{"id":2076,"date":"2024-05-31T23:29:36","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T23:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/?p=2076"},"modified":"2025-10-22T22:03:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T22:03:28","slug":"featured-alumnus-steve-davis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/news\/featured-alumnus-steve-davis\/","title":{"rendered":"Featured Alumnus: Steve Davis"},"content":{"rendered":"

During his keynote address to faculty and students at the 2023 Jackson School Convocation, Steve Davis<\/a>, recipient of the Jackson School\u2019s 2023 Distinguished Alum Award, described the \u201cpinball approach\u201d he has taken to his life and career, \u201czigzagging among interesting ideas, opportunities, and jobs.\u201d Since graduating from the Jackson School in 1984 with an MA in East Asian Studies and a focus on China, Davis has had an interesting and varied career.<\/p>\n

Currently, he serves as a senior advisor for McKinsey & Company, as a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. His previous roles include serving as the executive strategic advisor and interim director for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, China Country Office, and co-chairing the World Health Organization & Digital Health Technical Advisory Group.\u00a0 He is also the former President and CEO of PATH, a leading global health innovation organization, the former CEO of Corbis, a digital media pioneer, and was an attorney at K&L Gates. He authored the book\u00a0Undercurrents: Channeling Outrage to Spark Practical Activism\u00a0<\/em>(Publisher: Wiley 2020), and speaks and writes frequently on topics related to corporate engagement in the areas of social impact, social innovation, and digital health.<\/p>\n

Reminiscing about his experiences as a student at the UW, Davis said, \u201cmy time here at the Jackson School was only a brief period in a now very long career, but it impacted me in ways that I cannot even describe.\u201d It was during his time in the program that Davis came to love the study of China and \u201cits dynamic place in the world\u201d. In the early 1980\u2019s, China was only beginning to open after the Cultural Revolution and the US had only recently recognized the PRC. At that time, \u201cChinese Studies was considered pretty esoteric,\u201d according to Davis. While in the program, Davis had the opportunity to be one of the early graduate students to study in Beijing, spending a summer at Beijing University soon after its re-opening. \u201cIt was one of the most transformative summers of my life,\u201d Davis said, \u201cI think about it still a lot, and I still have many, many wonderful friends from that summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Photo Credit: Kerry Dahlen<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thinking back on his career, Davis said, \u201cI\u2019ve had the privilege, in my life, to work on a lot of really gritty issues from death penalty reform in China and human rights work as a lawyer, to shaping the information superhighway before we even used the word internet, to fighting for gay rights around the world, to working on health and development in some of the poorest communities around the globe.\u201d How did he keep up his energy while working on such complex issues? \u201cIt\u2019s the privilege of working with smart, engaged, globally minded, diverse, and innovative young people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

More recently, as the executive strategic advisor and interim director for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, China Country Office, Davis had the opportunity to work on a project reimagining U.S.-China collaboration on big global concerns, including health security, food security, climate, and humanitarian response. \u201cThis is one of our centuries biggest problems to solve,\u201d he said. \u201cI leave almost every conversation inspired and even, at times, optimistic, by the fresh thinking, the creativity, the insights, and the determination of young international experts, scholars, and activists, who are determined to shape a better world in the midst of this new great power competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing the graduating students, Davis said, \u201cI hope you are boundless in your aspirations and excited about your potential for impact, which this degree in International Studies has prepared you for.\u201d He encouraged the students to \u201ctake today to celebrate, then tomorrow, put aside any cynicism\u2026 and go use the knowledge that you\u2019ve gained at the Jackson School to contribute. Go change the world for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can learn more about Steve Davis here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During his keynote address to faculty and students at the 2023 Jackson School Convocation, Steve Davis, recipient of the Jackson School\u2019s 2023 Distinguished Alum Award, described the \u201cpinball approach\u201d he has taken to his life and career, \u201czigzagging among interesting ideas, opportunities, and jobs.\u201d Since graduating from the Jackson School in 1984 with an MA<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":688,"featured_media":2077,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFeatured Alumnus: Steve Davis - China Studies Program<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/news\/featured-alumnus-steve-davis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Featured Alumnus: Steve Davis - China Studies Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During his keynote address to faculty and students at the 2023 Jackson School Convocation, Steve Davis, recipient of the Jackson School\u2019s 2023 Distinguished Alum Award, described the \u201cpinball approach\u201d he has taken to his life and career, \u201czigzagging among interesting ideas, opportunities, and jobs.\u201d Since graduating from the Jackson School in 1984 with an MA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/news\/featured-alumnus-steve-davis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Studies Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-31T23:29:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-22T22:03:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2024\/05\/Jackson-Convocation-2023-089-750x501.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1709\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah M Prothero\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah M Prothero\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/news\/featured-alumnus-steve-davis\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/news\/featured-alumnus-steve-davis\/\",\"name\":\"Featured Alumnus: Steve Davis - China Studies Program\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/news\/featured-alumnus-steve-davis\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/news\/featured-alumnus-steve-davis\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2024\/05\/Jackson-Convocation-2023-089-750x501.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-31T23:29:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-22T22:03:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/#\/schema\/person\/f4f978c1150769ee0febf3fc5c3233fd\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/news\/featured-alumnus-steve-davis\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/news\/featured-alumnus-steve-davis\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/news\/featured-alumnus-steve-davis\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2024\/05\/Jackson-Convocation-2023-089-750x501.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2024\/05\/Jackson-Convocation-2023-089-750x501.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1709},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/news\/featured-alumnus-steve-davis\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Featured Alumnus: Steve Davis\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/china\/\",\"name\":\"China Studies Program\",\"description\":\"The Henry M. 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