Our Team

An experienced team helping clients achieve their goals for over two decades.

Senior executives Lawrence Bancroft and Kai Hong establish the firm's direction and alignment of services, oversee tactical operations, and are accountable for Bivium's overall results. They have collectively placed more than $10 billion in assets with external managers throughout their careers, including for Bivium's clients. Bivium's collaborative culture and the leadership's diverse backgrounds, innovative thinking, and hard work allow the team's best ideas to flourish. To find out more about the firm's leadership, professional team, or advisory solutions, please contact us at info@biviumcapital.com or through the website's Contact Form.

Lawrence P. Bancroft

President and CEO

Lawrence is a founding partner of Bivium Capital Partners. He is responsible for the overall direction of the firm, including managing the investment process, driving new business development and developing innovative service offerings. Lawrence has over 25 years of investment experience. His responsibilities also include investment research, client servicing, product development, portfolio construction, as well as manager search and due diligence. Prior to founding Bivium, Lawrence was employed at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York in the Investment Management Division. He was one of the first members of Goldman Sachs' external manager selection team and was involved in all aspects of the development of the group's fund of funds business. Lawrence worked on a number of the firm’s outsourced CIO client portfolios. Lawrence also spent of portion of his time evaluating diverse owned investment companies as part of the firms’ Urban Investment Group for allocation of Goldman Sachs & Co. capital. Currently Lawrence serves on the boards of Marin Community Foundation, Buck Family Fund, Green Book Ventures, Beacon Rose Partners, Xprize Racial Equity Alliance Brain Trust, and Virginia Union University. Lawrence attended Cornell University where he received his BS from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and his MPA from Cornell University School of Public Affairs. Lawrence has been with the firm since 2003.

Kai W. Hong, CFA

MANAGING PARTNER, CHIEF INVESTMENT STRATEGIST

Kai leads investment strategy and strategic research at Bivium and is responsible for asset allocation and market research, portfolio construction and risk management, manager search and due diligence, as well as product development. Kai has over 25 years of investment experience. Prior to joining Bivium, Kai was a Managing Director and the Head of Investment Management Consulting at Thomas Weisel Partners where he oversaw the outside manager investment platform for the firm's institutional and high net worth clients. Kai was formerly a Vice President and Senior Investment Analyst at Northern Trust Global Advisors where he was the lead research analyst for fixed income and the emerging manager program. Before Northern Trust, he was part of Goldman Sachs' external manager of managers group. Kai worked on a number of the outsourced CIO portfolios at both Goldman Sachs and Northern Trust. Currently, Kai serves on the board of The California Endowment. He received a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Engineering degree from MIT. He is a CFA charter holder and a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of San Francisco. Kai has been with the firm since 2010.

Mona Williams

Chief Operating Officer

Mona is Chief Operating Officer of Bivium Westfuller (BWF), a mission-aligned OCIO joint venture between Bivium Capital Partners and Westfuller Advisors, launched in 2020. As COO—the first position dedicated exclusively to the BWF partnership—she is responsible for institutionalizing the joint venture with an emphasis on operational excellence and execution, process development and implementation, and strategic growth initiatives. Mona reports dually to the respective firms' leadership, supporting the constituent firms independently as needed. Before joining BWF, Mona was President of Progress Investment Management Company, a pioneer in multi-manager investment strategies featuring diverse and women-owned firms and funds. During her 19 years with the firm, she worked with many of the country's largest and most sophisticated public funds, corporations, foundations, endowments, and Taft-Hartley organizations. Prior to serving as President, she held EVP and SVP roles with management, operational, and client-facing responsibilities and oversight. In addition, Mona served on Progress's Board of Directors, chaired its Management Committee, and was a voting member of the Investment Committee. Her earlier experience includes positions at regional and national investment firms, including Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch. Mona is currently on the board of the East Bay Community Foundation, where she serves on the Investment Committee (Chair), Finance and Budget Committee, and Program and Grants Committee. She has been a frequent industry speaker on diversity and gender equity and inclusion in asset management. Mona received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and received Series 7 and 63 licenses (inactive). Mona has been with the firm since 2023.

