May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, a time dedicated to celebrating the rich history and contributions of AAPI communities. During this month, it's essential to share the stories of Asian American women who have overcome systemic challenges to establish and lead successful companies and teams, celebrating their triumphs.
A study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that Asian Americans hold only 3% of executive positions in the United States. Additionally, a 2020 Diversity in US Startups report showed that out of the $68 billion invested in startups by leading venture capital funds, merely 17% was allocated to Asian founders.
1. Ann Minooka
Chief Marketing Officer at Synopsys
Marketing executive with a proven track record driving corporate brand transformation, digital marketing, and building strategic ecosystem relationships; Demonstrated success leading communication strategy for complex M&A projects; Unique expertise in working with China and building China business strategy; An investor of early-stage startups.
2. Ann Yeung
Vice President of Engineering, Head of Enterprise Engineering at GEICO
Ann is a senior technology executive with over 20 years of experience in industries like distribution, tech services, financial services, fintech, and insurance. She has excelled in roles ranging from production support associate to technology executive, focusing on software engineering culture, team motivation, change management, mentoring, and business performance. Ann was recognized on Crain’s 40 under 40, InvestmentNews’ 40 under 40, and Crain’s Tech 50 lists in 2018, and received the ApplaudHer Senior Leadership Award from Women Who Code in 2017.
3. Anne Chow
Founder and CEO at The Rewired CEO
Anne Chow is the CEO of AT&T Business and heads the Business Solutions division, which employs over 30,000 staff and serves nearly 3 million business clients. Her division is dedicated to assisting Microsoft, Texas A&M, and other organizations in reducing one gigaton of greenhouse emissions by 2035.
Anne is the first female and the first woman of color to become CEO in the history of AT&T. She is a board member at FranklinCovey, known for its expertise in organizational performance, consulting, and training.
Anne has also served on the board of the Asian American Justice Center, an organization committed to promoting the human and civil rights of Asian Americans. Additionally, she is ranked 44th on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list.
4. Anu Bharadwaj
President of Atlassian
Anu Bharadwaj, the current President of Atlassian, grew up in India and took an unconventional route to reach her current position. She began her career at Microsoft and spent over a decade creating various products for Microsoft Visual Studio. In 2014, she joined Atlassian as the Head of Product for Jira and has since held several other positions at the company, including Chief Operating Officer. She is now the highest-ranking woman at the collaboration software company. She has a reputation as a powerful executive, known for growing businesses worth over $500 million, building strong teams, and delivering successful products.
Anu is passionate about creating positive transformative changes wherever she goes. She strongly believes in developing diverse teams and advocating for women's empowerment to help them advance their careers and make a difference.
5. Aruna Narayanan
Principal Software Architect at GEHealthCare
As a Principal Software Architect in GE Healthcare’s Edison Platform organization, Aruna leads the architectural effort in building Edison AI platform that can help build AI models at scale and successfully contributed to deploying multiple AI solutions on GEHC devices, on premise and on cloud. She collaborates across multiple GE Healthcare businesses to enable their digital transformation and speed of execution while consuming the Edison platform solution.
6. Bo English-Wiczling
Senior Director, Database Product Management at Oracle
Bo English-Wiczling is the Chair for the OPAL Board and an executive in the Oracle Database Product Management team responsible for transforming the way developers use Oracle Database products and services. She joined Oracle almost 7 years ago from Amazon, and has more than 27 years of experience in Tech, leading large-scale development teams, creating enterprise programs and startups from scratch. She enjoys solving impossible challenges, including the first mobile phone activation platform at Best Buy used by 29 different Telcos across NA and Europe; the first Anti-Money Laundering platform at Amazon for millions of 3rd party marketplace sellers; and the first Developer Relations org in Oracle Marketing that transformed the culture at Oracle for interacting with millions of developers worldwide.
7. Carol Kim
Executive Director, Global Real Estate at IBM
Carol Kim is an Executive Director at IBM, a world leader in information technology headquartered in Armonk, New York, with more than 260,000 employees operating in over 170 countries.
Ms. Kim brings more than 20 years of experience in leadership roles spanning various Finance & Operations disciplines (Chief Data Office, Finance & Planning, Pricing, Treasury), geographies (Americas, Asia) and business models (Services, Hardware, Software). She is a finance, data, AI and business transformation expert. She has consistently and successfully scaled operations, driven growth, and improved profitability by effectively leading teams to adapt new business models rapidly and effectively at key inflection points in the company’s lifecycle.
