Spotlighting Role Models

Winnie Lai is the founder of Auriga Space, building ground-based electromagnetic launch systems that could finally break rockets' 60-year monopoly on reaching orbit. Before launching her own company, she served as VP of Product and Business Development at SpinLaunch, helping bring its suborbital demonstrator from early-stage startup to fully operational hardware. A University of British Columbia trained engineer with an entrepreneur's instincts, Winnie is tackling one of aerospace's hardest problems: getting to space more efficiently and more sustainably.

What makes an engineer impactful? Dr. Tsu-Jae King Liu has spent her career answering that both technically and personally. As co-inventor of the FinFET — the 3D transistor design behind today's leading-edge microprocessors — and the 13th president of the National Academy of Engineering, her achievements span nearly 100 patents and over 550 publications, built on nearly three decades at UC Berkeley, including seven years as Dean of the UC Berkeley College of Engineering. She's equally direct about what she values in leadership: speaking up so your ideas get credited, and lifting up your team so they trust you to lead them.

Pan Brothers Vice CEO Anne Patricia Sutanto is steering one of Southeast Asia's most ambitious garment manufacturing transformations — Industry 4.0, full supply chain traceability, and circular production for the world's leading outdoor and performance brands. Her argument is that high-tech automation and human craftsmanship aren't a tradeoff, but a strategy. So, where is the garment industry truly headed?

Nana Tseng's path to Chief Procurement Officer at onsemi started long before her MBA at MIT Sloan—it began with a childhood spanning Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S., which taught her to read context and build trust across cultures. So what does it take to lead a multibillion-dollar global supply chain through an era where old, cost-driven models no longer apply? For Tseng, the answer lies in regionalization, deep partnerships across Asia, and a career built on bold pivots—including her own leap from VP of Sales at ASE into procurement leadership.

How do you transform a medical specialty into a force for environmental and social change? Dr. McGinty has spent her career doing exactly that — initiating the American College of Radiology's environmental focus, co-founding Radiologists for a Sustainable Future, and championing imaging innovations now used in industrial manufacturing worldwide. In this interview, she opens up about the real challenges of immigrating to the US medical system, why only 15% of healthcare CEOs being women is a problem she takes personally, and how she is actively working to change it. Read more about Dr. McGinty and her story here.

How do you build trust across borders in one of the world's most regulated and relationship-driven industries? For Lynda Cheng, SVP of Asia Sales at GA Telesis, one of the world’s most regulated and relationship-driven industries—aerospace, it starts with treating every customer like a trusted friend. Over a 20-year career, she leveraged her dual US-China perspective, driving GA Telesis's expansion across the Asia-Pacific region, including launching a successful joint venture in Beijing, by blending deep aviation expertise with a people-first approach that connects cultural and corporate divides.

Who decides which voices get to shape the future of technology? Telle Whitney spent two decades designing silicon chips before applying that same architectural logic to something far more complex — transforming the systems holding women back. As CEO of the Anita Borg Institute, she grew the organization from $1 million to $22 million by reframing diversity not as charity, but as a business strategy. With AI shaping our future, she argues that who builds these systems isn't just a diversity question — it's a defining ethical question of this era. Read more about Telle and her story here.

What does the future of deep tech investment look like— and who is building the infrastructure to get there? With geopolitical pressures and supply chain fragility reshaping the defense, aerospace, and autonomous systems landscape, Ellen Chang is redefining how private capital, engineering expertise, and cross-sector vision work together. Read more about Ellen's story and her impact here.

What does the future of new manufacturing look like in Thailand—and who are the faces driving that transformation? As “Thailand 4.0” brings AI, automation, and innovation to the forefront, leaders like Dr. Changkajonsakdi are redefining how industry, academia, and global partnerships work together. How can cross-border collaboration unlock new opportunities, and what does it mean for the next generation of manufacturing? Read more about Blinda’s story and her impact here.

As Taiwan continues to lead in precision engineering and manufacturing, a new wave of leadership is redefining what innovation looks like. Huey Chin (Enid) Tsai is at the forefront of that initiative, advancing ESG projects and smart manufacturing while advocating for more inclusive leadership in a traditionally male-dominated industry. How is Taiwan strengthening its global edge, and what role do women play in shaping its future? Read more about Enid’s story and her impact here.

Kyna Fong is the CEO and co-founder of Elation Health, the largest and most-trusted clinical technology platform for primary care in the U.S.. A Harvard and Stanford-trained health economist with years of experience working in her father's primary care practice, Kyna built Elation to help clinicians in delivering high-value personalized care. Recognized by Inc. Magazine, Goldman Sachs, Rock Health, and Fierce Healthcare, Kyna is a leading voice in primary care innovation and advocacy.

Her writing has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Fast Company and she has presented at major conferences including ViVE, HLTH, and the Primary Care for America Summit. Today, Elation’s AI-powered EHR and billing solutions support 40,000 clinical users, caring for over 21 million patients.

