Where are the Asian CEOs?

Asianweek - Where are the Asian CEOs? This burning question has long been asked in quiet conversations among business people and high tech individuals for the past several decades when Asian Americans have been touted as a driving force in America’s economy. On this issue, a number of Bay Area executives will be sharing their thoughts on a panel May 20 at the TiE Conference Center in Santa Clara, CA. It is co-sponsored by Asia Society Northern California (ASNC), Ascend Bay Area and Corporate Executive Initiative, with event partners AAMA (Asian American MultiTechnology Association), CAAEN (Corporate Asian American Employee Network) and TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs)..

The panelists speaking on this important issue to all Asian Americans will be Vish Mishra, Partner at Clearstone Ventures and President TiE Silicon Valley; Brian Schipper, Senior Vice President/HR, Cisco Systems; Chris Min, Vice President/Finance, Intel; Susan Wang Wade, Board Member, Nektar, Altera and Avanex.. Their talks will pinpoint the issue that while Asian Americans are widely recognized as influential innovators and key contributors in successful companies throughout the Bay Area, why are there only a handful of Asians who have reached the highest corporate levels? There will be open discussion of the reasons behind their under representation at the corporate board and senior executive levels. They will explore further what executive skills are required in large, complex organizations and what different companies are doing to develop and retain their best employees, especially their “high Potential” Asian employees.

The meeting, open to the public, will be held May 20 with 6pm Registration, followed by the panel discussion program and reception. The ticket price is Asia Society/Ascend/event partner members $10; Non-members $15; Students/Seniors $5. To register: 415 421 8706.

A new study by Buck Gee, Project Director of the Corporate Executive Initiative and former Cisco Vice-President, will be released at the May 20 Public Panel. Their study of large Bay Area companies found that Asian Americans continue to be substantially underrepresented at the highest levels of corporate management. Developed by the Corporate Executive Initiative, a joint project of ASCEND/NORTHERN CALIFORNIA and ASIAN SOCIETY NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, the study is titled “A Bay Area Corporate Census: Asian American Executives”.

Ascend President Anna Mok comments, “Throughout the Bay Area, Asian Americans have made extraordinary contributions in business and technology. In many companies I would not be surprised to see 20-30% of their professional workforce to be of Asian descent and would expect to see many more opportunities for Asians at the highest corporate levels.” 2008 corporate reports have found that while Asians represented over 23% of the Bay Area population, they comprise only 5.5% of the Board members and 9.3% of the executive officers in the 25 largest companies with headquarters in the Bay Area. Furthermore, fourteen of these companies had no Asian board members and eight had no Asian corporate officers. Even in Silicon Valley, where Asians are over 30% of the population, Asians were only 9.7% of the corporate officer population. Top Bay Area companies Chevron, McKesson, the Gap and Symantec reported no Asians as board members or corporate officers in 2008.

Bruce Pickering, Executive Director of Asia Society Northern California, said “We are encouraging an open discussion of how American corporations can do a better job of utilizing their Asian American employee base. This is not a diversity issue, it’s a competitiveness issue. With this May 20 panel discussion and our Diversity Leadership forum in New York City on June 1, Asia Society hopes to help the development of leadership skills within the corporate Asian community and Employee Resource Groups.”

A companion paper, “The Failure of Asian Success in the Bay Area: Asians as Corporate Executive Leaders” by Buck Gee and Wes Hom, a former IIBM Vice-President, is a well developed informational study of why Asians have not broken the so-called “glass ceiling” to rise to corporate leadership positions. It introduces a story of limits, success and failure, stating, “whether American-born or foreign-born, Asian Americans have enjoyed a much-envied reputation for achievement in education and technology.”

They continue, “However, the modern tale of Asian success in American society obscures the fact that Asians have found it difficult to reach the highest levels of leadership in government, education and business.” Authors Gee and Hom predict that for Bay Area large companies, “this can become a business impacting issue in the next 5 years as Asians continue to be the fastest growing segment of the Bay Area workforce, especially as technology and knowledge workers.” Their paper provides a quantitative review of the slow progress made up to now by the Asian executives in the largest Bay Area corporations and begins a qualitative discussion on underlying factors behind this phenomenon.

For those in business command, there is no question of the impact, past and present, of of Asians in America. As the Gee/Hom paper cited, “In the past three decades, the Asian American population has simply exploded - from 1.5 million to over 13 million by 2004. The Asian American median 2004 household income of $56K is well above the U.S. median of $44K. 44% of Asian Americans hold college degrees vs 24% for the general population. In the Bay Area, people see visible evidence of Asian overachievement success simply by wandering around any local college campus such as UC/Berkeley, where Asian Americans were 41% of Cal’s 2003 undergraduate population.”

Asian Americans are definitely a force to be reckoned with in the business world and how they meet this challenge in the future with better representation in its upper levels of corporate leadership will be the stimulating question to be discussed at this meeting. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear local leaders and their take on this issue.

The panel discussion is to be held at TiE Conference Center, 2903 Bunker Hill Lane, Santa Clara, CA. To register: https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=7af837; 415 421 8706

 By Gerrye Wong for Asianweek.com