Trevor Kato Barker

Partner / Founder | Tech / Consumer Opportunities & Buyside Investment Opportunities for Hedge Funds and Private Equity | Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, UK, US

Tokyo, Japan

About

Executive Search focused on front office buyside investment opportunities across public equity and private equity markets for Japan, HK, SG, UK, and US. Coverage includes hedge funds (deep fundamental & platform/market neutral), single manager single CIO funds, activist engagement funds, and private equity (growth, buyout, special situations).

Experience

  • Founder / Partner at Peakpoint Search (T Kato G.K.)
    Jan 2022 - Present · 4 yrs 7 mos

    Peakpoint officially launched in November 2025 as a boutique executive search and strategic recruiting firm, built on our combined expertise in Technology, Consumer, and Buy-Side Financial Services hiring. Our core buy-side coverage includes: • Platform Hedge Funds • Deep Fundamental, Single-CIO/Single-Manager Hedge Funds • Activist Engagement Funds (multi-strat, constructive & assertive engagement) • Long-Only Absolute-Return / Alpha Funds (non-benchmark) • Private Equity (Growth, Buyout, Special Situations, Credit, Mez/Hybrid Capital) We specialize in hiring investment professionals with strong analytical depth, governance insight, sector fluency, and cross-functional potential, particularly for Japan and regional sector-specialist investment roles. Peakpoint was built to operate at the intersection of industry expertise + institutional buy-side talent needs, with a focus on expectation alignment, structured process design, and discreet, trusted execution for both corporate clients and buy-side investors. Recent Track Includes: Buy-side Investment • Japan Investment Professional, London based Japan Activist Engagement / Minority Share Fund • Japan Analyst x2, Global Platform Hedge Fund • Asia/Japan Senior Execution Trader, Global Platform Hedge Fund • APAC TMT Analyst, Multi-strategy Hedge Fund • Japan Event Driven Analyst x2, Multi-strategy Hedge Fund • Investment Analyst, Global Activist Engagement Fund • Pan Asia Analyst, Deep Fundamental Tiger Cub Hedge Fund Tech/Consumer/Start-up • Japan Associate x2, Start-up Incubator/Accelerator •. HRBP, Start-up Infrastructure Tech • Strategic Account Sales, B2B Tech Start-up • Office Manager, Start-up Infrastructure Tech

  • Principal Advisor at Voyen Group Limited
    Jul 2023 - Nov 2025 · 2 yrs 5 mos

    Executive Search focused on front office buy-side investment opportunities across Public Equity and Private Equity markets. Principal Advisor, External (2024-Present) Vice President, External (2023-2024) Coverage includes Japan, SG, HK, Korea, UK, US: -Activist Engagement Funds (multi strat, hostile activism, and friendly engagement funds) -Hedge Funds (deep fundamental & platform/market neutral) -Long Only (Non-Benchmark focused, Alpha/Absolute Return focused) -Single Manager/Single CIO Funds -Private Equity (growth, buyout, and special situations) Success Track -MD Japan Research, Deep Fundamental HF -Japan Analyst, Deep Fundamental HF -Investment Analyst, Asia Activist Engagement Fund -Investment Analyst, Global Activist Engagement Fund -Japan Analyst, Platform HF -Japan Analyst, Deep Fundamental Fund -Japan Event Driven Analyst, Platform HF -MD/Head of JP, Global PE Fund -Investment Analyst, Private Growth Investment Fund -Japan Investment Professional, Global Activist Engagement/Minority Share Fund -Investment Research Manager (on the ground), Asia based Deep Fundamental HF -Investment Analyst Event Driven + Fundamental L/S, Global Multi Strat HF -Director Head of Investor Relations/Capital Raising, Fundamental/Catalyst Driven HF -Investment Analyst, Fundamental/Catalyst Driven HF -Investment Analyst, Global Activist Engagement Minority Share Fund Achievements -H2 2023 top biller -2024 top biller -2025 top biller (ending Oct 2025)

  • Partner at Hyre
    Jan 2021 - Jul 2023 · 2 yrs 7 mos

    Start-up member heavily involved in expansion of JP organization and tech client base (both consumer tech & enterprise tech). Main focus included retained executive search, contingency search, and large scale retained project searches. Secured and involved with multiple large scale hiring projects, directly resulting in 200-500k+ USD each. Project Success Track: Asana Retained Talent Project (2021-2023) -Retained talent acquisition project with Asana & Hyre. Supported growth from Japan entry stages, and grew employees from 5 to 40+ in Japan. Elastic Retained Talent Project (2022-2023) -Retained search project for two key senior hires within the Japan organization. Palo Alto Networks Retained Talent Project (2021-2022) -Retained talent acquisition project with Palto Alto Networks & Hyre. Built out the APJ technical engineering group (10+ technical engineer hires across Japan & Australia) Foodpanda / Delivery Hero (2021-2022) -Retained talent acquisition project with Foodpanda (now under Delivery Hero) & Hyre. Supported on all hiring for Japan entry stages, growing employee size from 5 to 65+ members in Tokyo.

  • Principal at RGF Executive Search Japan
    Jan 2018 - Jan 2021 · 3 yrs 1 mo

    The top technology recruitment team in Japan by revenue, and Japan’s leading executive search firm — awarded RI Technology Recruitment Company of the Year 2019 & RI Executive Search Firm of the Year 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Principal Executive Search Consultant (Jan 2020) Senior Executive Search Consultant (Oct 2018) Executive Search Consultant (Jan 2018) Achievements -Youngest promotion to Principal level in company history -Wrote team nomination & received award for RI Japan Technology Recruitment Company of the Year 2019 -2019, Top 10 in Global Revenue (Across Japan & APAC) -2019/Q2, Top 5 in Revenue (18.5M, 185% of quarterly target) -2019/Q1, Top 5 in Revenue (23.6M, 236% of quarterly target) **CDS Executive Search was re-branded to RGF Executive Search Japan (Recruit Holdings) in April 2018**

  • Recruitment Consultant (Financial Services - Front Office Buy & Sell Side) at Michael Page
    Aug 2016 - Nov 2017 · 1 yr 4 mos

    Consultant (Dec 2016) Associate Consultant (Aug 2016) Achievement -Ended tenure as YTD 2017 Financial Services team top biller Coverage Areas (Front-office) -Sell Side: Sales & Trading, Research, IBD -Buy Side: Asset Management, Hedge Funds Key Placements -Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Division, Debt Capital Markets -Goldman Sachs Equity Research Group, Technology Sector Analyst -Goldman Sachs Sales & Trading Division, Equity Sales