Clara Shih

Clara Shih
Shih in 2010
Born	(1982-01-11) January 11, 1982 Hong Kong
Alma mater	Stanford University (B.S., M.Sc.) University of Oxford (M.Sc.)
Occupation	CEO of Hearsay Social
Board member of	Starbucks Ad Council
Spouse	Daniel Chao ​ (m. 2011)​

Clara Chung-wai Shih (born January 11, 1982) is a prominent American entrepreneur. She serves as chairperson and was formerly the CEO of Hearsay Social, a digital software firm she co-established in 2009. As of November 2024, Shih heads the Business AI division at Meta Platforms.

Early life and education

Originally from Hong Kong, Shih’s family relocated to the United States when she was four years old, first living in Akron, Ohio, before moving to Chicago. Although she initially faced difficulties mastering English, she demonstrated exceptional academic ability, achieving a 1420 SAT score by the eighth grade.

Shih attended the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, where she participated in varsity tennis, orchestra, debate teams, and mathematics honor societies. At age 15, she contributed to developing physics educational content for K-12 students at Fermilab. She earned the distinction of Presidential Scholar and graduated in 2000.

During her time at Stanford University, Shih co-created the engineering public service center and presided over the campus chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. She also founded Camp Amelia Technology Literacy Group, a nonprofit organization focused on creating educational software for underserved populations. Her internships included work at Microsoft, where she developed an RSS aggregator for Outlook, alongside volunteering to teach STEM subjects to economically disadvantaged students. As a Mayfield Fellow and awardee of scholarships such as Microsoft Women’s Scholar and Google Anita Borg Scholar, she completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science with honors in 2005.

In 2005, Shih received the prestigious Marshall Scholarship, enabling her to pursue a master’s degree in Internet studies at the University of Oxford’s Internet Institute.

Career

Following her studies at Oxford, Shih began her professional career in corporate strategy at Google. In 2006, she joined Salesforce.com as one of the inaugural product marketers for the AppExchange platform. Concurrently, she developed "Faceforce," a business tool integrated with Facebook, which led her to bring on Steve Garrity from Microsoft to help launch Hearsay Social.

Since co-founding Hearsay Social in 2009, Shih has held the position of CEO. In December 2011, she was appointed to the board of directors at Starbucks, succeeding former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. By 2020, she transitioned into the role of executive chairperson at Hearsay.

Her achievements include being named among the most influential Asians by Gold House (2024), recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and featured on Fortune and Ad Age 40 Under 40 lists in 2012.

In February 2021, Shih returned to Salesforce.com as CEO of its Service Cloud CRM division, taking over from Bill Patterson. She advanced to become CEO of Salesforce AI in May 2023. In November 2024, Shih departed Salesforce to lead the newly formed Business AI group at Meta Platforms.

Personal life

Shih is married to Daniel Chao, an entrepreneur in the health technology sector, and they live together in San Francisco, California.

Published works

• The Facebook Era: Leveraging Online Social Networks to Develop Superior Products, Engage New Markets, and Increase Sales (2009, Prentice Hall)
• The Social Business Imperative: Transforming Your Business Model for the Always-Connected Consumer (2016, Prentice Hall)

External links

• The Facebook Era: Leveraging Online Social Networks to Develop Superior Products, Engage New Markets, and Increase Sales
• Interview with Stanford Engineering