ABOUT Our People

David Schaefer serves as the Chair of AEW's Asia Pacific region. He is a member of the AEW Asia Investment Committee, as well as AEW's Management Committee. He has more than 30 years of real estate investment experience in the Asia Pacific region. Prior roles include CEO of AEW Asia Pacific, as well as Head of Asia Pacific at Citi Property Investors, where he created Citi’s first Pan-Asia real estate opportunity fund, the $1.3 billion CPI Capital Partners Asia Pacific, L.P. Prior to Citi, he was Head of Property-Asia for Macquarie Bank, and Senior Advisor to the Schroder Asian Properties fund. Mr. Schaefer has a B.A. and M.B.A. from Cornell University.

Mr. Lee is a Managing Director, Senior Portfolio Manager for AEW’s Value-Add Strategies, Head of Private Equity and Chief Investment Officer for the AEW Asia Pacific. He is also a member of the AEW Asia Pacific Investment and Risk Management Committees. Mr. Lee is responsible for implementing the investment strategy including, sourcing, structuring and underwriting of new investment opportunities. Mr. Lee has 28 years of real estate investment experience. Prior roles include being a Director of Merrill Lynch’s Asia Opportunistic Real Estate Fund and the Global Principal Investments Group. Mr. Lee is a graduate of Cornell University (B.S.), holds an M.S. from MIT and is fluent in Mandarin and English. Mr. Lee sits on the advisory board of Cornell University’s Center for Real Estate and Finance (CREF).

Mr. Nelson is a Managing Director and a Portfolio Manager of the AEW Asia Pacific Core Strategy. In this capacity he is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the strategy's investments and operations as well as working closely with investor relations on marketing and providing support to investors. He is a member of the AEW Asia Investment and Risk Management Committees. Mr. Nelson has over 25 years of real estate experience in the Asia Pacific region. Prior to joining AEW, he served as Head of Asia Pacific Property Research for Aberdeen Asset Management and as Head of Real Estate Intelligence for Jones Lang LaSalle. He is a graduate of University of Auckland and University of Texas at Arlington (M.S. in Real Estate).

Christopher Chiang is the Head of Transactions for AEW Asia Pacific. He is responsible for leading the investment team focused on all acquisitions and sales within the region. Mr. Chiang has 25 years of real estate investment experience. Prior roles include being a Managing Director and Head of Real Estate Asia at Credit Suisse, as well as holding roles at CBRE Capital Advisors, JLL, and N.M. Rothschild & Sons. Mr. Chiang holds a B.Com in Finance from the Curtin University and a Post Grad. Diploma in Applied Finance and Investments from the Securities Institute of Australia.

As Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Asset Management, Jean-Phillippe Gaudin is responsible for Regional Asset Management in Asia Pacific. He has over 20 years of experience, with 15 years in the real estate industry working for global Institutional Investors and investment management firms. His prior recent positions include Head of Asset Management for AEW in France (July 2015 to December 2017) and Head of Asset Management for GE Capital Real Estate in France. He started his career working as a consultant in Information Systems working for PWC and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young with a focus on technology, transformation, process and change management. Mr. Gaudin holds a M.S. in Engineering from Ecole Centrale de Nantes (France) and M.B.A. from Nantes University.

Jason Maxwell is Country Manager-Australia with responsibilities including investment origination, acquisition and asset management. Jason has over 13 years of experience across a number of Australian and European markets. Prior roles include Senior Asset Management positions at both Charter Hall and Macquarie Real Estate in Sydney and London. Mr. Maxwell has a B.Com and a B. Law from the University of Wollongong in Australia.

Michael Moon is Director and Country Manager-Korea. Michael oversees the firm’s activities in Korea, which includes investment origination, acquisitions and asset management. He has over 25 years of real estate investment and asset management experience including the last 20 years in Seoul. Prior roles include Head of Macquarie Real Estate Korea. Mr. Moon has a B.A. from Northwestern State University of Louisiana and is fluent in Korean.

Yian Wang is responsible for investment and asset management in China and Hong Kong. She has more than 10 years of solid experience in real estate investment and asset management in Greater China. Ms. Wang has worked in both Mainland China and Hong Kong with prior investment management roles including Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing and Hongkong Land, a subsidiary of Jardine Matheson Group. She graduated with First Class from the University of Cambridge and has an M.A., M. Eng and B.A. in Chemical Engineering and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst. She is a native Mandarin speaker.