8. Devi Kyanam
VP, Global Head of Data Engineering and Decision Intelligence at The Coca-Cola Company
Devi is the VP, Global Head of Data Engineering and Decision Intelligence at The Coca-Cola Company, where she drives the data strategy for the company and leads data engineering, data architecture and data science teams across the globe. Devi has a rich background in leading large-scale data organizations for companies such as Target Corporation, United Health Group, and Alight Solutions. Her experience ranges from leading cross-functional teams for Data Science and Analytics to working hands-on with Engineering teams.
9. Elaine Zhou
Co-CEO at SageCXO
Elaine Zhou is the Chief Technology Officer at Change.org, the world's largest nonprofit-owned social change platform with over 600 million users globally. She leads a growing global engineering team of 70, pushing Change.org to the forefront of Responsible AI, enhancing platform capability and scalability with distributed cloud infrastructure, and ensuring user engagement through accessibility and a delightful experience. Before Change.org, Elaine was CTO at Vidado.ai, an Oakland AI startup acquired by SS&C (NASDAQ: SSNC), where she used AI to extract insights from handwritten documents for operational and strategic purposes. Previously, she was the SVP of Product Development at Clean Power Finance (CPF), a renewable energy startup backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Google Ventures.
10. Fei-Fei Li
AI Researcher & Professor, Stanford University
Fei-Fei Li is a leading figure in Artificial Intelligence, is the co-creator of ImageNet, a visual object recognition database that marked the start of the deep learning revolution. She co-founded AI4ALL, a nonprofit aimed at enhancing diversity and inclusion in AI education, research, development, and policy. While on sabbatical as the chief scientist for AI at Google Cloud, Li cautioned against the company's AI contract with the Pentagon. She has published over 100 scientific papers and has received multiple awards, including the IBM Faculty Fellow Award, the Alfred Sloan Faculty Award, and the 2009 NSF Career Award.
11. Fiona Tan
CTO, Wayfair
Fiona Tan is the Chief Technology Officer at Wayfair, where she leads a global innovation team that develops market-leading experiences on its premier e-commerce platform. Before joining Wayfair, Fiona was the senior vice president of U.S. Technology at Walmart, overseeing innovation and engineering for its website, mobile app, and all technology for associates and merchants in its e-commerce and stores across the U.S. Her previous positions at Walmart included senior vice president of Customer Technology and vice president of Engineering. Before Walmart, Fiona held several leadership roles at Ariba, managing a global engineering team responsible for the strategy, lifecycle, and delivery of the Ariba Commerce Network, and at TIBCO Software. Fiona holds a master's degree in Computer Science from Stanford and a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT.
12. Haiyan Song
Executive Vice President CloudOps Business at NetApp
Haiyan came to NetApp from F5, where she was EVP and GM leading the Security and Distributed Cloud division. During her tenure at F5, Haiyan is credited for her role helping F5 mature from a software company into a SaaS company. Haiyan has held several leadership roles throughout her career tenure, including Splunk, HPE, and Arcsight, all of which represent richly diverse technical experience in areas such as cloud, security, engineering, and database management. While her achievements are vast, one of the most notable during her time at Splunk includes her leadership in building and scaling a transformative business area, that resulted in an increase in revenue of more than 15x over a seven-year period.
13. Jane Li
Chief Technology Officer Honeywell
Jane Li is a dynamic business and technology leader with over two decades of experience in technology, engineering, and project execution, managing large-scale complex customer programs across various industries. She leads transformation efforts for new product introductions, balancing risks and opportunities while maintaining customer commitments. Jane aims to streamline the R&D function by collaborating with industry peers and internal stakeholders to improve the functionality of products and solutions. She directs global design initiatives to drive innovation, execution, and quality, managing costs and time to market effectively. Jane is committed to developing innovative engineering solutions that enhance operational savings and increase productivity for customers.
14. Janet Lee
SVP / CMO, Mobile Experience at Samsung Electronics America
Janet Lee is an accomplished marketer and brand strategist with extensive experience in CPG, Beauty, Biotech, and Consumer Electronics. She excels in roles spanning Global Marketing, Brand Strategy, Business Development, and Product Development. Janet is adept at consumer research, portfolio management, go-to-market and media strategies, performance marketing, and brand positioning. As a skilled people manager with a deep knowledge of organizational behavior, she has effectively built and mentored diverse marketing teams across product marketing, creative services, digital and social media, B2B marketing, and public relations.
