Asian Americans, despite their growing presence and influence, often encounter career obstacles and inequities, particularly in fields like corporate real estate. This panel will delve into the career journeys and experiences of our distinguished panelists, exploring the evolving landscape of the real estate industry and the specific challenges Asian Americans may face in breaking through potential career ceilings. Our panelists will share their insights and offer valuable advice to Asian Americans aspiring to leadership roles in corporate real estate.

The panel will be moderated by Kevin Feng of Southpoint Capital. The webinar will be one hour long. The audience will have the opportunity to ask questions during the last ten minutes of the webinar.

Devin Chen
Senior Managing Director, Head of Private Equity Portfolio Management Principal Asset Management

Devin Chen is Senior Managing Director at Principal Real Estate, the dedicated real estate investment team of Principal Asset Management. He oversees the firm’s private equity portfolio management group and is a member of the Investment Committee. In this leadership role, Devin is focused on driving investment performance, working closely with the portfolio management and investment production teams. In addition, he plays an integral role in the overall strategic direction of the business and fostering strong client and consultant relationships globally.

Devin joined the firm in 2024 from PIMCO, where he was a founding member of the firm’s commercial real estate business and served as Executive Vice President, Portfolio Manager and Head of U.S. Real Estate Private Equity and Special Situations. Devin was a member of PIMCO’s real estate equity and debt investment committees.

Prior to joining PIMCO in 2010, Devin was a Managing Director at real estate private equity firm JER Partners and a member of its investment committee. He began his career in the fixed income group of Banc of America Securities.

Devin has over 27 years of investment experience and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Georgetown University.

Matthew Choi
Senior Investment Director
AustralianSuper

Matthew Choi is currently a Senior Investment Director in the Private Credit group at AustralianSuper. Matthew is based in New York and is responsible for leading AustralianSuper’s Real Estate Debt investment activities in the Americas, including originations, portfolio management, and overall strategy. Additionally, Matthew is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Real Estate Development graduate program at Columbia University, where he has been teaching since 2017.

Prior to joining AustralianSuper in 2024, Matthew was a Director at Granite Point Mortgage Trust (NYSE: GPMT) for nine years. In this role, Matthew specialized in sourcing, structuring, and executing real estate debt investments in all U.S. markets. Over Matthew’s career, he has closed over $3 billion in investments across the capital stack, including senior and subordinated mortgages, mezzanine loans and preferred equity, joint venture equity, and other structured products such as loan acquisitions (SPLs/NPLs) and new-issue CMBS B-Piece bonds. Prior to Granite Point, Matthew held investment positions at Torchlight Investors, Cerberus Real Estate Capital Management and GreenOak Real Estate. Matthew began his career as an Investment Banking Analyst in the Real Estate, Gaming, Lodging and Leisure group at Credit Suisse.

Matthew has a M.S in Real Estate Development from Columbia University, where he was a recipient of the Scholastic Performance Award for the top 3 graduates. He also has a B.A. in Business Economics from UCLA, where he graduated cum laude and with College Honors.

Kevin Feng
Investor
Southpoint Capital

Kevin Feng is a Senior Analyst at Southpoint Capital, a long/short equities hedge fund in New York. Prior to Southpoint Capital, he was a Partner at Palestra Capital, a long/short hedge fund in New York where he specialized in investments in the industrials, materials, and energy sectors.

Prior to Palestra, he was an Analyst at Davidson Kempner Partners, from 2008 to 2012 where he researched companies in the industrials, consumer, energy and business services industries. He began his career as an Analyst at Bain Capital’s credit investment business, Sankaty Advisors from 2007 to 2008, where he analyzed credit and equity investments across a range of industries.

He graduated cum laude from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in 2007.