THE WHARTON ASIAN AMERICAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
VANTAGE FALL 2026
Where Perspective Becomes Power
NOVEMBER 06, 2026 | 2F, THE STUDY AT UNIVERSITY CITY
AMPLIFYING THE
ASIAN AMERICAN LEADER.
Hosted by the Wharton Asian American Association of MBAs (WAAAM), VANTAGE FALL 2026 is the only MBA conference dedicated to AAPI identities. This one-day event brings together students, professionals, and leaders to address the critical opportunities facing our community.
From overcoming the "Bamboo Ceiling" to embracing cultural authenticity, we are here to amplify the voices of Asian American women, entrepreneurs, and storytellers. Join us for meaningful dialogue and actionable strategies to build community and lead with impact.
KEYnote speakers
Bing chen
Founder, Gold House
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Bing Chen is the CEO and Co-founder of Gold House, the leading Asian Pacific cultural platform reshaping mainstream society. He is a creative economy architect, investor, and entrepreneur building platforms that expand opportunity through culture. Under his leadership, Gold House has shaped over 800 major film, television, and media projects; invested in over 100 creators and companies; become home to the field's most consequential programs and convenings; and generated more than $500 million in net new market value.
Previously, Bing was YouTube’s Global Head of Creator Development and Management and one of the architects of the modern creator economy.
He is a Young Presidents’ Organization Member; World Economic Forum Young Global Leader; Google Multicultural Champion; Los Angeles Times Most Influential Leader; Hollywood Reporter Next Gen Leader and Most Influential Agent of Change; Elevate Prize Honoree; Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree; American Advertising Federation Hall of Achievement and Jack Averett honoree; ADCOLOR Catalyst Honoree; OUT100; and Milken Young Leaders Circle Member. A proud Tennessee Squire, which becomes obvious at $11.99 buffets, Bing is a third culture kid across North America and Asia, finally graduating from the University of Pennsylvania.
Anne chow
Former CEO, AT&T Business
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Anne was the former CEO of AT&T Business, and the company’s first woman of color CEO in its 140-plus-year history, responsible for leading a $35 billion global operating unit comprising more than 35,000 people. She is a transformative business leader whose trailblazing corporate career spans over three decades in the technology and business sectors. Appointed to the position in 2019, she guided her team through the pandemic amid unprecedented market upheaval around the world, serving customers with communications solutions across all sectors and nearly all of the Fortune 1000.
Anne is named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business (2X), Forbes’ inaugural CEO Next list of leaders, and Thinkers360’s Top B2B Women Thought Leaders. She was also named the Most Inspiring Woman in Communications by Light Reading. She is currently Lead Director on the Board of Directors of FranklinCovey and also serves on the Boards of Directors of 3M and CSX. Anne is an Executive Fellow and Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and the national bestselling author of Lead Bigger: The Transformative Power of Inclusion, published by Simon & Schuster.
Anne is recognized by WomenInc. as one of the Most Influential Women Corporate Board Directors; the L. Joseph Thomas Leadership Award for Lifetime Achievement from Cornell University’s Johnson School, its highest honor for distinguished alumni; and the Dallas Business Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Women. She also became the first leader of Asian descent inducted into the Dallas Business Hall of Fame since its inception in 1999.
She is also co-author of the bestselling book The Leader’s Guide to Unconscious Bias: How to Reframe Bias, Cultivate Connection, and Create High-Performing Teams.
Anne holds B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in electrical engineering and an MBA with distinction from Cornell University. She is also a graduate of the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School of Music.
Agenda
Check-In9:30 - 10:00 am
Opening Keynote10:00 - 11:00 am
Panel: Nonlinear Career Paths11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Lunch & Networking12:00 - 12:30 pm
Panel: Wharton Alumni 12:30 - 1:30 pm
Panel: Founders 1:30 - 2:30 pm
2:30 - 3:30 pm
Closing Keynote(followed by a book signing with Anne Chow)
featured panelists
Nonlinear Career paths
Discussion on pivoting across industries and roles, and how Asian American leaders turned unconventional career paths into lasting advantage.
James chen
CTO, Immortals
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James Chen is Chief Technology Officer at Immortals, parent company to Bryan Johnson’s supplement brand Blueprint. He leads product and technology for science-backed longevity protocols so people can live longer and healthier. Previously, James was CTO of Wonder, Built Technologies, and Flexport; Director of Technology for Amazon Global Logistics and Amazon Shipping; and a senior executive officer at Rakuten after its acquisition of FreeCause, the loyalty platform he led as CTO. He began as founder and CEO of CampusCraze (acquired by Jenzabar), where he later served as CTO, and has been programming since an Apple IIe in 1988.
Born in Tainan, Taiwan, and raised in Naperville, Illinois, he is an MIT Course 6 graduate (B.S. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) and a serial CTO who has built and scaled technology across trade, food, construction, and now human health.