Tahira S. Cunningham

Senior Vice President and Relationship Manager

Tahira Cunningham is responsible for and focused on providing support for all institutional clients, streamlining strategic initiatives, cross-functional process management, and communicating objectives among and between departments. Prior to joining Bivium, Tahira was Chief of Staff at Alluma, a nonprofit social enterprise focused on connecting people to essential services by combining technology capabilities and policy expertise. While there, Tahira led the successful implementation of a company merger, organization-wide restructure, the development of a race, gender and class equity agenda, as well as the creation of a refreshed mission and vision. For over ten years, Tahira has been an advocate and philanthropist on a mission, having led the development and implementation of a $4 million investment strategy to improve health outcomes for boys and young men of color in California while at the Sierra Health Foundation, as well as leading the health policy agenda with the Greenlining Institute, the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, and the California Primary Care Association. Tahira holds a Bachelors in Psychology from Sonoma State University and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. Tahira is a board member of the United Way California Capital Region, United Way California Capital Region Foundation, and is the co-chair of the Washington Unified School District School Site Council. Tahira has been with the firm since 2022.

Doug Palenchar, IACCP®

CHIEF COMPLIANCE OFFICER AND SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS

Doug Palenchar is responsible for directing compliance and finance. He has over 20 years of experience in the financial industry, including extensive experience in compliance operations and development, internal auditing, and financial and investment operations. Doug is a sought-after speaker at national compliance conferences, speaking on such diverse topics as ethics, regulatory best practices and ERISA. Formerly, Doug was the Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Financial Officer with Denali Advisors, LLC, an asset management firm based in La Jolla, California. Prior to Denali, Doug was an entrepreneur in the San Diego area. He holds a BA in Business Economics from the University of California at Riverside, as well as an MBA and MSA from San Diego State University. Doug is also an Investment Adviser Certified Compliance Professional (IACCP®) and a member of the Bay Area Chief Compliance Officer’s Committee. Doug has been with the firm since 2011.

Luan Dinh, CFA

Senior Vice President

Luan isresponsible for manager research and due diligence, assisting the team with portfolio construction, and manager performance monitoring. Luan has over 20 years of experience in the financial industry, including portfolio construction, program trading, fund accounting, compliance oversight, and investment operations. Formerly, Luan was a Portfolio Engineer with Denali Advisors, LLC. Before joining Denali, he was a team member of TD Waterhouse Technology Brokerage Unit. Luan holds a BA in Economics from the University of California, San Diego. He is a CFA charter holder and a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of San Francisco. Luan has been with the firm since 2014.

Judy Liu, CFA

Senior Vice President

Judy is responsible for manager research and due diligence as well as manager performance monitoring. Judy has over 10 years of industry experience. Prior to Bivium, Judy was a Senior Investment Analyst/Manager Sourcing Lead at Progress Investment Management. Judy was responsible for monitoring funded strategies as well as identifying talented managers across multiple asset classes, including domestic, international and global equity, fixed income, and SRI investing. Prior to Progress, Judy was an Investment Consultant at Buck Consultants, LLC, where she was responsible for performance monitoring and evaluation, plan structure review, manager selection and due diligence analysis for pension plans, corporates, healthcare systems, endowments, and foundations. Before Buck, she was an investment banking analyst at Aurora Capital, LLC, a boutique investment bank that specializes in the life sciences sector. Judy received a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science, with a minor in Economics, from National Taiwan University and a Master of Science degree in Finance from the University of Rochester, Simon Graduate School of Business. She is a CFA charter holder and a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of San Francisco.Judy has been with the firm since 2020.