Kiyomasa Matsuda is Director and Country Manager for Japan. He is responsible for managing AEW’s day-to-day business activities in Japan. His real estate investment career spans nearly 20 years in Japan covering multiple asset classes and strategies. Prior to joining AEW, he was an Executive Director at Orion Partners where he was principally responsible for Orion’s investments in Japanese Senior Housing. Prior to joining Orion Partners in 2010, Mr. Matsuda held positions at CBRE Global Investors and Macquarie Group where he was in charge of acquisitions. He is a graduate of Keio University, where he earned a B.A. in business, and Rice University, where he earned an MBA. He qualified for the U.S. CPA designation and is a Licensed Real Estate Broker.

Hanna Safdar is an Associate Director and Head of Research and Strategy for AEW's Asia Pacific Region where she supports both the direct and indirect investment teams in the region. Ms. Safdar has over ten years of real estate experience which she relies on to provide research and strategy support for all new and existing property investments. She joined AEW in 2018 from Cambridge Associates, where she conducted fund manager research and due diligence projects across Asia Pacific's real estate and infrastructure managers. Prior, she also held a research position at DTZ in Singapore. Ms. Safdar has a B.Sc Real Estate from the National University of Singapore.

Jeff Furber joined AEW in 1997 and from 1999 to 2020 served as Global Chief Executive Officer. In 2020, Mr. Furber transitioned from Global Chief Executive Officer to the newly created role of Global Chairman, primarily overseeing the completion of a firm-wide leadership succession plan. He retired from AEW in 2023.

Under his leadership, AEW experienced extraordinary growth, expanding from a small U.S.-focused firm with $8 billion of assets under management to a $90 billion¹ global real estate platform with 18 offices and over 800 professionals offering institutional investors diversified real estate strategies in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Mr. Furber is a member of the Board of STAG Industrial Inc. (NYSE: STAG), the Boston Children's Hospital Trust; and the Ogunquit Playhouse, as well as a former member of the Board of The Howard Hughes Corporation (NYSE: HHH). He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Business School.

¹ As of June 30, 2023. AEW includes (i) AEW Capital Management, L.P. and its subsidiaries and (ii) affiliated company AEW Europe SA and its subsidiaries. AEW Europe SA and AEW Capital Management, L.P. are commonly owned by Natixis Investment Managers and operate independently from each other. Total AEW AUM of $90.7 billion includes $41.9 billion in assets managed by AEW Europe SA and its affiliates, $5.3 billion in regulatory assets under management of AEW Capital Management, L.P., and $43.5 billion in assets for which AEW Capital Management, L.P. and its affiliates provide (i) investment management services to a fund or other vehicle that is not primarily investing in securities (e.g., real estate), (ii) non-discretionary investment advisory services (e.g., model portfolios) or (iii) fund management services that do not include providing investment advice. Staff and offices include AEW Capital Management, L.P. and AEW Europe SA and their respective subsidiaries.

John Cho is a Director in AEW’s Investor Relations Group and is responsible for developing and maintaining client and consultant relationships in the Asia Pacific region. Mr. Cho has more than 14 years of real estate experience in Asia, Europe and North America. Prior to joining AEW, he was Senior Portfolio Manager at National Pension Service of Korea. He has also held real estate investment position at Hana Alternative Asset Management. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Real Estate & Urban Economics.

Mr. Sparrow is an Associate Director and the Head of Client Services in Asia Pacific based in the firm’s Singapore office. He is responsible for maintaining client and consultant relationships in the Asia Pacific region. Prior to joining AEW, Mr. Sparrow was with UBS Asset Management for 13 years covering various functions from risk management to client services. Mr. Sparrow has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Melbourne, Australia and is a CFA.

Steven Song is an Assistant Director in AEW's Investor Relations Group and is responsible for developing and maintaining client and consultant relationships in the Asia Pacific region. Mr. Song has experience in private markets across Asia, Europe and North America. Before joining AEW, he was Senior Investment Manager at Meritz Securities in Korea, responsible for real estate investment and asset management. Prior to that, he held private debt investment and leveraged finance roles. He is a graduate of Emory University and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Economics and Mathematics.