Speaker Bios

Keynote Speaker: Ryan Hass

Ryan Hass is a senior fellow and the Michael H. Armacost Chair in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings, where he holds a joint appointment to the John L. Thornton China Center and the Center for East Asia Policy Studies. He is also the Chen-Fu and Cecilia Yen Koo Chair in Taiwan Studies. He was part of the inaugural class of David M. Rubenstein fellows at Brookings, and is a nonresident affiliated fellow in the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School. Hass focuses his research and analysis on enhancing policy development on the pressing political, economic, and security challenges facing the United States in East Asia.

From 2013 to 2017, Hass served as the director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia at the National Security Council (NSC) staff. He joined President Obama’s state visit delegations in Beijing and Washington respectively in 2014 and 2015, and the president’s delegation to Hangzhou, China, for the G-20 in 2016, and to Lima, Peru, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meetings in 2016. Prior to joining NSC, Hass served as a Foreign Service Officer in U.S. Embassy Beijing, where he earned the State Department Director General’s award for impact and originality in reporting. Hass also served in Embassy Seoul and Embassy Ulaanbaatar, and domestically in the State Department Offices of Taiwan Coordination and Korean Affairs. Hass received multiple Superior Honor and Meritorious Honor commendations during his 15-year tenure in the Foreign Service.

Speaker: Marie Anchordoguy

Marie Anchordoguy is a professor in the Jackson School of International Studies and specializes in the political economy of Japan. She is Chair of the UW and Jackson School Japan Studies Programs and currently holds the George Long Endowed Professorship. Her research has focused primarily on the key institutions and policies of Japan’s capitalist system, especially in its high-tech industries, including semiconductors. She is currently researching the political economy of entrepreneurship, venture capital, and high-tech start-ups in Japan. She teaches several comparative courses, such as “Science, Technology, and Innovation Policies in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China”. She received her undergraduate, MBA, and PhD in Business Administration degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.

Speaker: Director General Daniel K.C. Chen

Daniel Kuo-ching Chen is currently Director General of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Seattle.  Prior to this, he was Deputy Secretary-General of the Taiwan Council for U.S. Affairs（TCUSA）seconded to Foreign Minister’s Office.  D.G. Chen served as Deputy Director in the Political Division at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office （TECRO）in the United States. He also served the Section Chief in the Department of Northern American Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Republic of China（Taiwan）and was awarded the Model Civil Servant of MOFA in 2011.  D.G. Chen served Senior Consular Officer in Taipei Economic and Cultural Office（TECO）in Seattle as well.  He was a platoon leader as a second lieutenant in the Army of ROC and was awarded Excellent Mandatory Service Officer in 1997.

D.G Chen earned a Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) with an International Business Diplomacy (IBD) honorary certificate from Georgetown University in 2000 and Bachelor of Arts with valedictorian in Diplomacy from National Chengchi University, Taiwan in 1995.

Speaker: Tina Chen

Tina Chen has 20 years of substantial commercial experience with major corporate businesses like Tommy Bahama, Zara, Coach, and Swarovski across Asia and America with skills covering merchandising, product development, and sourcing. She has an in-depth understanding of the flexible supply chain needed to support modern retail from the factory to the customer. Outside of work, Tina volunteers as a guest-speaker/mentor for universities, with the goal to foster growth and to bridge business activities with academia.

Speaker: Jon Hodowany

Jon Hodowany, a native of San Diego, California and lifetime fan of the San Diego Padres, studied mechanical engineering and quantitative economics at the University of California, San Diego, graduating with a BS degree in 1992. After continuing his studies a few miles north, he graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 1997 with a PhD in aeronautics and mechanical engineering–and additionally, what didn’t seem especially important at the time–a language minor in Chinese. Between 1997 and 2005, Jon and his wife Judy (a UCSD classmate and native of Taiwan) resided in Seattle, with Jon working as a principal engineer and manager at the Boeing Tech Center in Bellevue, and later at two biotechnology start-ups focused on large-scale gene expression lab automation during the most exciting early years of the Human Genome Project. From 2000 to 2003, Jon also enrolled and completed (part-time) the graduate business curriculum at the University of Washington, earning an MBA from the Foster School of Business in 2003. In 2005, with an extreme desire to experience life abroad, Jon moved his young family to Taipei, while at the same time assuming the role of president and general manager at JC Grand, a Taiwan-based company and (now) 2nd-generation family business that designs, manufactures, exports and distributes precision steel forgings to industrial customers worldwide. During the past decade, JC Grand has grown its manufacturing capabilities and client distribution footprint, especially in North America and the EU, to become one of the largest private companies in Taiwan at nearly USD 200 million in sales revenue in 2022.

Speaker: Suresh Kotha

Suresh Kotha is a professor at the Foster School of Business, University of Washington, where he holds the Olesen/Battelle Endowed Excellence Chair in Entrepreneurship. He is the chair of the Department of Management and Organization. Management and Organization Department is Foster Business School’s most prominent department, with 26 tenure-track faculty and three teaching faculty. The department also hosts 5 to 10 adjunct faculty at any given quarter. He is the Arthur W. Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship research director and co-founded the West Coast Research Symposium on Technology Entrepreneurship.

Additional speaker details to be announced soon.