Josh Houston

Vice President

Josh is responsible for manager due diligence and assists in managing firm operations. Prior to Bivium, Josh served as Senior Analyst at Progress Investment Management, where he was responsible for operational due diligence on prospective and existing managers in client portfolios. Prior to Progress, Josh was the Risk and Compliance Officer at Ohana Advisors, where he developed and implemented the firm’s manager operational due diligence program and assisted in compliance-related oversight and projects. Before joining Ohana Advisors, Josh was an Investments and Reporting Analyst at Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii, where he focused on manager operational due diligence and provided support to the fund’s investment accounting and performance reporting activities. His earlier experience includes positions in corporate accounting at various firms in the San Francisco Bay Area. Josh is a veteran of the United States Navy, holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an M.S. in Accountancy from the University of Southern California. Josh has been with the firm since 2022.

Tung Ming

Vice President

Tung is responsible for manager research and due diligence, supporting the team with portfolio construction and manager performance monitoring. Tung has over 20 years of industry experience. Prior to Bivium, Tung served as a Senior Investment Analyst at Progress Investment Management, where he was responsible for monitoring all funded fixed-income managers and strategies and conducting portfolio analytics for fixed-income client accounts. He also has experience in research and monitoring of domestic, international, and global equity strategies. He was a lead member of Progress transition team, overseeing rebalancing and transition activities. Tung started his career at Progress Investment Management as a Portfolio Accountant with responsibilities in operations, fund accounting, calculating performance, and monitoring fund compliance. Tung holds a BA in Finance from the University of Maryland at College Park. Tung has been with the firm since 2020.

Paul Osinloye, CFA

Vice President

Paul is responsible for manager research and due diligence, assisting the team with portfolio construction, and manager performance monitoring. Paul has over 25 years of experience across multiple asset classes. Most recently, Paul was a Principal Investment Officer at the State of Connecticut’s Office of the Treasurer, where he was responsible for the management and oversight of global public equity investments. Prior to the State of Connecticut, Paul was an Investment Principal at Kuramo Capital Management, a firm that covers frontier markets, with a key focus on Africa. Asset classes and strategies include public and private equity, infrastructure and impact investing. Previously, Paul was a Director at Commonfund in the hedge fund group, and prior to that, an Analyst in the equity group. Prior to Commonfund, Paul was a Portfolio Manager at Paradigm Asset Management managing equity portfolios. Paul holds an MBA in Finance & International Business from New York University and BS in Computer Science from Hofstra University. He is a CFA charter holder and a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of New York. Paul has been with the firm since 2023.

Rob Longnecker

Vice President

Rob is responsible for manager research and due diligence, manager performance monitoring, portfolio management, and impact management and measurement. Rob has over 20 years of experience as a direct investor and fund founder in public equities. Most recently, Rob was a co-founder of Ides Capital, an ESG-focused activist investment firm where he sourced and underwrote equity investments and engaged with companies to improve their ESG profile as well as their operational and financial performance. He has been a public company director at International Aluminum and Apex Global and a non-profit director at Bresee Foundation. Rob attended Cornell University where he received his BA from the College of Arts and Sciences. Rob has been with the firm since 2023.

Leanne Gao

Associate

Leanne is responsible for client reporting, business development support, and portfolio analytics. She also assists with compliance and operations functions and various research projects. Leanne has 5 years of industry experience. Prior to joining Bivium, Leanne was a Data Analyst at Rodan+Fields, LLD, responsible for customer preferences analysis, product trends or patterns detection, as well as sales prediction. She holds a BS in Statistics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and has a Master of Computational Statistics from California State University, East Bay. Leanne has been with the firm since 2018.

Nancy Tai

Junior Investment Analyst

Nancy is responsible for client performance reporting, supporting the team with investment analysis, due diligence and research, and various investment operation's needs. Nancy previously worked in KPMG Deal Advisory in Taiwan as an intern, where she's responsible for client reporting, financial forecasting support and building interactive dashboards. She holds a Master of Science in Business Analytics from University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin School of Business and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Technology Management Division from National Taiwan University. Nancy has been with the firm since 2024.

Please see note on our legal page regarding The Chartered Financial Analyst (“CFA®”) Designation: