About the Seminar

About the Speakers

Dr. Anne Chao, Philanthropist and Professor, Rice University

Anne Chao received her B.A. from Wellesley College, her M.A. and PhD from Rice University. She is a modern Chinese historian and interested in using computational technology to do social network analysis and text-mining. She is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Humanities and Manager of the Houston Asian American Archive at Rice. She was voted one of the 50 Most Influential Women of Houston in 2011. She and her husband, Albert, received the Meritorious Service Award from the Association of Rice Alumni in 2010. Her dissertation was a Co-Winner of the Captain Charles Septimus Longcope Award in History in 2009. She currently serves on the boards of the Houston Endowment, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Houston Ballet and the Dunhuang Foundation, as well as the advisory boards of the School of Humanities, the Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality, the Chao Center for Asian Studies, and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

Donna Cole, President and CEO, Cole Chemical

Donna Fujimoto Cole founded Cole Chemical in 1980, at the age of 27 with $5000, divorced, with a four year old daughter. In 2014, Cole Chemical had $85 million and chemical sales and chemical supply chain management solutions to a wide range of customers and industries. Ms. Cole was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009 by Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce and was named one of Houston’s 50 Most Influential Women in 2010. In 2015, the Houston Chronicle selected Ms. Cole as one of Houston’s 10 Women of Distinction and the Houston Business Journal as a Women’s Energy Leader. In 2014 Ms. Cole received the Japanese Ministries of Foreign Affairs recognition for her work bridging US-Japan Relations. She is also co-founder of Pantheon of Women, a production company telling stories of strong women in film and television to change the way men treat and perceive women and how young girls see themselves. She is on the board of the Houston Minority Supplier Development Council, Center for Asian Pacific American Women, US-Japan Council, National Veterans Network, The Women’s Home, The Chao Center for Asian Studies, and The University of St Thomas.

Y. Ping Sun, First Lady, Rice University; Counsel, Yetter Coleman, LLP

Y. Ping Sun came to Houston from New York City in 2004, when her husband David W. Leebron became Rice University's seventh president. A native of Shanghai, China, Ping attended Tianjin Foreign Languages School and Beijing Languages and Culture University. She received a full scholarship to Princeton University, where she graduated cum laude with an AB degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She received a law degree from Columbia University School of Law, where she served as an editor of the Journal of Transnational Law.

Ms. Sun is a trustee of Texas Children’s Hospital, and a board member for Asia Society Texas Center, Teach For America, Hermann Park Conservancy, and the BARC Foundation. She also serves on the advisory boards of Asian Chamber of Commerce, Chinese Community Center, Houston Arts Alliance, and is a member of the Mayor’s International Trade and Development Council for Asia/Australia. Ping is also the chair of the Association of American Universities Partners’ Group which features 62 top American universities (including two from Canada). Ping is also an advisor of EastWest Bank and a director of Era Group Inc.

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