We are pleased to invite you to attend the 58th Committee of 100 Asian American Career Ceilings Initiative event, featuring a panel on “The Impact of AI on Asian American Careers in Technology” featuring Buck Gee, Executive Advisor, Ascend and Deb Liu, former CEO of Ancestry.com.
With the rapid advancement and implementation of AI in industry and society, one of the issues on the minds of everyone is what the impact will be of AI on careers and, in particular, for careers in technology and for Asian Americans. Where will jobs be lost and will there be job creation? Will the nature of job tasks change and in what way? Will this affect the way one plans your career? Will AI make Asian American Career Ceilings worse or just different?
Our panelists are veterans in the technology industry and have either just recently left the industry or have done extensive research work related to Asian American careers in industry. They will use their experience and knowledge to shed light on this challenging topic.
Asian Americans succeed at the entry and the middle ranks of many professions, but consistently do not do as well in the senior ranks. Over the last five years, Committee of 100 has hosted many webcasts, seminars, masterclasses and summits that have brought experts forward to share their research and individuals from many different fields, genders and age groups to discuss their experiences, observations and solutions.
Peter Young, Committee of 100 Board Member and New York Regional Chair, and Chair of the Asian American Career Ceilings Initiative, will moderate.
After the conclusion of the fireside chat, there will be a Q&A session during which members of the audience may ask questions.
Speaker Bios:
Buck Gee
Executive Advisor Ascend
Buck Gee is an Executive Advisor to Ascend, a nonprofit Pan-Asian organization of business professionals. In 2010, he co-founded the Advanced Leadership Program for Asian American Executives, an executive education program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
He has co-authored numerous Ascend research papers on the topic of the Asian glass ceiling, including “Hidden in Plain Sight” (2015), “The Illusion of Asian Success” (2017), “The Diversity-Equity Gap in the Fortune 500” (2023), and “What About the Women” (2024). He has written opinion pieces on Asian American issues published in the Harvard Business Review, the New York Times, USA Today, the San Jose Mercury-News, KQED, and salon.com.
He is a member of Committee of 100 and serves on its board of directors as NorCal regional chair. He also serves on the boards of the Chinatown Media and Art Collective (CMAC), the Asia Society/Northern California, and APIAVote.
Mr. Gee retired in 2008 from Cisco Systems, where he was Vice President and General Manager of the Data Center Business Unit. He joined Cisco with its 2004 acquisition of startup Andiamo Systems where Mr. Gee was President and CEO. A Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur, he was an executive at Crescendo Communications (acquired by Cisco ‘93) and Com21 (IPO ’98). He has also taught computer and engineering courses at Stanford University and Howard University.
This year, he has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) and the Leadership Award from the International Leadership Foundation (ILF). He has also received the received the Distinguished Leader award from the Chinese Historical & Cultural Project (CHCP) in 2022, the Distinguished Community Leadership Award from Ascend in 2019, the Executive Excellence Award from the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) in 2015 and the Civic Entrepreneurship Award from the Asian Pacific Islander Leadership Institute (APALI) in 2012.
He holds BSEE and MSEE degrees from Stanford University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Deb Liu
Co-Founder Ember AI and Former CEO Ancestry.com
Deb Liu is the co-founder of Ember AI, a startup bringing workflow automation to enterprises, and the former President and CEO of Ancestry. A veteran technology executive, she spent over a decade at Meta, where she created Facebook Marketplace, and previously held product leadership roles at PayPal and eBay. She serves on the Board of Directors of Intuit and Poshmark and is the founder of Women in Product, a nonprofit with over 30,000 members. She is the author of Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work and holds a B.S. from Duke University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Moderator:
Peter Young
CEO and President, Young & Partners; Committee of 100 Member
Peter Young is CEO and President of Young & Partners, a corporate strategy and boutique investment banking firm focused on the life science and chemical industries. He manages the firm and is actively involved in client 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., the corporate strategy firm.
Mr. Young received a BA in Economics from Yale, an MS in Accounting from NYU, and 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 a number of boards of directors, both corporate and non-profit and is President and board member of Société de Chimie Industrielle, a leading life science and chemical industry non-profit organization.