Nora Hobbs is the World Food Programme’s Regional Nutrition Advisor for the Asia Pacific area, where she provides strategic and technical leadership surrounding nutrition outcomes. She has researched nutritional deficiencies across sex and age and is currently based in Bangkok, Thailand.

Jian (Lily) Chen is the executive director of the grassroots community organization United Chinese Americans (UCA) WAVES (Wellness, Advocacy, Voices, Education, and Support) Youth Mental Health Collaborative. As a nurse educator, community organizer, mental health advocate, health disparity researcher, and documentary film producer, her major goal with UCA WAVES is to prevent youth suicide through destigmatizing mental health and promoting parent-child connection.

Maaike Steinebach strives to close the gender health gap in the FemTech industry, which refers to products and services that use technology to support the health and well-being of women. She shares her introduction to the FemTech industry, her thoughts on addressing period poverty, innovations to look forward to, advice for aspiring innovators, and more.

Dr. Adrienne Poon is an Associate Professor of Medicine at The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences with a background filled with medicine experience. She is an advocate for Asian-American communties and researches on racial and ethnic health disparities.

Grace Meng is the first and only Asian-American congresswoman from New York State, with an emphasis on expanding opportunities for communities of color, young people, families, small businesses, and women. In an effort to address healthcare disparities, Congresswoman Meng introduced the “Menstrual Equity for All” Act in 2023 to address the lack of accessibility to menstrual products.

Marine Mallinson is a London-based entrepreneur, early-stage investor, and advisor with a passion for health innovation. After building and exiting tech platforms in Asia, she now focuses on advancing mental health outcomes through investments in therapeutics, AI, digital tools, and medical devices. As a venture advisor to Noetic Fund and advisor to Global Women Asia, Marine brings both lived experience and global insight to address the improper treatment of mental health she sees in society today.

Julia Liou is a transformative leader in community health, known for her visionary approach to systems change and social justice in health. As the Chief Executive Officer of Asian Health Services (AHS) based in Oakland, California, she leads a nationally recognized community health center that provides comprehensive medical, dental, and behavioral health services to 50,000 patients in 14 languages. Under Julia’s leadership, AHS has established an AAPI Action Center to support mental health and healing for victims of violence, expansion of dental and mental health care services, and launch cutting-edge virtual care.

Sophia Yen, MD, MPH, is the co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Pandia Health, the only women-founded, women-led, physician-founded, and physician-led birth control and menopause asynchronous telemedicine and medication delivery service in the United States. The idea for Pandia Health came after Dr. Yen spent time researching the reasons why women didn’t take birth control and found accessibility to be a key issue. Pandia Health has served thousands of patients across the U.S., aiming to make reproductive healthcare more accessible, convenient, and stigma-free.

With over 25 years of experience in health care, finance, financial technology, and more, Dr. Renu Bhatia is currently the Chairman of The Listing Committee of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Chairman and Co-Founder of Opharmic Technology, Hong Kong, and the Independent Non-Executive Director of HutchMed, a commercial-stage, biopharmaceutical company.

Born in India and raised in London, Dr. Renu Bhatia has lived and worked across three continents. She moved to Hong Kong from New York over 30 years ago and now calls the city home. Trained as a medical doctor in the UK, she began her career working in the National Health Service before realizing her passion lay in understanding the broader systems behind clinical decisions—what she called "the economics of healthcare." This curiosity led her to pursue an MBA at Yale University.

Judith Farquhar is currently the Max Palevsky Professor of Anthropology and in the College, Emerita, at the University of Chicago. Trained as a medical anthropologist, Farquhar’s research focuses on traditional Chinese medicine and its social and cultural contexts. She authored Knowing Practice: The Clinical Encounter of Chinese Medicine (1994), which examines the theory and practice of traditional medicine in modern China, as well as five other books, the most recent being A Way of Life: Things, Thought and Action in Chinese Medicine (2020).

Dr. Mai Uchida, MD is the Director of Pediatric Depression at Massachusetts General Hospital, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, neuroimaging researcher, and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She is an international advocate for mental health, scientific literacy, and gender equality.

Raj Seshadri is the Chief Commercial Payments Officer at Mastercard and a member of the company’s Executive Leadership Team and Management Committee. She is responsible for Commercial & New Payment Flows focused on bringing the same safe and seamless experience consumers have in retail carded payments to business and corporate customers. She was previously president of Mastercard’s global Data & Services team, having joined the company in 2016.

Clara Shih is a technology pioneer, entrepreneur, and bestselling author. She currently leads artificial intelligence efforts at Salesforce and is also the Founder and Chairwoman of Hearsay Systems, a client engagement SaaS startup backed by Sequoia and NEA. She has been named one of Fortune’s “40 under 40” and “Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs,” Fast Company’s “Most Influential People in Technology,” “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum, and TIME's 100 most influential people in AI.

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.

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.

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.