About Us

David Shirt has been in Japan for a total of 18 of the last 25 years and has worked in the equity market throughout at institutions such as JP Morgan Securities, Jefferies Japan and lately Macquarie Capital Securities Japan Limited.

In 2004 he became Head of Sales at JP Morgan Securities in Japan and Head of Equity in 2009. Later in 2014 David became the Branch Manager and Representative for Jefferies Japan, and from 2015 onwards he was employed as Country Head of Macquarie Capital Securities, Japan Limited. 

David majored in Japanese at the University of Sheffield in the UK and is proficient in Japanese.

Tom has worked as an accountant in the financial services industry in Tokyo for more than 20 years.

Initially coming to Japan for a role at Lehman Brothers, he worked at Deutsche Bank with his most recent role at MetLife Insurance. He has held various senior finance roles in controlling, financial planning & analysis, and project management.

Tom is a qualified accountant (CPA Australia) and is proficient in Japanese.

Keiichiro has been in the financial industry for more than 25 years. He has worked at Salomon Brothers, Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch, and Citigroup with experience in various departments including Operations, Technology, Finance and Compliance. 

He has also helped foreign financial firms set up business in Tokyo. 

Adrian has an MBA from Bristol University and the ENPC in Paris, and speaks several languages fluently including Japanese, Mandarin, Russian and French. Adrian first came to Japan in 1987. On the sell side at companies such as CLSA and Commerzbank Adrian visited hundreds of small and middle-sized companies across Asia. He concentrates on identifying quality businesses.

Michael has held sell-side roles in quantitative and fundamental research stretching back 15 years. He was previously at Lehman Brothers Securities in Tokyo and Nomura Securities in Hong Kong and most recently, Jefferies. 

He builds value-added quantitative models that become key components of client investment decisions. 

Michael graduated with an MBA from the University of Toronto and is a CFA charterholder.

Ian has been active as a commodity analyst for over 20 years at consulting firm CRU Group, the SMM and Rio Tinto. On the sell-side he held positions at CLSA and Macquarie. He lived in China from 2003 to 2014 and Singapore from 2014 to 2021, during which time he has developed and built unparalled expertise in ferrous, non-ferrous and new energy (renewables) markets. Ian is well-known in the commodity industry, and frequently invited as a lecture speaker at conferences and industry events.

Will has worked for some of the biggest investment banks and global hedge funds, in a career spanning over 20 years. 

Will covers two primary areas of expertise:  Japanese Real Estate (8+ years) and Japanese Factory Automation/Machinery (14+ years ).

Prior to joining Astris, he worked most recently for Jefferies, CLSA, and Macquarie. In recent years he had multiple Starmine awards for earnings accuracy and stock picking. He visits companies and trade shows regularly and maintains a Rolodex of unique industry contacts. 

Hiroyuki  has been working extensively in financial markets both domestic and offshore for over 25 years. 

During 10 years working at Macquarie Japan, where he used to work very closely with the founders of Astris Advisory Japan, he proactively sought business/cross selling opportunities in the area of cash equity sales and ECM related businesses . He also worked for CLSA Japan, ABN AMRO, Deutsche Bank both in Australia as well as in London.

He can work with both domestic and offshore asset managers, pension funds, institutions as well as corporate for any financial services you may have.

Andrew has lived in Japan for 25 years, with 20 years of Japanese equity experience.

He started his career with 10 years on the sell-side as an analyst covering the automotive sector at Citigroup, KBC, and BNP Paribas, and then switched to the buy-side, initially at Rockhampton Management and most recently at Point 72 Asset Management, mainly covering the broader automotive sector.

He is a fluent Japanese speaker, having come to Japan on a Monbusho Japanese government scholarship, and is a graduate of Kobe University where he majored in Economics.

Hiroshi was a ranked equity analyst at KBC Securities Japan and JPMorgan Securities in Tokyo covering Japanese tech stocks. In London, he worked in Pan Asian Equity sales at Daiwa Capital Markets, and then switched to the buy-side as an analyst at a thematic robotics and automation fund, and co-founded a global high-quality franchise fund. Qualifying at KPMG, Hiroshi is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Tim has worked in investment banking for over 15 years in the UK and Japan. He has held positions in sales in Japanese equities at companies such as Daiwa, Morgan Stanley, and Mizuho as well as roles within the research department. Tim has covered Japan specialist clients and global institutional accounts in Europe, with a focus on Japanese small-cap stocks. He lived in Japan for over 12 years and reads and speaks Japanese fluently.

Courtney has extensive experience in Japanese and Asian equities over the last 20 years.  He was a salesperson at Cazenove and KBC focused primarily on small-mid cap companies in Japan before joining Citi covering US institutional investors for 12 years for the broader Japanese market and the  Pan Asia technology sector until 2017.  He most recently worked in New York at Macquarie as a Japan/Pan Asia salesperson until 2019.

Makoto Hojo has over 14 years of experience in the finance industry, including 5 years on the buy-side and 6 years on the sell-side. She has extensive experience in qualitative and quantitative research on stocks and macroeconomics and in preparing asset management investment reports. She also plans and manages investor events. She has worked for Viking Global Investors, CLSA, and Lombard Odier.