Ascend Pinnacle Announces Leadership Changes

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Aug 15, 2018, 08:43 ET

NEW YORK, Aug. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascend, the largest, non-profit Pan-Asian membership organization for business professionals in North America, announced the planned retirement of Managing Director & Co-Founder of Ascend Pinnacle, S. K. Gupta.

Ascend Pinnacle, has quickly grown to become the largest network of Asian American Corporate Directors with nearly 200 experienced Board Directors and over 100 Aspiring Directors.

Gupta served in his role for over five years and is credited with being a driving force of Ascend Pinnacle along with co-founder Anna W. Mok, growing the membership as well as leading the Asian Corporate Directors Summit. Under his leadership Ascend Pinnacle has become the largest network of experienced Asian American Corporate Directors. Ascend Pinnacle has a simple goal: increase the number of Asian Americans on public company boards. Currently, Asians occupy only 3.1% of the 5,440 Fortune 500 board director seats. Nearly 80% of the Fortune 500 corporations have no Asian Americans on their boards. There have been two very successful Asian Corporate Directors Summits, with attendees representing Boards with a combined market cap of about 1.5 trillion dollars.

Jeff Chin, National President, said, "We thank S. K. for his numerous innovative contributions to Ascend, while leading the Ascend Pinnacle Initiative – he really moved the dial. We wish S. K. all the best in his retirement and we're pleased that he will help us during the transition as we continue this important work."

Ascend has appointed Janet S. Wong as Lead Senior Executive Advisor, Ascend Pinnacle effective August 15th. Wong is a retired KPMG partner and serves as a Board Director and the Audit Committee Chair for Enviva Partners. Ascend is also pleased to announce that Lisa Spivey will serve as Executive Director, Ascend Pinnacle. Spivey is a seasoned leader and branding strategist known for her cross-cultural work in Asia, with The Committee of 100 and as Executive Director of Northern California National Association of Corporate Directors.

"We wish to thank S.K. for the commitment and passion he brought to Ascend Pinnacle. We look forward to Janet and Lisa helping Ascend Pinnacle grow and continue to make positive impacts in the business community," said Anna W. Mok, Co-Founder, Ascend Pinnacle; Executive Vice President, Ascend; and senior partner at Deloitte & Touche LLP.

About Ascend

Ascend is the largest, non-profit Pan-Asian membership organization for business professionals in North America. Established in 2005, Ascend, a career lifecycle organization, reaches 60,000+ senior executives, professionals, and MBA/undergraduate students involved in its 50+ chapters in the United States and Canada. Visit http://www.ascendleadership.org/ for more information.

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SOURCE Ascend