The 40th Committee of 100 Asian American Career Ceilings Initiative event is part of a new program, titled “Master Classes for Organizations: Managing Equity Initiatives.” We featured experts who conducted tutorials on various topics related to how organizations (corporate, non-profit, government) can more effectively manage their equity initiatives.

These Master Classes for Organizations programs are separate from our Master Classes for Individuals programs that focus on giving advice to Asian Americans as individuals who are dealing with career ceiling issues (inaugural event held on December 13).

Our first organizational Master Class was on the topic of “Maintaining the Effectiveness of Equity Initiatives in the Current Environment.”

Our two instructors were Jenny Yang, former Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Joyce Chang, Global Head of Research for J.P. Morgan and Executive Sponsor for J.P. Morgan Chase’s network for employees of Asian heritage (AsPIRE).

We have purposely selected instructors who have been actively involved in directing their organization’s initiatives or providing legal guidance and assistance to businesses with regard to equal opportunity.

During this webinar, our two instructors briefly summarized their careers with a focus on providing advice and lessons to the audience on how organizations can continue to be effective with regard to organizational equity initiatives and promoting an equal playing field. Despite the challenges facing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Employee Resource Groups, organizational initiatives focused on similar goals, and non-profits providing resources along the same lines, this is an important time to reflect on how we can advance effective efforts to advance opportunities for everyone.

Audience included individuals who are involved in or manage the equity initiatives of their organizations, whether they are corporate, non-profit, or government entities.

Peter Young, Chair of the Initiative and a Committee of 100 Member, moderated the fireside chat and Q&A session.

Joyce Chang
Global Head of Research and Executive Sponsor for AsPIRE
J.P. Morgan

Joyce Chang is Chair of Global Research. She has spent 35 years working in Global Research, with expertise in Macro, Fixed Income, Emerging Markets, Geopolitical and Strategic Research. Before assuming her current role in 2019, Joyce served as Global Head of Research and Global Head of Fixed Income Research. She began her career as an Emerging Markets Strategist in

1990 and held top rankings in Institutional Investor surveys for Emerging Markets research, earning 25 #1 individual rankings. In 2014, she was inducted into the Fixed Income Analyst Society Hall of Fame. J.P. Morgan has consistently been recognized as the #1 Global Research Team and #1 Global Fixed Income Research team by Institutional Investor. Joyce was a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch and Salomon Brothers prior to joining J.P. Morgan Chase in 1999.

She is the Executive Sponsor for J.P. Morgan Chase’s network for employees of Asian heritage (AsPIRE) and on the Executive Committee of the Corporate and Investment Bank’s Women on The Move network. She serves on the Board of Directors of the German Marshall Fund, Trickle Up and the Fixed Income Analyst Society as well as the Advisory Councils for the Bretton Woods Committee, Center of Financial Stability and Georgetown University’s Baratta Center for Global Business. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Inter-American Dialogue. She has been named as one of the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance by American Banker and in Barron’s 100 Most Influential Women in Finance.

Chang holds an M.P.A. from Princeton and serves on its External Advisory Council for its Julis Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance. She holds a B.A. from Columbia from where she was awarded the John Jay award for professional achievement and serves on its Board of Directors for the Asian Columbia Alumni Association.

Jenny R. Yang
Workplace Equal Opportunity Government Leader
Former White House, Domestic Policy Council as a Deputy Assistant to the President for Racial Justice and Equity
Former Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission

Jenny R. Yang served in the White House, Domestic Policy Council as a Deputy Assistant to the President for Racial Justice and Equity until March 2024. From the start of the Biden-Harris Administration until March 2023, she served as the Director of the Office of Federal Contracts Compliance Programs at the U.S. Department of Labor. Before that she served on the Biden-Harris Labor Transition Team. Ms. Yang served as Chair, Vice-Chair, and Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 2013 to 2018. Ms. Yang also served as a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute and a consultant with Working Ideal from 2019-2020. She spent a decade representing workers in complex nationwide employment discrimination and wage and hour actions as a partner and Chair of the Diversity Committee at Cohen Milstein. Before that, she served as a Senior Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Employment Litigation Section.

She began her career at the National Employment Law Project protecting the rights of garment workers. Prior to that she clerked for Judge Edmund Ludwig of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Ms. Yang served a co-chair of the first national board of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. A graduate of Cornell University, she earned a B.A. in Government. She earned a J.D. from NYU School of Law where she was a Root-Tilden Public Interest scholar and served as Notes Editor of the Law Review.

Peter Young
CEO and President
Young & Partners  

Peter Young is CEO and President of Young & Partners, a boutique corporate strategy and investment banking firm focused on the life science and chemical industries. He manages the firm and is actively involved in client projects, transactions, and financings. Under his leadership, Young & Partners has established and maintained its position as a highly regarded firm serving the corporate strategy, M&A, restructuring, and financing needs of clients worldwide. He was previously head of industry groups at Salomon Brothers, Schroders, and Lehman Brothers, a senior private equity executive with J.H. Whitney & Co., and a senior member of Bain & Co., a corporate strategy firm.   

Mr. Young received a BA in Economics from Yale, an MS in Accounting from NYU, and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he graduated as a Baker Scholar. He is a CPA and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. He serves on several boards of directors, both corporate and non-profit; and is a board member of Société de Chimie Industrielle, a leading life science and chemical industry non-profit organization; and on the Editorial Advisory Board of Pharmaceutical Executive. He is also the New York Regional Chair for Committee of 100.