6/6/2025 - BoardRoom Bound - Charting Your Path to Board Leadership

A high-impact networking and learning event hosted by Monte Jade West, designed for accomplished professional women exploring board service. Attendees will gain valuable insights from experienced board members, connect with like-minded peers, and receive practical guidance on positioning themselves for board roles, including key qualifications and actionable steps to secure a seat.

Fireside Chat

Coco Brown – Founder & CEO of Athena Alliance

Moderator: Rebecca Liao – VP and Corporate Controller, PayNearMe

Roundtable Discussion – Featured Speakers

Jenny Ming – CEO, Rothy’s

Jane Li – Board Chair, Semtech

Christine Tsai – CEO, 500 Global

Moderator: Amy Park – Partner at O’Melveny

Speakers' bio:

Coco Brown – Founder & CEO of Athena Alliance

Coco Brown is the Founder and CEO of Athena Alliance. Athena has helped thousands of leaders build their Portfolio of Impact by advancing and diversifying their professional experience across leadership, governance, investing, entrepreneurship and inspiring next generations. The Athena platform offers a tight integration between community and learning, drawing on both to advance individuals and society. The company has also brought over 500 women to corporate boards from growth stage private companies to name brand public companies. Coco has personally worked with hundreds of top leaders, CEOs and boards to evolve modern leadership. She’s served in governance roles across three corporate boards - including as Audit Chair, seven advisory committees / boards, and three non-profit boards. Coco is a five time entrepreneur and has led two notable companies (Taos, acquired by IBM, and now Athena). She is part of Nasdaq's Governance Insights Council, and is often called to stages of all sizes to share guidance to the evolving focus and breadth of responsibility within the modern boardroom, and to share insights into advancement strategies for the modern leader. Among other accolades, Coco was named one of the 100 Most Powerful People of Silicon Valley.

Rebecca Liao – VP and Corporate Controller, PayNearMe

Rebecca Liao is a seasoned financial leader with extensive experience in finance and accounting operations across diverse sectors including software, SaaS, digital advertising, internet merchandising, retail, clean tech, FinTech and banking. She currently serves as VP and Corporate Controller at PayNearMe, where she is driving operational scale, leading IPO readiness efforts, and building a high-performance finance team. Rebecca has held senior roles at JP Morgan Chase (WePay), Credit Karma, Dexterity, and Axcient, with expertise in M&A integration, ERP implementations, and navigating complex regulatory environments.She began her career at Deloitte and has since supported global expansion efforts and transformed finance functions at both startups and public companies. Rebecca holds a Master’s in Accountancy from Bentley College, Bachelor’s in Economics from Wellesley College, and executive education from Harvard and Cornell. A passionate advocate for leadership development and social impact, she is the founder of Jezuba and serves on the board of Monte Jade West, promoting innovation and investment in the Asian American community.

Jenny Ming – CEO, Rothy’s

Jenny Ming is the Chief Executive Officer of Rothy’s, Inc., where she leads the fast-growing sustainable retailer as the business scales via retail, wholesale, and international expansion. Prior to joining Rothy’s in January 2024, Ms. Ming held various executive roles at Gap, Inc. including Founder and President of Old Navy from 1993 through 2006. Ms. Ming then joined specialty retailer Charlotte Russe as President and Chief Executive Officer. In addition to Rothy’s Board, Ms. Ming has also served on the Boards of Kendra Scott, Poshmark and Affirm, and currently serves on the Boards of Levi Strauss & Co., and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan & Hospitals.

