Obsidian Tiger Group at Morgan Stanley

Practice Overview
As an Executive Director, Family Wealth Director, and Alternative Investment Director at Morgan Stanley, David and his team work with a limited number of ultra-high-net-worth families—primarily with ties to East Asia—on cross-border wealth structuring, institutional portfolio construction, and access to private markets.

The practice is centered on entrepreneurs and multi-generational families managing complex, globally distributed balance sheets—often in the context of capital migration, U.S. market integration, and long-term legacy planning. Engagements are highly bespoke and intentionally limited, reflecting the scale, sophistication, and cross-jurisdictional nature of each relationship.

Family Wealth Director at Morgan Stanley is a designation held by approximately 5% of advisors—focused on advising ultra-high-net-worth families with complex, cross-border, and multi-generational wealth considerations.

Background
David began his career at Morgan Stanley in New York as an Equity Research Analyst, followed by multi-asset proprietary trading experience at an Asia-based investment bank, where he managed capital across asset classes and market cycles.

He brings this institutional investment discipline to private clients, integrating public and private markets within a global framework. David is fluent in Mandarin and English and holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Georgetown University.

Practice Focus
• Cross-border structuring and capital mobility across U.S. and Asian jurisdictions
• Strategic integration into U.S. capital markets for international families
• Institutional portfolio construction spanning public and private assets
• Tax-aware portfolio transitions, particularly for concentrated and legacy positions
• Global coordination with legal, tax, and fiduciary advisors across jurisdictions

Private Markets & Alternatives
A core pillar of the practice is facilitating access to institutional-quality private investments, including:
• Private equity (buyout, growth, and secondaries)
• Hedge funds (event-driven, multi-strategy, and quantitative)
• Private credit and real assets
• Opportunistic and thematic strategies

These allocations are incorporated within a broader portfolio framework to enhance diversification, manage correlation, and access differentiated return streams not available in public markets.

Select Client Situations
• Advising a founder with significant concentrated equity exposure on systematic global diversification, incorporating both public and private markets while managing tax sensitivity
• Structuring multi-entity, multi-jurisdictional investment frameworks for families with assets and beneficiaries across the U.S. and Asia
• Leading tax-efficient transitions of legacy portfolios, including staged monetization and redeployment strategies
• Designing portfolios that integrate private markets alongside liquid assets, with an emphasis on durability of capital and reduced public market dependency
• Guiding families through capital relocation and jurisdictional diversification, balancing regulatory, tax, and investment considerations

Approach
The practice reflects an institutional investment framework applied to private wealth—combining disciplined portfolio construction, access to differentiated opportunities, and coordinated execution across investment strategy, structuring, and generational planning.