Our Team

Theekharoj (Bank) Piamphongsarn
Chief Executive Officer and Head of Operations

Theekharoj Piamphongsarn, known as Bank among his friends and colleagues, joined Ascend Wealth in 2018 as a result of a friendly merger with Aurus Asset Management Pte. Ltd., also a Singapore-based Asset Management company which he co-founded in 2010. He brings with him almost a decade of exceptional success in providing strength and leadership in the areas of finance, marketing and operational execution. Bank oversaw and managed overall project developments at Aurus, while keeping close relationships with financial institutions & government agencies, which as a result, allowed the company to grow its main activity in the Asset Management business of High Net Worth Individuals with its primary focus in Asia.

Raised and educated in Switzerland from the age of 5, and from where he received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from the University of Applied Science in Zurich, Bank immediately embarked upon a distinguished career in Private Banking, starting with Swiss Bank Corporation, Zurich in 1997, and progressing up the ladder in various Wealth Management positions with UBS AG that soon landed him in Singapore in 2005 as Client Advisor at UBS, Wealth Management Department covering the Financial Intermediary and Thai Market. Subsequently, Bank made the decision to service HNWI clientele by joining Bank Julius Baer, Singapore as Client Advisor for South East Asia Market, a position that he held until the end of 2009, when he then co-founded Aurus.

Fluent in English, German & Thai, Bank combines the astuteness and attention to detail of a Swiss Banker with the passion for life and creativity of a Thai entrepreneur. This combination serves him extremely well in understanding the complexities of doing business in Asia and how to identify opportunities and strategies that lead to profitable value investing for clients and partners.

Phantira Vergara
Managing Director, Client Advisory and Senior Portfolio Manager

Phantira Vergara is a distinguished investment professional with over two decades of international experience in private equity and wealth management. She currently serves as an Investment Board Member for Thailand’s Social Security Fund Office, appointed in 2024 by the nation’s first-ever elected Social Security Board. In this role, she advises on best practices for allocation to world-class alternative investments, with the aim of enhancing portfolio performance and ensuring long-term sustainability for Thailand’s largest fund serving over 25 million people.

Prior to joining AW in 2025, Phantira was an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs in Singapore from 2015 for almost a decade. She was the firm’s only Thai private wealth advisor globally and played a pivotal role in rebuilding and expanding the firm’s Thai ultra high net worth client base. Her clientele included individuals and families with net worths exceeding US$100 million (UNHW) with many surpassing US$1 billion (Ultra Rich). Phantira’s ability to combine institutional expertise with cultural fluency earned her the Goldman Sachs prestigious OneGS Award, recognizing her leadership in driving cross-divisional deals totalling over US$500 million across Investment Banking, Securities, Merchant Banking and Asset Management Divisions.

Phantira began her banking career as the youngest Client Relationship Officer at EFG Private Bank in Singapore in 2007, where she successfully retained client trust through the global financial crisis, and continues to maintain these relationships till today.

Earlier, she had served as a Management Associate at Citibank in Bangkok in 2006 and Associate to the Regional Head of High Net Worth Markets at Société Générale’s Paris headquarters in 2004, where she was the only Thai among thousands of employees. These formative experiences laid the groundwork for her international finance career.

Fluent in Thai, English and French, with working knowledge of Japanese, Phantira brings a rare blend of financial acumen and cross-cultural insight. Having lived in several global cities including Paris, Geneva, London, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore and Bangkok, she offers a truly global perspective on investment strategy, family governance, and wealth planning. Her core areas of expertise include portfolio management, private equity, capital markets, real estate and multi-generational estate planning tailored for family office.

Jackson Yu
Managing Director, Client Advisory and Senior Portfolio Manager

Jackson joins Ascend Wealth in August 2020 as a Managing Director.  Armed with over 30 years of experience in the financial industry, Jackson specialised in managing assets for ultra-high net worth investors for their investment needs.

Before this, Jackson had been a senior investment consultant in a few major private banks in Hong Kong such as Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Citibank, focusing on North Asian clients.

Prior to his career in the private banking sector, Jackson has been a FX & Treasury trader for Citibank, Toronto Dominion Bank, Royal Trust Asia and Credit Agricole.

Jackson was born and raised in Hong Kong.  He is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Samuel Cheung
Executive Director, Client Advisory and Portfolio Manager

Samuel joins Ascend Wealth in August 2020 as an Executive Director and Portfolio Manager, bringing along more than 15 years of experience in the private banking industry.

Samuel started his career as an auditor in Ernst & Yong Hong Kong.  Due to his strong interest in the financial industry, he decided to join JPMorgan Private Bank in Hong Kong as an investment consultant in 2006.

In 2010, Samuel went on to Deutsche Bank Wealth Management as an Executive Director, managing investment portfolios for ultra-high net worth clients.

Samuel holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University of Calgary in Canada.  Born in Hong Kong and raised in Canada, Samuel is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Melissa Ong
Senior Relationship Management Associate

Melissa has worked in the financial industry since 2010, starting as an Institutional Credit Sales officer in Credit Agricole CIB before moving on to a client servicing role at Merrill Lynch’s Private Wealth segment. She then joined Aurus Asset Management, an External Asset Management company in late 2013 before moving to Ascend Wealth in August 2018.

Melissa graduated from Singapore Management University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and is Singaporean.

Joey Cheang
Junior Relationship Management Associate

Joey joins Ascend Wealth in June 2022 as a Junior Relationship Management Associate with over 5 years of experience across the Banking and Commodities industries. Her most recent role was at DBS Bank as a Product Controller supporting the Interest Rate Derivatives and Structuring Desk.

Joey graduated from Singapore Management University with a Bachelor of Business Management, with a major in Finance.

Veron Ow
Compliance Officer

Veron joins Ascend Wealth in June 2016, after having been in the banking industry commencing from 1998. Since then, she has worked in retail, private and investment banks such as DBS, Goldman Sachs and UBS AG.

Her experience spans extensively from operations, to middle office, to client-facing front office. In her previous position with UBS AG prior to joining Ascend Wealth, she started out in their securities operations team under the investment banking arm in 2003. By 2006, she has progressed to her client servicing role in their High Net Worth client segment for the SEA region in the wealth management team.

Veron holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Monash University (Australia) and is Singaporean. Furthermore, she is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) under ACAMS, the world’s largest organisation dedicated to fighting financial crime.