We’re recognizing some of the most successful, respected executives in the tech industry this Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. It’s a privilege to work with these folks and celebrate their contributions, particularly in a time where violence and hate towards Asian Americans remain far too high. We’re honored to do our part to increase visibility and encourage the tech community to not only keep talking about it, but walking the walk. Looking for inspiration? Here are 100 ways Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and allies have found solutions to racism and violence.
Here are 11 exceptional Asian tech founders, CEOs, and leaders you should know (and follow!):
Cai GoGwilt (@gogwilt)
Co-Founder and CTO, Ironclad
Cai GoGwilt is CTO and Co-Founder of Ironclad, the digital contracting platform that recently surpassed 1B contracts processed. A former software engineer at Palantir Technologies, Cai sharpens his technical expertise with… music. He’s a concert cellist, has played piano since the age of 4, and loves karaoke.
Caroline Tsay (@jacintatsay)
Co-Founder and CEO, Compute
Caroline is the CEO and Co-Founder of Compute, a cloud optimization software company. She’s also the youngest and first Asian American board member of Coca-Cola, and serves on the board of Morningstar. She’s spent time at IBM, Yahoo, and before Compute was the VP and General Manager of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Christina Liu
Chief Accounting Officer, Confluent
Christina brings more than two decades of finance leadership experience in building and scaling high growth companies. She’s taken two companies public – Zendesk (after scaling the accounting and compliance function from $70M ARR to over $1B) and Confluent. Christina is also passionate about supporting the next generation – serving as a mentor at Everwise and as the North America Vice Chair and mentor at the Tsinghua Entrepreneur & Executive Club.
Dennis Lee (@dennisblee)
Co-Founder and COO, Noyo
Dennis is the Co-Founder and COO of Noyo, building the digital infrastructure to bring health insurance enrollment into the modern era (with $45M in fresh funding!). Dennis met his Noyo co-founder and CEO Shannon Goggin at Zenefits, where they shared frustrations with the available tech solutions. Together, they’re passionate about running an org that celebrates its people and prioritizes diversity and inclusion.
Dini Mehta (@dinimehta)
CRO, Lattice
Dini is the Chief Revenue Officer at Lattice. She’s passionate about building high performing, diverse teams, leading with authenticity, and sustainably scaling GTM engines from the ground up. As a result, Dini has accomplished the seemingly impossible – scaling a sales organization from 7 to 120 employees with almost no attrition while building revenue from $5M to $100M+ in less than 4 years.
Kerry Wang (@kerryxwang)
Co-Founder and CEO, Searchlight
Kerry and her twin sister Anna co-founded Searchlight AI, a talent intelligence platform that helps companies go beyond the resume by using behavioral reference data and analytics to assess potential candidates. They recently raised a $17M Series A and were recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 for enterprise tech. She’s an avid water enthusiast – she holds a sailing license and spent time as a windsurfing instructor.
Linda Lian (@LindaMLian)
Co-Founder and CEO, Common Room
Linda is the CEO and Co-Founder of Common Room a community growth platform which recently opened for general availability. Throughout her life and career she’s keenly focused on the how, not the what, of technology and community building, which has shaped her people-first leadership ethos.
Linda Tong (@YayLT)
General Manager, AppDynamics
Linda is the General Manager of AppDynamics, the full stack APM and IT ops company acquired by Cisco in 2017, and recently joined the board of Prezi. Before AppDynamics, Linda ran product and innovation at the NFL, was an early member of the Android team at Google, and founding member of Tapjoy and Nextbi. She’s a truly inspirational leader, having grown product and innovation across industries with a focus on execution and empowering company culture of curiosity and experimentation.
Nick Mehta (@nrmehta)
CEO, Gainsight
Nick is the CEO of customer success juggernaut Gainsight. He’s an author, magazine cover star, and passionate leader with a focus on building authentic cultures and driving alignment. He sure knows how to lead with style, look no further his SaaS rewrites of pop and rap songs — like this one #OperatorsRock.
Rathi Murthy (@rathi_murthy)
CTO/President of Expedia Services, Expedia Group
Rathi is the Chief Technology Officer and President of Expedia Services at Expedia, and board member of Pager Duty. She’s known for building win-win relationships with partners, stakeholders, vendors, and customers. Rathi’s technical expertise and world-class leadership has led her to top positions at Verizon, GAP, and American Express throughout her phenomenal career. Her secret insight about engineering? It’s FUN.
Yongsheng Wu (@yswu)
VP of Engineering, Circle
Yongsheng is an executive engineering leader with deep technical expertise. He leads the infra & platform team at Circle, a global financial technology firm that’s bridging the traditional financial system with the world’s leading blockchains. He was previously a (self-described “failed”) startup founder & CEO, and an engineering leader at Pinterest, Twitter, and Salesforce.
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Our community shares the goal of changing the game to create new access points so more people are included in the opportunities of the venture ecosystem. Studies indicate that funder diversity has a natural trickle-down effect on the companies and types of founders being funded – when you intentionally expand and diversify your investor list, it shows. We know that diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are competitive advantages. They are core to our Collective Venture Model and the companies that will win. Together, we’re changing the face of tech from the ground up.
