companies since 1983. The firm was formerly an affiliate of Marcum LLP. Today, MarcumAsia is one of the largest middle market accounting firms servicing Asia-based, US publicly traded companies and the most active independent auditor for cross-border IPOs and SPAC mergers.
Crocker Coulson, CEO, AUM Advisors Inc.
Crocker is an award-winning investor relations and corporate communications advisor with two decades of experience helping public and private companies access the capital markets and complete major acquisitions and business transformations. He has worked with senior leaders of over 100 companies across various industries ranging from startups to Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 scale enterprises. His firm, AUM Advisors, provides capital markets, investor relations, financial reporting, and corporate communications advisory services, with a strong focus on companies from Asia going public in the U.S. via IPO or SPAC merger.
David E. Danovitch, Partner, Sullivan & Worcester LLP
David is the managing partner of Sullivan's New York office, where he is also director of the Corporate Department and co-heads the Firm’s Asia practice. He has extensive cross-border transaction experience representing issuers, broker-dealers and investment funds in financings, capital markets transactions, and mergers and acquisitions. David's clients span a variety of industries and his practice includes such matters as general corporate governance, securities regulation, mergers and acquisitions, and financings, and has defended numerous government enforcement actions. He also maintains several securities industry licenses, including the Series 24 (Registered Principal), Series 7 (General Securities), Series 79 (Investment Banking), and Series 99 (Operations), which gives him a unique insight into the challenges facing regulated firms.
Jordan Fisher, Co-Founder & Chairman, Zehitomo Inc. Venture Partner, Antler Japan
Jordan Fisher is Co-Founder and Chairman of Zehitomo, Japan’s marketplace for local services. From home renovations to karaoke coaches, Zehitomo provides a platform to match with 600+ types of service professionals. Jordan is also Venture Partner at Antler Japan, supporting and investing in ambitious founders from Day Zero. Previously, Jordan was Vice President at J.P.Morgan in Tokyo, working in Fixed Income Technology and Equities Sales Trading.
Born and raised in New York, Jordan holds a B.S. Computer Science from the University of Southern California. He is also a loving husband, and a father to two young daughters.
Alex Jin, Managing Director, Maxim Group
Mr. Jin has over 10 years of investment banking experience focusing on emerging growth companies in Greater China. Mr. Jin has participated in over $2 billion worth of transactions, including IPO, SPAC, Follow-on, RD/CMPO, Private Placement and M&A. Mr. Jin currently spearheads Maxim’s China practice and has been instrumental in propelling firm’s practice to a industry leading position. Prior to joining Maxim Group, Mr. Jin was with Global Hunter Securities, where he focused on executing China-based transactions. Prior to Global Hunter Securities, Mr. Jin began his investment banking career at Sterne Agee & Leach. Mr. Jin holds an MBA and B.A. from the University of California, Riverside. He is bilingual in English and Mandarin. Mr. Jin holds FINRA Series 7, 63, and 79 Registrations.
Sachiko Katori, Director Japan, AUM Advisors Inc
Sachiko Katori has over 18 years of experience in cross-border equity transactions, capital markets advisory, and financial communications, with a focus on U.S.–Japan and Asia ex-Japan markets. Her background spans ECM, M&A, private company fundraising, and investor communications for public and private companies. She previously held roles at Nomura Securities International, Daiwa Capital Markets America in New York. Sachiko holds an MBA from NYU Stern and a law degree from Waseda University.
Craig Linder, Partner, Anthony, Linder & Cacomanolis, PLLC
Craig D. Linder, Esq. is a partner at Anthony, Linder & Cacomanolis, PLLCand has over 28 years of experience as a securities lawyer to issuers and underwriters, specializing in public registration of securities (with particular emphasis as issuer’s counsel in Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) of domestic and foreign private issuers, registered direct offerings (RDOs), and confidentially marketed public offerings (CMPOs), private investment in public equity transactions (PIPEs), and listing of securities on the NASDAQ and NYSE. Craig has worked with a number of Japanese issuers on their listings on U.S. exchanges. He is a graduate of NYU Law School.
Kei Nagasawa, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Minerva Growth Partners
Kei Nagasawa is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Minerva Growth Partners, a Tokyo-based growth equity firm investing in technology-driven companies.
