AAPI Heritage Month Blog: 6 Business Leaders You Should Know
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, a time of recognition and celebration of societal contributions and achievements of AAPIs in the United States. The leaders featured in this list are just some of the Asian American and Pacific Islander individuals making an impact at businesses across the United States and the world.
Winnie Park is the CEO of the popular fashion retailer Forever 21. The LA-based retailer offers clothing, shoes and accessories for men and women. During her professional career, Park has held management and senior director positions with McKinsey & Company, and Levi Strauss in addition to serving as a board director at several companies. Park was CEO at Paper Source from 2015 - Jan 2022.
Learn more about Forever 21 .
Reshma Kewalramani, M.D., FASN is the CEO and President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company based in Massachusetts. The company develops medicines for the treatment of cystic fibrosis and sickle cell diseases. Prior to her role as CEO and President, Dr. Kewalramani served as the Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Global Medicines Development and Medical Affairs when she joined Vertex Pharmaceuticals in 2017.
Learn more about Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Shantanu Narayen is the Chair and CEO at Adobe, the developer of solutions such as graphic design, PDF management and video editing software. Narayen spent time as Vice President and General Manager of Adobe’s engineering technology group when he joined Adobe in 1998. Narayen was named President and COO in 2005 before becoming CEO in 2007, and chairman of the board in 2017.
Learn more about Adobe.
Tony Xu is Co-Founder and CEO at DoorDash. Established in 2013, the San Francisco-based food delivery platform lets users order food from local restaurants. Prior to founding DoorDash with Andy Fang and Stanley Tang, Xu’s experience included roles at McKinsey & Company, and eBay among other companies.
Learn more about DoorDash.
So-Young Kang is the Founder & CEO of Gnowbe, a microlearning platform based in Singapore. Gnowbe provides content management and performance improvement solutions for project teams. Along with Kang’s current role as Founder and CEO, she serves in an advisory role. Kang’s past experience includes time at McKinsey & Company, and several organizations Kang has founded.
Learn more about Gnowbe.
Sundar Pichai is the CEO at both Google and its parent company, Alphabet Inc. After studying at universities including Stanford and Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Pichai worked for a short time at Applied Materials and McKinsey & Company. Pichai joined Google in 2004 as the Head of Product Management and Development. He held multiple roles within the company before becoming CEO in 2015.
Learn more about Google.
AAPI Heritage Month is a great reminder of the important role AAPIs play in American society! To access even more information about leaders across different companies, join the Owler community.
