Valerie Karplus is a leading expert and catalyst in the intersection of energy innovation, the decarbonization of global supply chains, and climate policies. As a co-founder and director of the MIT-Tsinghua China Energy and Climate Project trying to solve one of the most daunting challenges facing the earth, she helped enable a whole new generation of leaders from MIT, Tsinghua, and other collaborating groups to lead on energy and climate issues worldwide.

Fatima Kardar is the Corporate Vice President of the AI Infrastructure, Partnerships & Marketplace, Microsoft AI. The AI Infrastructure and Partnership team is building a unified platform to support all copilot offerings across Microsoft’s products. The Marketplace team is creating a services marketplace to connect customers to high-quality services provided from around the world.

On April 18th, Global Women Asia held our offline event in China with Bessie Lee, Greater China CEO, JLL and host of Beiwanglu 贝望录 podcast. Global Women Asia 2023 Fellows Olivia Plotnick and Milawen Ding hosted the event at the office of Gusto Collective in Jing’An, Shanghai.

Samantha Freebairn is the Senior Manager of Aviation Safety Training at Qantas Airways. Previously, she was a pilot for the Royal Australian Air Force, where she flew humanitarian and combat missions across Asia and globally and conducted aeromedical evacuations.

GWA celebrated International Women’s Month by spotlighting notable Women in STEM, our theme for 2024. We held an online conversation between GWA co-founder and board member Fritz Demopoulos and Dr. Songyee Yoon, an AI technology humanist.

Women in STEM face systemic inequality and bias as early as elementary school, and this continues through higher education and in the workplace. Not only does this impact women personally, but it also has far-reaching consequences for society.

Global Women Asia (GWA) announces the establishment of the Women in STEM Council. This advisory body is committed to expanding the women in STEM pipeline globally, from sparking interest in STEM education to advocating for workforce career advancement.

Ambassador Chantale Wong is the U.S. Executive Director to the Asian Development Bank. Trained as an engineer, Ambassador Wong has had a long and distinguished career in public service.

Global Women Asia welcomes Emily Chew as our latest member of the Board. Emily is Executive Vice President of Calvert Research and Management, a part of Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

Global Women Asia (GWA) received the HK Federation of Women on March 12 as the delegation participated in the annual UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meetings in New York City.

We’re championing women in STEM in 2024. In addition to the 2024 Women in STEM Fellowship, Global Women Asia will also profile women in STEM role models and their allies throughout the year.

After launching a year ago, Global Women Asia returned to London on February 12th to convene a meeting at the UK House of Lords, co-hosted by Baroness Mary Goudie and The Lord Leong CBE. Baroness Goudie opened the session by announcing GWA's 2024 Women in STEM Fellowship, encouraging everyone to nominate potential fellows.

Global Women Asia wrapped up a learning-rich week with our Fellows in Sustainability at APEC.

Ahead of APEC, we shared our founding story with CEO Summit Journal.