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Press Release – Asian American Business Roundtable
Diversity as the Disruptor: How U.S. Demographics Are Changing Business Dynamics
NEW YORK, Oct. 21– Diversity is set to become the new disruptor in the U.S. economy, corporations and business leadership.
The rise of a multicultural community comprising African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Asians to form a “New Majority” in America means changes, challenges and new collaboration strategies for businesses and organizations that seek to thrive in the coming decades.
PepsiCo, Kaiser Permanente, Univision, Nestle, Cisco, McDonald’s, J.P. Morgan Chase and The Conference Board are among the organizations who have put this significant demographic transformation onto their agendas, and who seek to provide insights, ideas and solutions on how they are embracing the emerging changes.
“Diversity and inclusion have been a mantra for many U.S. companies for some time,” said John Wang, founder of the Asian American Business Development Center “What’s different now is the growing realization that the so-called minorities in America are evolving into a majority population, and that businesses need to reinvent their approaches toward this new base of consumers, employees and leadership.”
The buying power of minority ethnic groups is growing at an exponential rate. Taken together, the consumer power of African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and Native Americans is forecast to reach over $4.1 trillion in 2019. If it were a separate country, this New Majority would be the third largest economy in the world, after the U.S. and China.
The Asian American Business Development Center, a New York –based non-profit group formed to promote business and professional advancement for Asians, is convening a summit to address the powerful and transformational trends associated with the New Majority.
Organized by the Asian American Business Roundtable, “The New Majority: Igniting the Future through Inclusion and Partnerships” will be co-hosted by PepsiCo’s Vice Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Mehmood Khan, at The Venetian, Las Vegas from Jan. 11-13, 2017. For the program, list of speakers and ticket information please see
"The markets and consumers we serve are becoming increasingly diverse, creating vast new opportunities for companies across industries. This shift demands that companies foster a strong spirit of diversity, inclusion and engagement within their organizations. By embracing diversity and working to promote greater respect, understanding and appreciation across cultures, we will strengthen our communities and enhance our ability to meet the needs of the consumers we serve,” Dr. Khan said.
Bernard J. Tyson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kaiser Permanente, a recognized leader in diversity, who was recently named the second most influential leader in health care by Modern Healthcare Magazine, will keynote speaker summit, which is expected to draw participants from across the business spectrum.
They will also hear from senior executives from Univision, Nestle, Cisco, McDonald’s and J.P. Morgan Chase. Summit goers can expect to be inspired by the story of Andrew Cherng, who as a Chinese immigrant to America in the mid-1960s, grew his Panda Inn fine-dining restaurant into the Panda Express empire, which by the end of 2016 will record $2.8 billion in sales, and ranked #22 on QSR50 Top Limited Service Restaurant Ranks in the US and #34 in Nation’s Restaurant News Top 100 chains.
They can also learn about the social, political and economic identity of the New Majority, how to build sustainable partnerships for future collaboration, the importance of supplier diversity, how multi-culture inspires innovation, what New Majority consumers want, and strategies to bring more women into C-suites.
In addition, the summit will explore how multicultural millennials are infusing new life into entrepreneurship and presenting fresh challenges to corporations seeking to identify and develop high-performing individuals for senior leadership. And how are traditional ethnic and gender advocacy groups adapting to the multicultural mandate?
Join these forward-thinking business leaders as they focus on collective goals, partnerships and actions to reshape the way all of us think about and take strategic advantage of the economic, educational, community and business opportunities that will arise from the growth of the New Majority.
This summit, the second in anannual series organized by the Asian American Business Development Center, will provide a chance to connect, collaborate and contribute with a diverse group of talented professionals, business owners and diversity thought leaders.
About Asian American Business Development Center
The Asian American Business Development Center was established in New York City in 1994 to promote greater recognition of Asian American businesses’ contributions to the general economy. AABDC encourages Asian American businesses to be more actively involved in issues and policies that directly affect them at the federal, state and city levels and provides capacity-building assistance to business entities that enables them to compete in the mainstream marketplace and expand business opportunities.Over the years, AABDC has created a significant presence within the Asian American business community in the U.S., and following the global economy, has established a credible position as a middleman introducing business opportunities between China and New York.AABDC’s highlights include establishing an annual awards event.Established in 2001, the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award dinner is the only such event of its kind to acknowledge the achievements of Asian American corporate executives and entrepreneurs across a wide spectrum of industries and their contributions to the U.S. economy.
About the Asian American Business Roundtable
TheAsian American Business Roundtableand its inaugural Summit’s roots go back to the Asian American Business Development Center (AABDC). In 2001, AABDC organized the first black-tie business awards gala dinner for Asian Americans, called the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Awards GalaDinner. As of 2015, this annual event has honored more than 700 elite Asian American entrepreneurs and corporate executives from across the United States.The potential power of this network was harnessed by AABDC forming the Asian American Business Roundtable: A forum where highly successful, as well as high potential Asian American professionals, can collaborate to increase their capacity to exert influence in their respective industries. It brings together outstanding senior Asian American business executives, to generate ideas and provide counsel on business and leadership issues of broad social and economic interest.For the 2016 Asian American Business Roundtable summit highlights:“Taking Risks, Changing the Game”
About John Wang, President and Founder, AABDC
An immigrant from Taiwan, John moved to the “land of opportunity” in 1965 seeking educational and career opportunities in the U.S. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1966 to 1969 as a staff sergeant stationed in England, after which he began his career as an urban planner focused on economic development in New York City.It was during this role that John discovered that Asian Americans appeared to be isolated within their own groups, inspiring him to set up AABDC to encourage members of the community to be more involved in mainstream activities and business.John hopes that his legacy will be that of bringing in people of diverse backgrounds, cultures and languages together to see and share a common interest.