Leadership

Legacy's senior leadership team has significant experience investing in Asia and possesses a wide network of relationships with private equity firms and investment banks in the region.

Robert Choi
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Choi is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Legacy Partners. Mr. Choi began his career in investment banking, working in the Corporate Finance Department at Bear Stearns & Co. and in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Wasserstein Perella. During his career, Mr. Choi has completed over 100 transactions.  His notable investments include leading the early investments in Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), ANT Financial, Sinopec Marketing, Face++, Moelis & Company (NYSE: MC) and First Republic Bank (NYSE: FRC).

Mr. Choi serves on the Board of Directors of York Capital (an affiliate of Credit Suisse), the Advisory Board of Starwood Capital Fund VII and Fund VIII and the Starwood MRV Brazil Fund, the Board of Advisors of Boyu Capital Fund I.  He previously served on the Board of Directors of Moelis & Company.

Mr. Choi received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. from the University of Southern California. Mr. Choi is a member of the Global Advisory Board of Harvard Business School.

 

James Gertler
Vice Chairman and Senior Managing Director

Mr. Gertler is Vice Chairman and Senior Managing Director of Legacy Partners. He is also Trustee and Advisor to the Zuckerman Family Office, Institute and Foundation.

In addition, Mr. Gertler is a director of the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University, the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a member and trustee of New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He is also a governor of the International Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University, The Weizmann Institute and Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. He also has held positions in investment banking at Merrill Lynch & Co.

Mr. Gertler received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Economics, magna cum laude, from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Greig Saggers
President

Mr. Saggers is President of Legacy Partners. Prior to joining Legacy, he was with Q Investments in Fort Worth, Texas, where he focused on credit investments and emerging-market private equity investments. Q Investments was founded and is managed by former investment professionals for the Bass family. Previously, Mr. Saggers was with Tiedemann Distressed Opportunities, most recently as a Senior Vice President. Mr. Saggers has also held investment banking and private equity positions at J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bison Capital Asset Management, and Weiss, Peck & Greer Investments.

Mr. Saggers holds an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where he was an Edward Tuck Scholar, and he received a B.A. from Dartmouth College. He has spent ten years living in the Asia-Pacific region.

 

Russell Riopelle
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Riopelle is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Legacy Partners. Mr. Riopelle has over 20 years of experience in finance at a senior level, both as an investment banker and as a Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Riopelle formerly worked as an investment banker with Banc of America Securities, US Bancorp Libra and M.J. Whitman & Co. In addition, he was the Chief Financial Officer at Cherokee Inc. (now known as Apex Global Brands Inc.), a publicly-traded global brand management and licensing company, where he was part of an executive management team responsible for overseeing the operations, financial planning and strategy, investor relations, and all accounting, tax and regulatory compliance. He was also involved with extending the company’s brands in China and other international markets.

Mr. Riopelle received an M.B.A. from the Anderson School at UCLA, and he currently serves as the Alumni President for the Class of 1992. Mr. Riopelle received his B.A. in Economics from Harvard University.

 

Amanda Hill
General Counsel

Ms. Hill is General Counsel of Legacy Partners. Prior to joining Legacy, Ms. Hill represented clients in the financial services industry on complex commercial matters, including litigation and contract negotiation. She is a prior member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors of the Beverly Hills Bar Association Barristers.

Ms. Hill holds a B.A. from Pepperdine University and a J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill, where she was on the executive board of the University of North Carolina Banking Institute Journal.