Biographies

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Marco Di Girolamo is the Founder Spoke Capital Inc., a privately-held Canadian holding company. Previously, Marco held the role of Senior Vice President at Brookfield Asset Management for more than a decade. In this capacity, he successfully raised ~$5 billion in investments across Brookfield's private funds and related co-investments. During his tenure, Marco managed select institutional relationships and launched and developed Brookfield's Single Family Office (SFO) business in Canada. Marco grew the SFO segment by more than 15x over the decade, positioning it as the largest globally.

Previously, Marco advised family offices as a Director/Portfolio Manager for UBS Private Bank, managing discretionary portfolios on an absolute return basis and leading business development activities across Canada. Portfolios included major asset classes, as well as private equity, commodities, derivatives, structured products, leverage, and other alternative investments, During his tenure, Marco was chosen by the leadership team to attend UBS' Talent Forum in Montreux, Switzerland. 

Prior to this role, Marco consulted brand name and start-up tech companies in Silicon Valley with Gartner Consulting. During his tenure, Marco developed Go-to-Market Strategies for companies like Cisco, IBM, Toshiba, Microsoft, McKesson, Intel, Adobe, Broadcom, and others. In addition, Marco designed and implemented Gartner Competitive Intelligence Methodology, winning two (2) consecutive 3-Year consulting engagements with a global security software firm.

In 2006, Marco co-founded Terra Firma, a registered charity focused on delivering critical water and power infrastructure to the world’s most disadvantaged. The inaugural project in Mozambique will deliver clean water and power to roughly 1 million people, including 240,000 children under 14 years of age. 

In 2022, Marco co-founded the Club of Florence, a global foundation, which brings together global business leaders, asset managers, investors, entrepreneurs, policymakers, academics, scientists, and artists, all unified by the dynamic narrative of "Renewed Humanism".  The Club of Florence is dedicated to helping address global challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change, and environmental degradation. The Club aligns with the principles and concepts of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 

In March 2024, the Club of Florence will bestow the "2024 Renewed Humanism Award" for Climate Finance during their inaugural symposium in Florence, Italy.

Marco completed his MBA with high distinction at the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western. Marco is also a graduate of the Vancouver Film School (VFS) with distinction and the University of Ottawa (Bachelors of Commerce).

Marco Chong is a Partner at Spoke Capital, where he brings specific expertise in technology focused venture capital and private equity - with over two decades of experience supporting startups, growth companies and corporate innovation across a broad range of industries and countries. 

Marco currently serves as a Venture Partner with Lian Group in Geneva Switzerland - a specialized private equity / direct investment firm focused on creating technology market leaders, with involvement spanning proprietary ventures through high growth pre-IPO tech companies. He is also actively engaged in directly advising startups and growth companies on capital raising, business and product strategy, and international business development. 

Prior to these roles, Marco has gained a broad experience base in technology, entrepreneurship and innovation through a variety of roles in business advisory, venture capital, strategic planning, corporate development, and investment research. Specifically, these experiences have included investment analysis and venture project management and development with an Australia-based single family office, as well as transaction advisory services for a Zurich-based boutique consulting firm supporting small and medium technology companies. 

In addition, Marco worked with Swisscom AG, Switzerland’s leading telecom operator for a decade, with roles in Corporate Strategy, International Corporate Development, and ultimately as an Investment Manager with Swisscom Ventures. During this time, Marco identified and invested in high potential startups.

Marco completed the MBA program with London Business School, and has an honors degree in Political Science and International Relations from Boston College. 

The Club of Florence will reach its one-year anniversary on September 15, 2023, and we are eager to celebrate this milestone together with  distinguished business leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and other industry leaders. We will gather at the exquisite Villa Bardini, which overlooks the historical city of Firenze to mark the special occasion.

During the Club's inaugural year, we achieved signifiant milestones. We are celebrating these accomplishments with esteemed guests and unveiling key highlights from our Strategic Plan. We will also announce the 2024 recipient of our prestigious "Renewed Humanism Award", specifically recognizing outstanding contributions in Climate Finance.