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Matthews Asia Funds Board of Trustees

We believe diversity on the Board is critical to the success of Matthews Asia and our ability to create long-term value for our clients, employees, and the communities where we live and work.

Gale K. Caruso

Chair of the Board of Trustees

Gale Caruso is Chair of the Board of Trustees, and has served as a Matthews Asia Funds Trustee since 2015. She has more than 30 years of financial services experience in the U.S. and Canada, including extensive credentials in the mutual fund business. Gale served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Zurich Kemper Life from 1999 to 2003, and was Chairwoman, President and Chief Executive Officer at Scudder Canada Investor Services, Ltd. and a Managing Director of Scudder Kemper Investments, Inc. Prior to Scudder, she was a Vice President of PaineWebber, responsible for the launch and management of PaineWebber's proprietary family of mutual funds. Gale serves on the Governing Council of the Independent Directors Council (IDC) and on the Board of Governors of the Investment Company Institute, and also serves as a Trustee of the Pacific Funds and the Pacific Select Funds. She received a B.S. in Psychology from Franklin & Marshall College, where she graduated with honors.



Cooper Abbott, CFA, CAIA

Chief Executive Officer

Cooper Abbott is Chief Executive Officer at Matthews. Prior to joining Matthews in 2022, Cooper served as President and Chairman at Carillon Tower Advisors where he founded and built a global multi-boutique asset management company providing equity, fixed income, and multi-asset class solutions for institutional and retail investors, globally. Cooper has more than two decades of senior investment management experience that has focused on delivering creative solutions and investment outcomes that meet client needs. He has established growth platforms for a diverse range of investment management businesses that includes public and private markets, institutional and wealth channels, all with a focus on building scale and global reach for exceptional investment partnerships. He earned his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his B.A. with honors from Brown University. Cooper is a Fulbright Fellowship recipient.



Neal Andrews

Matthews Asia Funds Trustee

Neal Andrews joined as a Matthews Asia Funds Trustee in 2024. He has 35 years of experience in the financial services industry. Neal was a Managing Director at BlackRock Inc. from 2006 through 2020, responsible for administration/treasury oversight of the firm’s U.S. mutual funds, ETFs and collective investment trusts. He was Chief Financial Officer of BlackRock Funds (2007-2020), and BlackRock iShares (2019). Prior to BlackRock, Neal was with PFPC Inc. (a subsidiary of PNC Bank NA). He was Senior Vice President and Line of Business Head of PFPC’s Fund Accounting and Administration Division, which provided accounting, tax, financial reporting and regulatory services to mutual fund and alternative investment clients. Neal began his career at Price Waterhouse LLP in their Financial Services Group, serving mutual fund, bank, and broker-dealer clients. He received a B.S. in Accounting with honors from Temple University.



Christopher Lee

Matthews Asia Funds Trustee

Christopher Lee has been a Matthews Asia Funds Trustee since 2015, and has more than 25 years of global financial markets experience in managing derivative product development and marketing activities to institutional clients. He is currently a partner at FAA Investments, and has served as an independent non-executive board director with publicly traded companies listed in Australia and Hong Kong. Previously, he headed key units of two major investment banks, as Head of global markets investment products at Deutsche Bank and as Managing Director of equity derivatives at UBS Investment Bank in the Asia Pacific Region. He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA in Finance from the University of California, Berkeley. He is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.



Richard K. Lyons

Matthews Asia Funds Trustee

Richard Lyons rejoined the Matthews Asia Funds Board of Trustees in 2010. He had previously served as a Trustee from the inception of the Fund family in 1994 through 2006, serving as the Funds' independent Chairman for eight of those years. He was the Dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley from 2008 through 2018. Prior to becoming Dean, he served as the Chief Learning Officer at Goldman Sachs in New York. Dean Lyons has taught at both the Haas School of Business and Columbia Business School. He received his B.S. in Finance with highest honors from UC Berkeley and his PhD from MIT in Economics.



Rhoda Rossman

Matthews Asia Funds Trustee

Rhoda Rossman has been a Matthews Asia Funds Trustee since 2006. From 1997 until 2010 she was a Portfolio Manager for the PMI Group, Inc., most recently as Vice President and Corporate Investment Officer. She previously held portfolio management positions with Montgomery Asset Management, Wells Fargo Investment Management, RCM Capital Management and Benham Mutual Funds. She received a B.S. from Michigan State University and a Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University.



Jonathan F. Zeschin

Matthews Asia Funds Trustee

Jonathan F. Zeschin has been a Matthews Asia Funds Trustee since 2007, and has served as Chair of the Board of Trustees from 2014 to 2021. He is the Founder and Partner/CEO of Essential Investment Partners, LLC, an independent investment counsel and wealth management firm. Jonathan has more than 40 years of experience in the investment management business, including senior executive positions with Founders Asset Management, INVESCO and Stein Roe & Farnham. He holds a Masters of Management degree from Northwestern University and earned a B.B.A in Accounting with distinction from the University of Michigan. He is licensed as a CPA in Colorado and is a Certified Financial Planner™ certificant.