Asian-Americans in corporate America - how far have we come, and what's next?

Synopsis

The general term "glass ceiling" refers to the barriers that often confront ethnic Americans and women in trying to reach the upper echelons of corporate America. According to a study conducted by the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission over 10 years ago (1995), ethnic minorities made up only 3-5% of all senior managers working in Fortune 1000 companies. To put this into perspective, compare these figures with the fact that minorities and women comprised over 57% of the workforce!

It has been over a decade since that major study on workforce demographics and Asian Americans have made tremendous headway on many fronts. From Jerry Yang of Yahoo, Steve Chen of YouTube, to Yul Kwon - the winner of CBS' Survivor - Asian Americans are continuing to break down what we now call the "bamboo ceiling" in the mainstream arena. Or are we? Exactly how many or what proportion of Asian Americans occupy seats in board rooms of corporate America? Both in and outside of Silicon Valley, how often do we find the title CEO or SVP next to an Asian name? How far have we actually come?

Our upcoming ABL-SF Leadership Panel Discussion will address the above questions and more as we bring together the experience, research, real-life anecdotes, and most importantly, insights from those who have successfully climbed the corporate "Himalayas." We have asked these individuals to share their views in hopes of identifying, understanding and ultimately conquering those obstacles that confront Asian Americans on their path to becoming genuine leaders.

This event is FREE of charge

Distinguished Speakers

• John Y. Chiang: SVP & CFO, Pacific National Bank
• Jaynry Mak: VP, Coalition of Asian American Government Employees (CAAGE)
• Catharina Min: SVP & CFO, Pacific National Bank
• Fong Wan: VP, Energy Procurement, PG&E
• Steven J. Yamada: Consultant, Witt/Kieffer