Our team

Experience across markets, research, and portfolio management.

FWI brings together investment practitioners, geopolitical-risk researchers, and experienced advisors with perspectives formed across the world’s major financial centers.

Leadership

Our co-founders

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Larry Chan

Larry is a Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Free World Investment. Previously, he held positions as a Managing Director and Executive Director at major U.S. investment banks across market making, quantitative strategies, portfolio construction, and trading and investment risk management. Although primarily based in New York, he frequently conducted business in London and spent time in Hong Kong as an APAC division head. Larry received his MBA in Finance from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He graduated from Stony Brook University as valedictorian with a B.Sc. (magna cum laude), majoring in Applied Mathematics & Statistics and Computer Science.

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Daniel Wong

Daniel is a due diligence analyst with extensive research experience in business intelligence and political risk analysis. Previously, he was a researcher in International Political Economy and contributed to projects on global derivatives regulatory reform, China’s economic statecraft and financial internationalization, and state capitalism in authoritarian states. Daniel earned an MSc in Global Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA in Social Policy and Administration from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, graduating with First Class Honours and Dean’s List recognition. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Extended expertise

Advisors & investment management

Honorary Advisor

Professor Joseph Yizheng Lian

Professor Lian obtained his B.A. (magna cum laude) in Mathematics from Carleton College and his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Minnesota, where he wrote his dissertation under 2004 Nobel laureate Edward C. Prescott. He taught at Tulane University, the University of California, Riverside, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He served as a senior policy advisor in the Central Policy Unit of the Hong Kong SAR Government and was chief editor and lead writer of the Hong Kong Economic Journal. From 2010 to 2022, he taught in Japan at Akita International University and Yamanashi Gakuin University. Professor Lian has published extensively and was a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times from 2014 to 2021.

Honorary Advisor

Gordon Poon

Gordon Poon obtained his B.B.A. from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and his MBA from IMI Geneva, now IMD. He began his financial career in Hong Kong in 1981 as an interbank foreign-exchange trader and has more than three decades of experience in international banking and finance, global capital markets, and investment. His senior roles spanned London, Tokyo, Toronto, and Hong Kong. Now retired from active finance and based in London, Gordon devotes his time to writing, publishing, and research on culture and history. He has written for the Hong Kong Economic Journal and other international publications, taught finance and management, and spoken at business schools and regulatory institutions.

Portfolio Manager and Founder of Running Oak Capital

Seth L. Cogswell

Seth is the Managing Partner and Founder of Running Oak Capital and Co-Portfolio Manager of Efficient Growth. Before founding Running Oak, Seth was a trader and portfolio manager of the Trillium Multi Horizon Fund, a multi-strategy long/short hedge fund. He received his MBA from The Wharton School, where he was a recipient of the Goldman Sachs H.R. Young Scholarship, and his undergraduate degree in Decision Making Sciences and Operations Research from the University of North Carolina.

Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of Running Oak Capital

Jeff Broders

Jeff is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of Running Oak Capital. Before joining Running Oak in September 2021, Jeff was Head of U.S. Product Strategy & Development for Principal Global Investors, a multi-boutique investment management firm. Jeff received his Master of Financial Management degree from Drake University and his B.A. from the University of Northern Iowa.

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