Jane Li – Board Chair, Semtech

Jane Li is an accomplished public, private, and advisory Board Director and COO with over 20 years of experience in the high-tech industry, delivering a successful track record in strategy development, general management, M&A, turnarounds, go-to-market and sales leadership. She contributes a strong business acumen to the boardroom across information technology, SaaS, IoT, semiconductors, wireless and telecommunications, cloud, software and cybersecurity sectors.Jane brings expertise in growing numerous businesses and managing large P&Ls across Fortune 500 companies – Corning, Fujitsu, Huawei, and Huawei Symantec Joint Venture. She enables public company boards to scale growth, leveraging her strong operations leadership within PE companies, keen ability to forge relationships far and wide, as well as her extensive international experience with global companies headquartered in US, Japan, and China.Jane serves as Board Chair of Semtech (NASDAQ: SMTC), where she is also Chair of Nom & Gov and a member of the Compensation Committee, guiding the board of this $900M semiconductor company on strategic growth within IoT and cloud areas. Her deep understanding across both chip business and systems, as well as cloud and software business, position her as unique contribution to board discussions. Jane’s wide network in many technology spaces enables a greater connection to the company, with new board members, new technology, and business partnership opportunities. As a member of the Compensation Committee, Jane advises on balancing executive retention with shareholder expectations. Through her unique background and wide network across China, she recently assisted the board and management team mitigate China risk while maximizing China growth.Jane also serves as Board Director for the semiconductor company, Knowles (NYSE: KN), with $826M+ in revenue, also serving as a member on the company’s Audit Committee. She brings fellow board members and leadership teams a balanced approach of governance, strategic guidance, risk management and meaningful encouragement. Jane guides Knowles employing her deep expertise growing businesses in both the semiconductor and communications/IT space, which are Knowles key end markets.Jane balances insights with financial and operational acumen from experience in PE engagements and utilizes cybersecurity technology background in Audit Committee discussions.In 2021, Jane joined PDF Solutions (NASDAQ: PDFS) and she serves on Compensation Committee. Jane also served CTS Corporation (NYSE: CTS) Board and is a member of Technology and Transactions Committee and also Nom and Gov Committee from 2020 to 2023. Her focus is on bringing technology and industry perspectives as the company expands itspresence in new and existing markets.Currently, Jane serves as a Strategic Advisor for Diversis Capital, a PE firm, where she led a turnaround strategy and many technology deals from assessment to due diligence. She also serves as a Board Director of SaaS company, ServicePower, and was Advisory Board Member of Skytap, also a Cloud and SaaS business, advising on go-to-market strategies, SaaS business models, product roadmap, leadership, and marketing and branding strategies. Before joining Diversis Capital, Jane led as the COO of Huawei Enterprise US in IT, Cloud, Enterprise Networking and Mobility, and was the General Manager for Huawei Symantec USA (Storage and Network and Cyber Security). As the top US executive responsible for building the US business, she delivered $600M in two years for two major global companies – Symantec and Huawei, successfully navigating cultural, political, branding and innovation challenges.As an M&A, Turnaround CEO, and Operations Consultant with The Gores Group, a PE firm with $2.7B AUM, Jane led the acquisition team of a $600M revenue division of a large public company. Previously, in her Marketing and Sales Director role for Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW), Jane forged key relationships with industry leaders and led the successful launch and promotion of metropolitan fiber products worldwide, contributing to the $7.1B in revenue in 2000. She also led her teams in tripling revenues to $350M and increasing growth as the Executive Vice President and GM of Fujitsu Compound Semiconductor Inc. Additionally, Jane held Advisory Board Member roles for Zadara Storage (Cloud), Primex Wireless (cloud/wireless). Jane has earned coveted awards, including 2024 top 100 Asian American Board Directors by Board Prospects, 2019 Most Influential Corporate Board Directors by WomenInc., 2019 Directors to Watch by Directors & Boards, 100 Women in Tech 2015 by Hot Topics. A former member of the National Board of Directors for Women in Cable & Telecommunications (WICT), Jane earned BS and MS degrees in Telecommunications Engineering from Zhejiang University, as well as a Master of Communications and Marketing from Ohio University. She also attended Stanford Directors’ College in 2016, 2017 and 2022. Jane Li is fluent in both English and Mandarin Chinese.

Christine Tsai – CEO, 500 Global

Christine Tsai is Founding Partner and CEO of 500 Global. She co-founded 500 Global in 2010 and led the firm’s growth to $2.2B in AUM and investments in more than 3,000 companies in 80+ countries.Christine has spent her entire professional career building and investing in Silicon Valley. Prior to co-founding 500 Global, Christine held product marketing and operating roles at Google, including monetization and developer products such as Google AdSense, Google Analytics, YouTube APIs and syndication, and Google Developer Platform Tools.Christine currently serves on the venture capital committee of the Association of Asian American Investment Managers (AAAIM) and is an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). She is also an honoree of Gold House’s A100 List, recognizing the most impactful Asian and Pacific Islander leaders across business and technology, entertainment, advocacy, politics, lifestyle, and sports. She has also been named as one of 10 Women of Influence in venture capital by Private Equity International.Christine holds a B.A. in Cognitive Science from the University of California at Berkeley and was a National Merit Scholar.

Amy Park – Partner at O’Melveny

Amy Park is a high-stakes commercial litigator with an emphasis on complex business litigation, securities and derivative litigation, M&A litigation, and fiduciary duty and corporate governance matters. A creative tactician and skilled advocate, Amy guides her clients through all stages of disputes, delivering innovative arguments, winning strategies and practical solutions.Recognized for her depth of experience in securities, business and financial disputes, Amy was named a Lawyer of the Year for Securities Litigation in the 2019 edition of Best Lawyers and has been recognized annually in the publication’s securities, M&A and commercial litigation categories. Amy serves as an Advisory Board Member of the Women In Securities Litigation Network, writes and speaks regularly on developments in securities litigation and ethical obligations of in-house counsel and received a JD Supra Readers’ Choice Award for her articles covering developments in securities class action litigation. The National Diversity Council awarded Amy its Leadership Excellence in the Law award, which recognizes attorneys who have “distinguished themselves through their leadership, resolve and outstanding achievements for their clients.” Additionally, Amy has been named one of California’s Most Powerful and Influential Women by The California Diversity Council. She has been recognized by the Silicon Valley Business Journal as a Woman of Influence and was the recipient of a Wise Woman award from Deloitte. Amy serves as the Hiring Partner for O’Melveny’s Silicon Valley office.