James is an angel investor and an MIT class officer. He is fluent in English and Mandarin, and remains known to many as "mitnerd."
megha garibaldi
Chief Growth Officer, The Atlantic
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Megha Garibaldi is the Chief Growth Officer at The Atlantic, one of the leading magazine and publishing companies in the U.S. She leads the organization's consumer revenue business — driving subscription growth, consumer marketing, and long-term audience strategy for one of America's most storied media brands. She has built her career around creating sustainable revenue models for journalistic organizations, most recently leading revenue growth for the Guardian US.
Megha began her career in the newsroom as a business broadcast journalist covering media, entertainment, and sport, then tried her hand at film development before landing on the business of news media. Along the way, she also wrote a feature-length film script while completing a screenwriting course at the New York Film Academy.
She holds a Bachelor's in Commerce specializing in banking and finance and an MBA in Marketing from Mumbai University, as well as an M.S. in Media Management from the Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University.
She is originally from Chennai, India.
Wootak kim
Co-Founder, SuperBonsai
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Wootak Kim is the former CEO and co-founder of SuperBonsai as well as a content creator and podcaster best known for 'BarChemistry' and 'Under The. Influence' where he's amassed 5m+ followers across platforms. SuperBonsai is a natural herbal supplement brand for life's modern problem that launched 3 years ago and as of 2025 is doing 8 figures + in revenue yearly through D2C channels.
After dropping out of college back in 2016, Wootak started bartending in New York City where he fell in love with mixology as a creative outlet, and began his channel BarChemistry in 2019. By 2020 he had launched his TikTok channel to promote his first ecommerce brand (BarChemistry Bar Tools) and quickly grew to his first million followers in under a year.
It was this audience + the Under The Influence podcast that let Wootak bootstrap and launch SuperBonsai in 2023 and scale it to 8 figures in less than 2 years.
Now Wootak is launching a new project in the longevity space, expected to be available Q1 2027.
Hannah zhang
Content Creator
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Hannah Zhang is a creator and marketer who built an audience of 300K+ in her 5-to-9 while working full-time in tech. Across Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, her Substack Nonlinear News, and in-person events through her 5-9 Builders Club, she helps ambitious professionals with nonlinear paths turn their expertise into career and business leverage. She has partnered with brands including Meta, OpenAI, LinkedIn, Adobe, and HubSpot. She is a LinkedIn Top Voice and Create & Cultivate honoree, and has been featured in Forbes and Bloomberg.
Before becoming a creator and marketer, Hannah built her nonlinear career across trading and investment banking at Morgan Stanley, and operations and product in tech. Most recently, she joined a Series A fintech startup as its founding marketer and built the marketing function through the company’s Series B.
Hannah holds a BA from Columbia University and an MBA from The Wharton School (where she was a member of WAAAM!). She grew up between New York and Beijing, has lived in Hong Kong and Mexico, and is fluent in Chinese and Spanish.
Founders
Discussion from Asian founders on challenges building 0 to 1 ventures, the intersection between identity and entrepreneurship, and scaling a successful business in today's market.
Kiki couchman
Co-founder, Sourmilk
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Kiki (Kirsten) Couchman is the co-founder of Sourmilk, a probiotic greek yogurt specifically designed for your gut with 15g of protein, 0g of added sugar, and the equivalent probiotics of a supplement. Sourmilk launched in stores in early 2026 and you can now find the product in 250+ stores around the Northeast and Midwest!
Sourmilk has built a cult following throughout New York through Kiki’s own organic social marketing efforts. Turning herself into a microinfluencer, Kiki has acted as the top of funnel for Sourmilk, building a trusted online community of 40k+ to build demand for Sourmilk before launching in retail in November 2025. They leveraged this audience to sell 8K+ yogurts hand-to-hand throughout New York City, and have used this customer data to quickly land retailers.
Prior to starting Sourmilk, Kiki worked for 4.5 years in portfolio operations at Alpine Investors and holds a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University (where she met her co-founder, Elan!).
neal jean
Co-founder and CEO, Beacons AI
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Neal Jean is the co-founder and CEO of Beacons, an AI platform for creators, where they are building Beam, an AI teammate to help creators run their businesses. Founded in 2019 and backed by Y Combinator and Andreessen Horowitz, Beacons serves over 10 million creators today. Beam works alongside creators on everything from strategy and growth to brand outreach, negotiations, and deal management—giving creators more time to focus on what they do best: creating.
Before Beacons, Neal earned his PhD from the Stanford AI Lab, where his research used deep learning and satellite imagery to map poverty and economic development around the world. His path into AI was unconventional: he grew up in Ohio, studied economics and mathematics at Duke, later returned to school for electrical engineering at Georgia Tech, and ultimately earned his MS and PhD from Stanford.
