Team Bio

Franklin M. Tokioka

Founder & Chairman Emeritus

Franklin Tokioka is Chairman Emeritus of Tradewind Capital. Previously, Frank served as Chief Investment Officer of Island Insurance Company and as a Director for Tradewind Group, the parent company of Island Insurance Company and Tradewind Capital. The youngest child of Island Insurance founder Masayuki Tokioka, Frank earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts and a Masters in Business Administration degree from Stanford University. He is actively involved in community organizations including the Boy Scouts of America.

Colbert M. Matsumoto

Founder & Past Chairman

Colbert Matsumoto is the Chair of Tradewind Group. He previously served as Chairman & President of Tradewind Capital and Chairman & CEO of Island Insurance Company. Prior to joining Island Insurance, Mr. Matsumoto was engaged in the private practice of law for 20 years.

Mr. Matsumoto has been actively involved in leadership roles with various corporate, civic, and non-profit organizations, Current and past boards on which he has served include: Central Pacific Bank; City Bank; Densho; Hawaii Employees Retirement System; Hawaii Pacific Health; Hawaii Gas; Hawaiian Host, Inc.; JACL Honolulu; Japanese American National Museum; Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii; Oahu Publications, Inc.; Sutter Health Pacific; and the U.S.-Japan Council.

Mr. Matsumoto is a graduate of Lanai High School. He attended the University of San Francisco where he received his bachelor’s degree before receiving his juris doctorate from the University of California Berkeley School of Law.

Robert K.W.H. Nobriga

Chairman

Rob Nobriga is the Chairman of Tradewind Capital. Mr. Nobriga also serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Tradewind Capital’s parent company, Tradewind Group, whose business interests include investments in real estate and in companies across several industries, including insurance and technology. Prior to joining Tradewind Group in 2018, Mr. Nobriga held several Executive and Board positions in Hawaii over the past two decades including at organizations with the largest real estate portfolios in Hawaii. His executive roles have spanned multiple industries, including the banking and healthcare sectors.

Robert Q. Bruhl

President

Bob Bruhl is the President of Tradewind Capital and also serves as Chief Investment Officer of Tradewind Group. Prior to joining the firm in 2022, Mr. Bruhl served as President of D.R. Horton Hawaii, the local division of the nation’s largest homebuilder. He led a team that invested over $2B throughout Hawaii as it became the state’s leading residential developer. Prior to that, he was Vice President at The Cypress Group, a private equity partnership, worked in the Investment Banking Division of Smith Barney, Inc. (now Citigroup) in New York and at two major public accounting firms.

Kent M. Walther

Vice President

Kent Walther is Vice President of Tradewind Capital and is responsible for the company’s real estate investment portfolio. Prior to joining Tradewind Capital, Kent was an Associate at BlackSand Capital, a Hawaii-based private equity real estate investment firm, where he was a member of the firm’s acquisitions and asset management team. His experience includes serving as a Senior Financial Analyst at SunCal Companies in Southern California where he performed financial analysis and asset management pertaining to the development of $2 billion of master-planned and mixed-use communities in the Western U.S., and as a Senior Analyst at Cornerstone Research in Boston where he provided economic, financial, and statistical consulting in support of high-profile commercial litigation.

Kent holds a BA in Psychology with honors from Harvard University and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Kent is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, Lambda Alpha International, the U.S.-Japan Council, the Harvard Club of Hawaii, and the UCLA Anderson Alumni Network Hawaii Chapter, and is a former member of the board of directors of the Japanese American Citizens League Honolulu Chapter.

Tan Yan Chen

Vice President

Tan Yan Chen serves as a Vice President for Tradewind Capital where she is responsible for private equity transactions. Prior to joining Tradewind Capital, Tan Yan was Program Manager for Clean Energy Solutions in the Hawaii State Energy Office at the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. In her position, she created programs for clean energy financing, including the issuance of $150 million in green bonds. Her experience also includes Deputy Policy Advisor during the administration of former Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle.

Tan Yan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in International Relations and a Master of Arts degree in Communication from Stanford University. She is a recipient of the 2015 DBEDT Team of the Year Award, and received a Letter of Commendation from Governor Lingle for Exceptional Contribution and Outstanding Service in her role as Deputy Policy Advisor.

Edward Huang, CFA

Vice President

Edward Huang serves as Vice President of Tradewind Capital and is responsible for the company’s private equity investment portfolio. Prior to Tradewind Capital, Edward was an Associate at Morgan Stanley in its Investment Banking Division where he executed deals in the industrials and technology industries. Edward also spent time at Goldman Sachs in its Investment Management Division and PricewaterhouseCoopers as an auditor and corporate valuation consultant.

Edward holds a BS in Business Management from Babson College, a MS in Accounting from Babson College, an MBA from Columbia Business School, and is a graduate of Iolani School. He earned the CFA designation in 2015 and CPA license in 2012 (currently inactive).

Chris Fong

Senior Investment Associate

Chris Fong serves as a Senior Investment Associate for Tradewind Capital where he is a member of the real estate acquisitions and asset management team. His primary responsibilities include underwriting and analysis of new and existing investments. Previously, Chris was an Associate at BlackSand Capital, a Hawaii-based real estate private equity firm, where he was a member of the firm’s acquisitions and asset management team. Prior to that, Chris worked in the investment banking division of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in their San Francisco office where he focused on M&A and capital raising for financial institutions.

Chris holds a BS degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and is a graduate of Punahou School. He is an active member of NAIOP Hawaii and the Urban Land Institute Hawaii. Chris also sits on the boards of Make-a-Wish Hawaii Young Leaders and the GIFT Foundation.

Scott Matsuwaka

Investment Associate

Scott serves as an Investment Associate for the private equity team at Tradewind Capital. He came to TC from Trinity Investments, a Hawaii-based private equity real estate investment firm, where he was a member of the acquisitions team focused on the execution of hospitality investments. Prior to his work at Trinity, Scott worked at Hercules Capital, a venture investment firm in Palo Alto, where he was involved in the sourcing, structuring and underwriting of debt and equity investments in venture and private equity backed technology companies. Scott began his career in investment banking at Wells Fargo Securities in San Francisco, where he supported over $1.0 billion in M&A, debt and equity transactions for public and private clients.

Scott graduated summa cum laude from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and is a graduate of Iolani School.

Ting-Cheng ‘Ted’ Wen

Investment Analyst

Ted Wen serves as an Investment Analyst for Tradewind Capital where he is a member of the real estate portfolio acquisitions and asset management team. Prior to joining Tradewind Capital, he was an estimator at Swinerton Builders, a general construction contractor. His experience also includes serving as a Virtual Design and Construction Engineer at Swinerton Builders where he built and coordinated 3D virtual models to reduce on-site construction issues. He also served as a Structural Designer for Sato and Associates, a civil and structural engineering design consulting firm. Ted is a registered Professional Civil Engineer in the State of California and has passed Level 1 of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program.

Ted earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering with a Minor in Economics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Stanford University. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute and NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association.