15. Jeannette Wing
Executive Vice President for Research and Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University
Jeannette Wing has a diverse background in academia, industry, and government, focusing on trustworthy AI research. She leads research at Columbia University and is skilled in various computer science areas, including programming languages, security, and data science. Wing has managed organizations in education, industrial research, and federal agencies, advocating for basic research, interdisciplinary collaboration, Computational Thinking for All, and Data for Good. She serves on numerous international advisory boards, holds an honorary doctorate from Linkoping University, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, AAAS, ACM, and IEEE.
16. Linda Yao
Chief Operating Officer and Head of Strategy, Solutions & Services Group at Lenovo
Linda Yao has over 15 years of experience with Fortune 500 companies in various industries. As the Chief Operating Officer and Head of Strategy for Lenovo's Solutions and Services Group (SSG), she is currently leading the development of an AI services practice to expedite the deployment of effective AI strategies for businesses. Her previous roles include establishing a data science practice at Boeing in the U.S. and India, leading an M&A team, and managing significant corporate retirement plan investments. Linda sharpened her finance skills at IBM in New York and Shanghai and honed her project management expertise in early career education initiatives. She holds degrees from Harvard University, an engineering certificate from MIT, and actively engages with the U.S. Presidential Scholars Foundation and National YoungArts Foundation.
17. Lindsay Hua
VP Global Deployment and Head of Diversity in Technology at Afiniti
Lindsay Hua is a Product and Technology Senior Leader with a comprehensive background in product management, project management, solutioning, and delivery, as well as vendor and client management. She has demonstrated leadership in technology program transformations, the development and expansion of product and service lines, and the functional management of global teams. Lindsay excels in meeting and exceeding customer service level expectations, organizational design, implementation, and delivery.
18. Linh Lam
Chief Information Officer at Jamf Software
Linh Lam is an Information Technology executive recognized for leading digital business transformation by delivering value through technology and process changes to enable companies to scale and grow, most recently enabling Ellie Mae to scale from $500M to $950M in revenue in 2.5 years. Recently recognized as a 2020 and 2022 Bay Area CIO of the Year Finalist, and am a member of the Zoom Customer Advisory Board.
19. Lori Nishiura Mackenzie
Co-Founder, Stanford VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab
Lori Nishiura Mackenzie is an influential speaker, researcher, and advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She co-founded the Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab, dedicated to impactful research on overcoming women's career advancement barriers and fostering inclusive workplaces. Lori collaborates with the California Partners Project, initiated by California's First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, developing recruitment tools for boards to enhance diversity and inclusivity. Her achievements include being named a 2022 LinkedIn Top Voice in Gender Equity, inclusion in BBC’s 100 Women of 2017, and featuring in the 2018 documentary "bias." Lori's contributions have been featured in prominent publications like the Harvard Business Review and The New York Times, and she received the 2020 CEDAW Human Rights Award in Education from the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women.
20. May Wang
Chief Technology Officer, Internet of Things Security (IoT) at Palo Alto Networks
Dr. May Wang is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Internet of Things (IoT) Security at Palo Alto Networks, the world's largest cybersecurity company. She is leading AI initiatives across multiple security domains. She co-founded Zingbox which was acquired by Palo Alto Networks in 2019 for its industry-first AI-based IoT security solution. Dr. Wang holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. She received numerous awards, including the prestigious 2023 Women in AI Entrepreneur award from VentureBeat.
21. Mei Jiang
SVP, Global Digital Innovation & Commercialization at Medtronic
Mei Jiang is a Fortune 500 COO/CPO/CDO & Serial Tech Entrepreneur (4x Startups). She is a Tech Entrepreneur and Big Growth Innovator with a blend of experience at both Startup and Corporation, ranging from $10M to $50B. Mei started as an engineer building products to compete for "a bigger slice of an existing pie". Since mid-2000s, what inspired her was not just “dividing up market shares”, but “creating new frontiers of opportunity and growth in uncontested market” where success was about “create a larger or new economic pie”.
22. Peggy Tsai
Chief Data Officer at BigID
Peggy Tsai is the Chief Data Officer at BigID, where she directs business product strategy for data governance and plays a key role in business development by creating and nurturing client leads. An expert in AI governance and management, Peggy has spoken at various prestigious conferences and educational institutions. She is also a contributing author to The AI Book: The Artificial Intelligence Handbook for Investors, Entrepreneurs, and FinTech Visionaries and has been recognized for her thought leadership in the field. Before joining BigID, Ms. Tsai served as Vice President of Analytics and Data at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, where she developed policies and strategies to operationalize the firm's data governance program.
