Asia Society Board of Trustees Welcomes Four New Members at Fall Meeting

NEW YORK; Nov 29, 2023 — The Asia Society Board of Trustees has announced the election of S.Y. (Seung Yoon) Lee, Philip Qu, Raj Rao, and Vivienne Tam as new Trustees.

"We are delighted to welcome to Asia Society’s Global Board of Trustees four new Trustees with diverse and varied backgrounds and experience,” said Asia Society Board of Trustees Co-Chair Amb. Chan Heng Chee. “From technology to law to infrastructure investing to design, each have made unique contributions to their fields and will bring crucial perspectives to our Global Board.”

The Asia Society Global Board of Trustees list is available at AsiaSociety.org/about. Bios for the new members follow.

S.Y. (Seung Yoon) Lee is the CEO and Cofounder of Story Protocol. Story Protocol's mission is to redefine how intellectual property is created, governed, and licensed, allowing creators increased control of their work and narrative universes, including sharing ownership or creative direction with other contributors and the fanbase. The project's vision is to usher in the era of open-source IPs by becoming the “Git for IPs” - borderless, collaborative, and infinitely composable by default. Story has secured $54m round led by a16z with participation from Bang Si-hyuk (Founder of HYBE & BTS), David Bonderman (Founder of TPG Capital), and others.

He was previously the CEO and Founder of mobile storytelling platform Radish, which was backed by Softbank, UTA, and Bertelsmann. The platform was acquired for $440M in 2021 by South Korean tech giant Kakao. He subsequently served as Kakao’s Global Strategy Officer in charge of its investment and M&A activities globally.

Lee also actively invests and advises web3 companies as a Venture Partner at Hashed, South Korea’s largest blockchain fund. The fund was the first check in many web3 metaverse companies like Axie Infinity and Sandbox and also advises Korean tech and entertainment giants like Kakao, Naver, HYBE, and others on their web3 strategies.

Lee is an Asia Society’s Asia 21 Young Leader and Trilateral Commission’s David Rockefeller Fellow. He was an inaugural member of Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia in 2016 and was subsequently named as one of its All Star alumni.

Lee was elected as the first East Asian President of the Oxford Union, world’s famous debating society whose former presidents include many heads of state. During his term, he hosted world-class speakers including fellow South Korea rapper PSY, Senator John McCain, and President Martii Ahtisaari. He also launched the Union’s own Youtube Channel that features its key debates and speaker events.

Philip Qu is founder and managing partner of TransAsia Lawyers. He is a preeminent legal advisor for the technology, internet, telecoms, media and entertainment sectors in China and across the region, widely recognized for his expertise and insight on investments and financing, regulatory matters, compliance, and intellectual property. During the last two decades, Philip has been an indispensable counselor on landmark deals in these sectors for decades, guiding major multinationals, domestic market leaders, and generations of young entrepreneurs to success. As a result, Philip has been continuously recognized by the most reputable industry rankings, including Chambers (Eminent Practitioner), Legal500 (Hall of Fame), IFLR1000, Who’s Who Legal, AsiaLaw Profiles, LegalBand, AsiaIP, and ALB.

In addition to his business ventures, Philip is also an active participant in his broader community through a variety of civic and charitable activities, including as a long-time advisor for artists, galleries, museums, cultural institutions, leading education and environmental NGOs, and through his passion as an active collector of contemporary art, arts patron, and film producer.

Raj Rao is the President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), one of the world’s leading infrastructure investors that specializes in investing in, owning and operating some of the largest and most complex assets across the energy, transport, digital infrastructure and water and waste management sectors. GIP has approximately $103 billion in assets under management and the firm’s portfolio companies have combined annual revenues of approximately $75 billion and employ over 115,000 people.

With decarbonization central to GIP’s investment thesis, they are well positioned to support the global energy transition. Headquartered in New York, GIP has offices in Brisbane, Dallas, Delhi, Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, Mumbai, Singapore, Stamford and Sydney.

Rao is a founding member of the firm, having joined at GIP’s inception in 2006. He is a member of the Office of the Chairman and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and Investment Committee. Rao was previously GIP’s Global Head of Energy. He is based in New York.

Before GIP, Rao worked in the Global Energy Group of the Investment Banking Division of Credit Suisse and, prior to that, was in the Energy Investment Banking Group at Barclays Capital in London. He began his career in the equity sales group of Kotak Securities in Mumbai.

Rao currently serves on the board of directors of Naturgy and Vena Energy. He has previously served on the board of directors of CLH, London City Airport and Transit Gas.

He is a qualified Electronics and Telecommunications engineer and holds an M.B.A. from Delhi University and a Masters in Finance from London Business School.

Vivienne Tam, honored by Forbes magazine as one of the “25 Top Chinese-Americans in Business” and People Magazine as one of the “50 Most Beautiful People” in the world, is an international designer known for her culture-bridging, east-meets-west approach to design as well as pioneering global collaborations marrying fashion with technology and renowned brands such as HP, Lenovo/Moto, Tencent, Google and Starbucks. Vivienne Tam effortlessly blends her cultural roots with a modern design vocabulary recognized for its artistry. She is also the author of the award-winning book “China Chic” and pieces from her collections are housed in the permanent archives of the world’s most prestigious museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.

In 2015, Tam’s three iconic gowns including Buddha collection were highlighted in the Metropolitan Museum Exhibition: “China: Through the Looking Glass" and received rave reviews. The entire process of staging the exhibit was made into a documentary “The First Monday in May” which premiered around the globe. In 2017, she was presented with “China Fashion Award – International Designer of the Year 2017” on Mercedes-Benz China Fashion Week in recognition of her contributions and achievements in promoting Chinese culture around the world. In 2018, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of Beijing Olympics, Vivienne Tam come home to China with the world debut of her S/S 2019 fashion show in the spectacular Bird's Nest Culture Center in Beijing National Stadium. In 2022, Tam returned to S/S23 New York Fashion Week and bridge the reality of fashion world with the virtual possibilities of Metaverse, featuring the most celebrated NFTs from BAYC, CryptoPunks, CyberKongz and Awkward Astronauts.

Tam’s evening gowns are sought after by celebrities from around the world. From Gong Li, Lady Gaga, Jessica Alba, Paris Hilton to Dr. Jill Biden (wife of U.S. President, Joe Biden), and former first Daughters Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump, whom Tam dressed at her F/W 2017 runway show in New York.