David E. De Leeuw
Chairman, Lion Cao Asset Management
As Chairman of Lion Cao, David uses his extensive contacts and relationships in the private equity industry built over four decades to generate new business development and source new investments for Lion Cao. As Chairman of Lion Cao, David oversees and manages the day-to-day operations in New York. David is a member of the Investment Committee.
Prior to Lion Cao, David co-founded Lion Chemical Capital (“Lion Chemical”) in 2002 with his brother Peter De Leeuw, the former CEO of Sterling Chemicals and a Senior Executive of Shell Chemical. Lion is a private equity firm investing in chemical and affiliated industries. Prior to founding Lion, David was a founding partner at McCown De Leeuw & Co. (“MDC”), a private equity firm focusing on middle-market leveraged buyouts, which has raised more than $1.2 billion in 4 funds and invested in over 40 platform companies. He has more than 35 years of experience in private equity, investment banking, and corporate finance.
Prior to founding MDC in 1984, David founded and was the Head of the leveraged acquisitions group at Citibank, and was previously at W.R. Grace & Co., and at PaineWebber in New York and Tokyo. David is also a very active personal investor in the Alternative Investments area. He has participated in over 50 private partnerships, including direct investments into companies (buyouts and venture), hedge funds, private equity and venture funds, and fund-of-funds. He also has helped launch as a founding General Partner two hedge funds.
He was a Chairman, Vice-Chairman and/or Director of several NYSE and NASDAQ companies as well as numerous private companies. David is on the Board of Local Matters, Inc. and was also the Chairman of Local Matters, Inc.’s Audit Committee and Chairman of its Special Committee of the Board. This Special Committee advised on the merger of a company into Local Matters, Inc., an acquisition by Local Matters, Inc. and all simultaneously with a private placement of $15M in equity as well as a subsequent $25M raise for other acquisitions. David is also on the Board of Excel Polymers LLC and Lion Copolymer LLC, both $400M revenue companies, and are Lion Capital portfolio companies. David has been an active alumnus serving on several committees for both Columbia Business School and Lafayette College. David has been a guest lecturer at Columbia Business School and at Harvard University with Professor James Medoff, the Meyer Kestenbaum Professor of Labor and Industry and former advisor to the Federal Reserve Board.
David received a B.A. in history from Lafayette College and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
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Holly M. Cao
CEO, Lion Cao Asset Management
As CEO of Lion Cao, Holly also oversees the day-to-day operations of the company with David, as well as focuses on sourcing and structuring new direct investments, co-investments and fund investments, as well as new business development. She also maintains relationships with many of the fund and operating managers that Lion Cao’s principals has invested in over the years. Holly is a member of the Investment Committee.
Prior to Lion Cao, Holly was a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of The Icon Group LLC, an alternative investment firm focused primarily in hedge funds, private equity funds and direct investments for a group of families in Central America. Holly was also a Venture Partner of Point Judith Capital.
Prior to co-founding Icon, Holly spent three years at Capital Guidance, an international private investment firm in Washington, D.C. At Capital Guidance, Holly was a key member of the U.S. team investing in and managing operating companies focused on distribution, manufacturing and real estate businesses, among other industries. Holly’s primary initiatives included buying, building and managing two portfolio companies at Capital Guidance – MasterTile, a ceramic tile distribution company, and Madison Realty, an upscale retail real estate development, acquisition, and property management company that owns and manages upscale retail real estate properties. In addition, Holly also was part of the team that managed a large pool of investments in LBO and venture capital funds. Prior to Capital Guidance, Holly spent two years at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, where she worked with the Fixed Income Portfolio Management team in managing institutional client portfolios and relationships.
Prior to Goldman Sachs, Holly spent two years in Public Finance Division at Smith Barney Inc., where she structured and executed over $1 billion of debt financing for municipal clients. Holly’s prior experience also includes summer positions at McCown De Leeuw & Co. and Village Ventures. Holly is also a partner with AmViet Development Corporation, a company that invests and develops projects in Central Vietnam. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the nonprofit organizations Project W.O.R.D. and Communities in Action, Inc. in Washington, DC.
