The thirty-fourth Committee of 100 Asian American Career Ceilings Initiative webinar featured a fireside chat on the topic of  “Career Ceiling Challenges in Broadcast News” with Richard Lui, Journalist and News Anchor of MSNBC and NBC News, who is the first Asian American male to anchor a daily, national cable news show.

Asian Americans have faced significant career obstacles in the Broadcast News industry, as is true in many industries, this is a problem because talented Asian Americans are not able to achieve success relative to their talents and in proportion to the pool of Asian Americans in the professional, but also because news journalists/anchors are an important face to the general public and their perception of leaders and spokespersons for society.

During this fireside chat, we covered several topics:  

• A discussion of Richard’s career and how he got to the position he holds today. 
• The extent to which he feels Asian Americans are seriously underrepresented in the Broadcast News industry, especially at the top levels. 
• What are the causes of Asian American underrepresentation at the top levels?
• Why is it important to fix the problem?   
• His experiences about discrimination and, anecdotally, the experiences of other Asian Americans that he knows in the profession.  
• What he did in his career to overcome the career ceiling problem and the advice he would give to the audience about what they can and should do to overcome the career ceiling. 

The fireside chat was conducted by Peter Young, Committee of 100 member and Chair of the Committee of 100 Asian American Career Ceiling Initiative.

Richard Lui
Journalist and News Anchor
MSNBC and NBC News

Richard Lui is an American journalist and news anchor for MSNBC and NBC News. He is also a Committee of 100 member. Lui anchors Early Today on NBC and is a dayside anchor for MSNBC broadcasting from 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Formerly at CNN Worldwide, Lui became the first Asian American male to anchor a daily, national cable news show. Lui is also a columnist, contributing to publications including USA Today, Politico, The Seattle Times, Detroit Free Press, and San Francisco Chronicle. Lui’s charity work in the same spaces led him to work with Plan International USA as a global ambassador for its Because I am a Girl campaign. He also is ambassador for the Epilepsy Foundation and sits on the president’s council for America’s largest food source to the poor, Food Bank for New York City. Lui has received civil rights awards from organizations including AAJA, WWAAC, and OCA.

Before journalism, Lui spent 15 years in business with Fortune 500 and tech companies. He is patent holder and co-founder of the first bank-centric payment system, which was seed-funded and incubated by Citibank.

Lui attended UC Berkeley majoring in the political economy of industrial society, later graduating with a B.A. in rhetoric. He received his M.B.A. from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, and is enrolled at Stanford University in its program in International Security.

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.