Prior to founding Minerva, he served as CFO of Mercari, where he played a central role in scaling the company through multiple private financing rounds and leading its IPO in 2018. Earlier in his career, Nagasawa worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs, advising on M&A and IPO transactions in the technology sector across Tokyo and San Francisco. He began his career at Mitsubishi Corporation in investment and M&A advisory roles.
He holds a degree from Keio University and an MBA from University of Chicago.
Akira Nozaki, Founder, SprAut Accounting Corporation
Founded SprAut Accounting Corporation in 2022. Specializes in U.S. IPO project management, serving as a trusted financial advisory partner in Japan from pre-audit, filing, and valuation support to comprehensive financial solutions.
Expertly delivers critical requirements for U.S. listings, including GAAP conversions, auditor coordination, drafting registration documents, and valuation support. Brings extensive experience as a Japanese CPA with a leading Big 4 firm, including a secondment at its Silicon Valley office.
John A. Stapleton, Partner, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
John Stapleton represents clients in domestic and international corporate and securities transactions. He regularly advises issuers and underwriters in a variety of public and private securities transactions, including initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, debt offerings and special purpose acquisition company transactions. His clients operate businesses in a variety of industries, primarily including healthcare, real estate, medical technology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and blockchain and crypto assets, among others.
John lived for six years in Japan and is a leading capital markets and M&A attorney in cross-border Japanese legal matters. He has extensive experience representing Japanese and U.S. companies in a variety of cross-border corporate and capital markets transactions. John serves as an independent director on the board of directors of LogProstyle Inc., a Japanese company which operates a real estate renovation and resale business, a real estate development business, a hotel management business and a restaurant management business.
Robert Stephenson, Managing Director, Investment Banking, ROTH Capital Partners, LLC
Robert Stephenson is a Managing Director, Co-Head Sustainability Investment Banking at ROTH. He has been with the company since 1998. Starting in 2005, he played a pivotal role in developing Roth Capital Partners' China Investment Banking practice and currently leads the Industrials and Cleantech sectors. Throughout his career, he has successfully completed nearly 170 transactions with a total value exceeding $6.5 billion. Notably, he has been involved in over 80 transactions, totaling over $3.5 billion, specifically for U.S.-listed Chinese companies. Prior to joining Roth in 1998, he gained experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (formerly known as Coopers and Lybrand, L.L.P.).
Mr. Stephenson holds a B.S. degree in Accounting from the University of Southern California.
Louis Taubman, Managing Partner, Hunter Taubman Fischer& Li LLC
Mr. Taubman is the managing Partner of HTFL’s New York office.
Mr. Taubman concentrates his practice on securities law, corporate finance and corporate governance. He represents issuers, broker dealers and investors in connection with “going public” transactions, private and public finance. Mr. Taubman provides counsel to issuers and institutional investors with regard to the set up and implementation of public company structuresfor both do mestic and foreign based issuers.
Mr. Taubman has provided advice with regard to initial public offerings for numerous small to mid-cap public issuers with both domestic and overseas operations. He has provided counsel to
such issuers, as well as institutions involved in the finance of such issuers, with regard to both public and private financing transactions. Mr. Taubman provides advice to various issuers with
regard to their continued Securities Exchange Act of 1934 reporting requirements, as well as related issues of corporate compliance and governance. Mr. Taubman also assists issuers with regard to initial listing on the Nasdaq, NYSE- American, OTCQX and other markets and exchanges, as well as ongoing compliance with exchange listing requirements.
Hidehiro Tanaka, President and CEO, The Bank of New York Mellon Securities Co. Japan Ltd.
Hidehiro Tanaka oversees the overall business operations and governance of BNY Mellon’s securities company in Japan. He also works closely with other lines of business and affiliated entities to pursue new business opportunities and strengthen client relationships.
As Head of Depositary Receipts (DR) Japan, he is responsible for communications and relationship management in support of new business development, working with prospective and existing clients as well as key market participants, including investment banks, legal firms, accounting firms, and U.S. exchanges.
Hidehiro Tanaka joined BNY in 2018. Prior to joining BNY, he spent eight years at Deutsche Bank, where he served as Head of DR Japan and as a senior manager in the Equity Capital Markets business, advising Japanese clients on and executing equity financing transactions. Before Deutsche Bank, he worked at JPMorgan for 12 years in a range of roles across Depositary Receipts, Credit Portfolio, and Operations Risk Control. He began his career at Daiwa Securities in securities sales.