Today, Neal is focused on building superhuman AI for creators—giving every creator access to the kind of team, expertise, and leverage that historically only the biggest creators could afford.
shizu okusa
Founder and CEO, Apothekary
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Shizu Okusa is a three-time founder, investor in more than 15 companies, and the Founder & CEO of Apothékary™, a modern herbal wellness company reimagining Eastern medicine for modern life. A former Goldman Sachs investor, Shizu left Wall Street after experiencing burnout firsthand and ultimately turned back to the Japanese herbal traditions and wellness rituals she grew up with.
That journey led her to build Apothékary, which pairs herbal traditions rooted in her Japanese heritage and Eastern wellness with the clinical rigor and formulation science of the West. Rather than the pills, powders, and gummies that dominate the wellness aisle, Apothékary specializes in potent liquid drops designed to be fast, functional, and easy to layer into everyday life—while staying true to the liquid rituals long used in Eastern herbal medicine.
Six and a half years in, Apothékary has become one of the fastest-growing names in modern wellness, expanding across Ulta Beauty, Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, The Vitamin Shoppe, and more, with products reaching thousands of retail doors and continued global expansion ahead. Its hero product, Blue Burn®, sells roughly one bottle every three minutes, while Power Trip™, its caffeine-free energy and longevity formula, sold out within five weeks of launch.
Before Apothékary, Shizu founded and successfully exited her first consumer wellness company, JRINK. Today, alongside building Apothékary, she invests in and advises the next generation of founders, with a portfolio spanning more than 15 companies. She is a member of YPO and has been recognized as an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® winner and an Inc. Female Founders honoree.
Jerry WU
Co-founder and CEO, Halluminate
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Jerry Wu is the co-founder and CEO of Halluminate, which builds benchmarks and training environments for AI agents that operate browsers and professional software. Its defining projects include WebBench, a real-world browser-agent benchmark, and Westworld, a simulated internet for evaluating and training agents without unintended real-world consequences.
Wu studied computer science and economics at Cornell University, researched model quantization, and met future co-founder Wyatt Marshall. He later led product and research at Capital One Labs, helped launch an AI agent in financial services, and co-authored three patents. Wu and Marshall founded Halluminate in 2024 and joined Y Combinator’s Summer 2025 batch.
WHARTON ALUMNI
Discussion with Wharton alumni on navigating leadership, building meaningful careers, and carrying the experience from business school into the broader world.
CHARLENE LEE
Talent, Senior Business Strategy & Operations Manager, Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video
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Charlene Lee is a lecturer, coach, and writer on a mission to help people build better careers. She has taught and coached individuals from new grads to executives at Fortune 500 companies, technology startups, and universities, including Duke and Stanford, on how to succeed in their careers.
Charlene studied computer science at Wellesley College and the University of Oxford and previously led teams at Google and startups for over 10 years as Senior Director of Product. Her international career has taken her to four countries and eight cities across Asia and the US.
CHARLES HA
Director, TA Associates
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Charles Ha is a sponsor in TA’s North America Technology Group focusing on majority & minority investments in category-leading technology companies. He has rich investment and board experience in application, infrastructure, security & vertical-market technology companies. His expertise across transaction types include investments in founder-owned/run businesses, corporate divisional carve-outs and recapitalizations of venture capital & private equity-owned technology companies. He actively supports portfolio companies with organic growth initiatives, accretive M&A, new financings, executive recruiting and operating improvements
He has executed more than 40 add-on acquisitions globally across portfolio companies since TA’s investment. He was named to GrowthCap's "Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors of 2024" List. He received a BA in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences (MMSS), Economics and Legal Studies from Northwestern University, a Certificate in Managerial Analytics from The Kellogg School of Management and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School.
MODERATOR
DAVID HSU
Professor of Management, The Wharton School
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David Hsu is the Richard A. Sapp Professor of Management at the Wharton School. He graduated from Stanford University with undergraduate majors in economics and political science. After a few years working in industry, he received his master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University, followed by his Ph.D. in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Hsu’s research interests are in entrepreneurial innovation and management. Within that domain, he has investigated topics such as intellectual property management, start-up innovation, technology commercialization strategy, and venture capital. At Wharton, he teaches and leads the Venture Acceleration Lab, an effort to speed startup development.
FAQs
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The conference is on Friday, November 6, 2026 at The Study at University City (20 S 33rd St, Philadelphia, PA 19104).
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The conference is open to all interested students and professionals!
Wharton Students: Please purchase tickets via CampusGroups.
General Public & Alumni: Please purchase tickets via EventBrite.
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All ticket sales are final. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer refunds.
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The dress code is Business Casual.
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Your ticket includes a catered lunch.
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We will do our best to accommodate dietary needs (Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten-Free). You will be asked to indicate any restrictions during the ticket checkout process.
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The Study is located conveniently near 30th Street Station (Amtrak/SEPTA). There is limited street parking available, as well as nearby parking garages in University City. We strongly recommend public transit or rideshare.
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Sponsors
organizing committee
Yao xiong
jioo lee
Julia cao
Irena wan
Bella ke