Holly received an A.B. in Economics from the University of Chicago and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Shant Sood
Investment Principal, Lion Cao Asset Management
Shant is responsible for originating and structuring new direct investments and co-investments across a range of sectors. He is a member of the Investment Committee
Prior to Lion Cao, Shant was a Vice President at Columbus Nova Partners where he focused on investments across a range of sectors including real estate, private equity, structured credit, media and entertainment and distressed assets. Columbus Nova invests capital on behalf of the Renova Group, an $18BN Russian industrial conglomerate led by Viktor Vekselberg. Shant was part of the founding team that grew assets under management from $26M in 2003 to approximately $2.8BN currently. Shant served on the Boards of a number of portfolio companies of Columbus Nova.
Prior to Columbus Nova, Shant served as a Senior Associate at Comdisco Ventures where, as part of a 5-member team, he assisted in restructuring a $2.5BN portfolio of distressed technology investments. Shant successfully resolved 50 troubled investments as part of his larger pool of 100 portfolio companies representing over $750M of par value. During this time, Shant developed extensive relationships with Tier-1 venture capital investors and gained broad experience across a range of technology sub-sectors: wireless, software, communications and semiconductors.
Prior to Comdisco, Shant worked in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group at J. P. Morgan in New York where he participated in advisory assignments to clients in consumer products retail, pharmaceuticals and financial sponsors.
Shant received a B.A, magna cum laude, in Economics and Mathematics from Cornell University and an M.B.A from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has also completed research in Economics and Computer Science at Oxford University.
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INVESTMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL (IAC)
Sandra Ell
Chief Investment Officer, California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Advisor, Lion Cao Asset Management
Sandra A. Ell is the Chief Investment Officer at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). She reports to the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees and the Vice President for Business and Finance. Caltech is a leading science and engineering private research university located in Pasadena, California. Affiliated research centers include the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Palomar Observatory, and the W.M. Keck Observatory. Sandra oversees the investment management activities of the Office of the Treasurer, including approximately $1.9BN in endowment, trust and other funds. Her responsibilities include development of asset allocation policy and strategy, investment guidelines, and endowment spending policy and strategy. She joined Caltech in 1984, and has held various management positions in finance and accounting at the university. Her prior professional experience was as an auditor at the U.S. General Accounting Office, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Libreria L’Erma Di Bretschneider, a publisher in Rome, Italy, specializing in archaeology and Roman history.
Sandra is active in her profession and community. She serves as a member of the investment and finance committees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and she also serves on limited partner advisory boards for a number of venture capital and private equity funds, including an Asia and Israeli fund. Her other activities include: member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and California Society of CPA’s, and the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies (Rome, Italy). She is a founding member of the Getty Villa Advisory Council, an oversight group for the J. Paul Getty Museum’s villa of antiquities in Malibu, and served as Commissioner of the Pasadena City Utility Advisory Commission during the State of California’s power crisis. Sandra is a frequent panelist and speaker at global investment forums, such as the Italian Hedge Fund Investors Summit in Milan and the Pensions 2000 East-Meets West Forum in Rome. Sandra received the prestigious “Medal of Excellence” from Caltech, and was honored as outstanding alumnus and inducted in the John Muir High School Hall of Fame, Pasadena.
She received her B.A. (magna cu laude) in Latin from the University of California at Berkeley, and received a fellowship from Stanford University for study at the center for Classical Studies in Rome, Italy. Sandra is a Certified Public Accountant, and completed post-graduate study in accounting and investments.
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David L. Abrams
Special Counsel
David serves as Special Counsel to Lion Cao. He is also a Director and President of Kandu Management Corp. and Silver Star Management Corp., the general partners of his family’s investment partnerships. From 1993 to 2001, David was an attorney in the corporate/securities group at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP (Washington, DC and Atlanta, GA). In his legal practice, David concentrated on regulatory compliance as well as merger, acquisition, initial public offering, and specialized transactions for investment companies and their sponsoring organizations. Until he entered the legal profession in 1990, David was Treasurer of Abrams Industries, Inc. Previously, David was a management consultant with the technology practice group at McKinsey & Company, Inc. where he assisted clients with their strategy, operations and organizational structure.
David received a B.S. in Engineering (chemical) from Princeton University, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a J.D. from University of Chicago Law School. David also earned an M.S. in Finance from George Washington University while practicing law in Washington, DC. David became a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) in 1998 and has been admitted to practice law in Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, New York and Washington, DC.
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