Linda Tsao Yang

Ambassador Yang was the U.S. Executive Director on the Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank in Manila from 1993 to 1999. She was the first woman appointed by the U.S. Government to the Board of a multilateral financial institution and the first Executive Director appointed by President Clinton and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Upon her retirement in December 1999, Ambassador Yang was presented the Distinguished Service Award by the then U.S. Secretary of the Treasury,Lawrence H. Summers. The award citation stated that, "Ambassador Yang played a key role in defining the Bank's participation in the international response to the Asian economic crisis, including pushing for early and expanded attention to social impacts and social development. She has provided strong fiduciary and operational oversight of Bank operations and has worked to make the Bank more transparent and accountable." President Clinton in accepting her request to retire wrote," You have provided exemplary and highly effective representation for the United States at the Asian Development Bank... I am particularly grateful for your work to reform the Bank's operational policies in order to encourage private investments, which will help to reduce poverty. Your actions have upheld American values and improved our ties with Asia."

The first woman and the first minority appointed to serve as California's Savings and Loan Commissioner, Amb. Yang was responsible for the regulation and supervision of state-chartered savings and loan industry from early 1980 to the end of 1982. She was the first Asian American appointed to the Board of Administration of the California Public Employees' System (CalPERS) and served as Vice President of the Board and Vice-chairman of its Investment Committee.
Ambassador Yang serves on the Board of The Committee of 100, The Pacific Pension Institute, and The Center for Asia Pacific Policy, RAND Corporation. A member of the Executive Committee of the U.S.-Asia Pacific Council in Washington D.C., she is also a trustee of The Asia Foundation in San Francisco which has 17 offices throughout Asia. She is a member of The Trusteeship for the Betterment of Women in Los Angeles and The Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
Amb. Yang serves on the Advisory Committee of the FTSE/ISS Corporate Governance Index in London and is an independent non-executive director on the Board of The Bank of China ( Hong Kong) and a member of its Audit Committee.
A graduate of St. John's University in Shanghai, Ambassador Yang earned her M.Phil.degree (Economics) from Columbia University of New York. Her areas of concentration were banking and international economics. She was married to the late Professor (Emeritus) An Tzu Yang, an internationally renowned scholar in theoretical kinematics.