Sheryl WuDunn
Sheryl WuDunn | |
|---|---|
 WuDunn in October 2012 | |
| Born | November 16, 1959 New York City, U.S. |
| Education | Cornell University (BA) Harvard University (MBA) Princeton University (MPA) |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, journalist, lecturer, business executive |
| Spouse | |
Sheryl WuDunn (born November 16, 1959) is an accomplished American author, business leader, lecturer, and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize.
WuDunn has held senior banking roles focusing on technology, new media, and emerging market growth companies. She also provides guidance to firms pursuing a double bottom line, supports alternative energy ventures, and mentors women entrepreneurs. Her career includes serving as a private wealth advisor at Goldman Sachs and working as a journalist and executive for The New York Times, where she was stationed as a foreign correspondent in both the Beijing and Tokyo offices.
Biography
As a third-generation Chinese American, WuDunn was raised on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in New York City. She graduated from Cornell University in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in European History. Following three years as an international loan officer at Bankers Trust Company, she pursued further education, earning an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master of Public Affairs from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
In 1988, WuDunn married fellow journalist Nicholas Kristof. After contributing to The Wall Street Journal and other outlets, she joined The New York Times as a correspondent based in Beijing in 1989.
She subsequently advanced to vice president at Goldman Sachs, working in investment management as a private wealth advisor before departing to focus on authoring a book.
WuDunn and Kristof were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1990 for their coverage of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. They became the first married couple to receive this journalism accolade; notably, WuDunn was also the first Asian-American woman reporter honored with this prize. Her reporting from China earned her the prestigious George Polk Award as well as recognition from the Overseas Press Club.
In 2009, WuDunn and Kristof were honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Two years later, she was listed by Newsweek among the 150 Women Who Shake the World.
In 2012, Fast Company included her among 60 distinguished members of the League of Extraordinary Women. The following year, she appeared in PBS’s documentary "The Makers," celebrating influential women shaping America, and was featured in a Harvard Business School film spotlighting notable female alumni. In August 2015, she was recognized by Business Insider as one of the 31 most prominent Harvard Business School graduates.
Also in 2015, WuDunn endorsed an open letter coordinated by the ONE Campaign, urging leaders Angela Merkel and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, then heads of the G7 and African Union respectively, to emphasize women’s issues ahead of a key United Nations summit focused on establishing new global development objectives.
Books
Together with her husband, WuDunn has co-written five best-selling books. China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power and Thunder from the East: Portrait of a Rising Asia explore the cultural, social, and political dynamics of East Asia through interviews and firsthand observations. Their third bestseller, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, inspired both an acclaimed PBS documentary and a Facebook game aimed at raising global awareness about women's issues. The 2014 publication A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity offers guidance on impactful philanthropy and was also adapted into a widely viewed PBS documentary featuring well-known actors. The 2020 release, Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope, achieved New York Times bestseller status as well.
Boards
WuDunn contributed more than ten years to the Cornell University board of trustees, where she participated in finance and investment committees. Her initial appointment came from the university president, followed by reappointments from New York state governors. Additionally, she has been involved with the advisory council at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and was elected to Princeton's board of trustees in 2013. Presently, she is a member of the advisory board for the Fuel Freedom Foundation and provides counsel to various start-ups specializing in healthcare and mobile security technologies.
Bibliography
External links
- Articles without Wikidata item
- 1959 births
- Living people
- Cornell University alumni
- American writers of Chinese descent
- American feminist writers
- American columnists
- The New York Times journalists
- The New York Times corporate staff
- Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting winners
- George Polk Award recipients
- Harvard Business School alumni
- Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni
- Goldman Sachs people
- American journalists of Chinese descent
- American investment bankers
- American women investors
- American women bankers
- 21st-century American women writers
- American women columnists
- American women non-fiction writers
- 21st-century American non-fiction writers
- American women journalists of Asian descent