Byron and Rika Gill came to San Francisco in 2007 from Tokyo, where he had spent the prior 15 years. Byron is a founder and investment manager of Indus Capital Partners, an asset management company focused on Asia. From its beginning in 2000, Indus has grown to be one of the largest Asia-focused fund managers in the world with offices in New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and London as well as San Francisco. Prior to starting Indus, Byron ran the Tokyo office for Soros Fund Management. Before becoming an investor, Byron spent just under ten years in investment research at Solomon Smith Barney and Swiss Bank also in Tokyo.
Byron was born in Tokyo in 1968 where his father was responsible for running Gillette's Japan operation. After relocating to the US, Byron's family settled in Houston, Texas where he and his younger sister spent their years until college. Byron attended Brandeis University just outside of Boston, where he received a scholarship. He graduated magna cum laude with a BA in economics in 1991. Byron had always maintained an interest in Japan as well as a proficiency in the language and moved back to Tokyo where he began his career in finance.
In 2005 Byron married Rika Sato, who had just made a career shift from internet marketing consultant to French trained chef. Two years after arriving in San Francisco, their son Nathan Zenichiro Gill (Class of 2023) was born. Nathan's sister, Wynter Yoko, was born in 2012.
Since moving to San Francisco, the Gills have gradually integrated with the community through a combination of good friends, school activities, and philanthropy. Byron sits on the Board of Directors at the Basic Fund, a San Francisco based organization that provides scholarships for underprivileged Bay Area youth to enter private K-8 schools. Byron is also actively involved in the Napa based Lao Rehabilitation Foundation, a small organization that performs medical missions in remote areas of Laos, as well as building fresh water pipelines for disparate Lao communities. Byron has accompanied doctors and engineers to northern Laos in each of the last five years. Both Byron and Rika are very involved with the Montessori Children's House of the West Coast from where Nathan graduated last year, and where Byron is a Board Member in charge of the school's Strategy Committee.