23. Roshin Joseph
Vice President Of Product Development at Visa
Roshin Joseph, a seasoned leader with 20+ years of experience, currently serves as Vice President at Visa, leading architecture, development, and product teams. With a background spanning Visa, Cybersource, Siemens, and IBM, she excels in software development, product management, and team leadership, driving innovation and growth in the technology sector.
24. Soo Jennings
Product Manager at Meta
Soo Jennings is passionate about building great user experiences for the products people use and using data, quantitative and qualitative, to guide them in the right direction to deliver. Before re-joining Meta as a Product Manager, she was a Director of Product at Roku Inc. Soo also served as a Technical Product Manager at Meta before that.
25. Soo Yun Kim
Principal Designer at Cisco
Soo Yun Kim is an Emmy Award-winning designer based in New York City, focusing on user experience, visual design, and interaction design. She is a Lead Designer at Cisco, creating intranet services and tools to support Cisco employees worldwide. Previously, she was a Mobile Design Lead at Google, shaping the future of productivity and collaboration in Drive. She has previously worked with a diverse range of companies and clients, including IBM, Triller, Nickelodeon, MTV Networks, USA Today, The Weather Company, Chanel, Michael Kors, J.Crew, and Godiva.
26. Sumitha Poornachandran
Director of Engineering at LinkedIn
Sumitha Poornachandran, with over 15 years of experience in engineering and technical leadership, is passionate about creating scalable, reliable, and impactful solutions that enhance business growth and customer satisfaction. As the Director of Engineering at LinkedIn, she manages the DataLake Organization, responsible for storage, security, data ingestion, tables, views, and compliance within one of the world's largest HDFS clusters. She has expanded the organization from about 30 to over 100 individuals across HQ and BLR, encompassing engineering, SRE, and TPM functions. Sumitha launched OpenHouse, a product providing a managed tables experience. Previously, she developed Lyft's Experimentation Platform and Business Metrics Platform, supporting advanced experimentation and business metrics analysis for various teams.
27. Vivienne Wei
COO at Salesforce Security
Vivienne Wei is the Chief Operating Officer of Salesforce Security, known for her exceptional leadership in scaling and transforming the security organization. With global strategy and product expertise, she excels in partnering with engineering teams for business vision, executing M&A deals, optimizing costs, enhancing cybersecurity, and managing infrastructure transitions. Vivienne is a certified cybersecurity expert and a passionate advocate for women in tech. She is also the author of "Labor Force," offering guidance for professional women navigating motherhood. Her clear thought leadership and cross-functional team leadership make her a rare visionary in the industry.
28. Wendy Gonzalez
CEO at Sama
Wendy Gonzalez is an executive with a passion for building high-performing, high-functioning teams that develop and scale innovative, impactful technology. She brings two decades of managerial and technology leadership experience from her roles at companies including EY, Capgemini, Cycle30 (acquired by Arrow Electronics), and General Communications Inc. Wendy is also an active Board Member of the Leila Janah Foundation.
29. Yamini Rangan
Chief Executive Officer at HubSpot
Yamini is a tech industry veteran, with more than 25 years of experience in leading high-performance teams with empathy and curiosity. Served as Chief Customer Officer at Dropbox, where she was responsible for embedding customer focus across the organization. Before Dropbox, Yamini was VP of Sales Strategy and Operations at Workday, where she helped quadruple revenue and scaled the sales organization. At SAP, Yamini held several customer-facing leadership roles in strategy, pre-sales, and value-based selling and helped close landmark deals.
30. Yun Freund
Vice President, Google Cloud at Google
Yun Freund is a transformational global technology executive and board member who leads large global organizations and scales multi-billion dollar product portfolios for Fortune 500 leaders including Google, Equinix, GE Digital, and Cisco. Yun brings effective growth strategy and vision from more than 25 years developing and innovating digital infrastructure, cloud and SaaS services, platforms, and ML/AI applications. Yun is known for leading complex digital and cultural transformations that simplify business processes, improve customer experience and employee engagement, and result in business growth and the ability to scale.
In closing, let's keep the drive for celebration and recognition alive throughout the year. The remarkable Asian American and Pacific Islander women in tech deserve our ongoing support, not just during this designated month. Join us in championing their dedication, innovation, and leadership by nominating them for the Women in Tech Global Awards.
If you notice someone missing from the AAPI list who you believe deserves recognition, please explore our award categories and nominate them.