Washington D.C. – National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) President Jake Colvin today announced that Hua Wang will serve as the new Executive Director of the Global Innovation Forum (GIF).
As GIF’s Executive Director, Hua engages an international network of small, minority and women-led businesses, nonprofit leaders and government officials to improve the trade and digital policy landscapes.
Ms. Wang previously led a technology accelerator in Alabama and founded SmartBridge Health, a cancer telemedicine startup, through which she served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Startup Chile, the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre and the Halcyon Incubator. She has also previously worked at Proskauer, K&L Gates, Cisco Systems and the Kauffman Foundation.
“Hua’s experience as a founder and with the startup ecosystem gives her unique insight into the role of global markets and public policy in the success of small and early stage businesses,” said Colvin. “She is extraordinarily well-suited to grow GIF’s impact and ensure that trade and digital policies create more inclusive access to the global marketplace.”
Launched in 2009, GIF is a project of the 501(c)(3) NFTC Foundation that connects small businesses and startups with policymakers through thought leadership and forums to explore the role of technology and trade policies and programs in fostering resilience and inclusive growth.
Her full bio can be found below.
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Hua C. Wang
Executive Director, Global Innovation Forum
Hua C. Wang is Executive Director for Global Innovation Forum (GIF) at the National Foreign Trade Council Foundation. NFTC Foundation’s mission is to inspire, promote, encourage and facilitate international trade and investment in order to enhance economic growth and job creation throughout the world.
As GIF’s Executive Director, Hua engages an international network of small, minority and women-led businesses, nonprofit leaders and government officials to improve the trade and digital policy landscapes. She oversees the development and execution of GIF’s strategy to facilitate more inclusive access to the global marketplace. She amplifies the voice of innovators and entrepreneurs in public policy discussions domestically and with international organizations including the World Trade Organization and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.
Hua previously led a top technology accelerator in Alabama with the 15 startups collectively raising $20 million in funding and generating $11 million in revenue. She also founded SmartBridge Health, a cancer telemedicine startup, during which time she served an entrepreneur in residence at Start-Up Chile, the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre and the Washington, DC-based Halcyon Incubator.
Prior to entrepreneurship, Hua worked as a private equity attorney at Proskauer and K&L Gates, in-house counsel at Cisco Systems and a global scholar at the Kauffman Foundation.
After graduating from Duke University, Hua worked as an investment banking analyst at Lehman Brothers and a healthcare strategy consultant at Accenture. She is also a graduate of Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law.
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