Angela Chao

Chair and Chief Executive Officer

Ms. Chao is Chair and CEO of Foremost Group, a global leader in the dry bulk shipping industry founded by her father Dr. James S.C. Chao with her mother, the late Mrs. Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, in 1964 in New York.

Ms. Chao was previously Vice President of Foremost Group, concentrating on Ship Operations and Ship Management, and then promoted to Senior Vice President of the Company, adding Chartering and Sale & Purchase to her responsibilities.

Prior to that, she was Assistant Vice President where she implemented Foremost Group’s Safety Management System to comply with the International Safety Management (ISM) Code, a new regulation mandated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) which came into effect for large bulk carriers in 1997, whose objective was to ensure safety, prevent human injury or loss of life and avoid damage to the environment and property as a result of various marine accidents.. She has since also implemented the fleet’s Vessel Security Plans in compliance with the IMO’s International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, a comprehensive set of measures to enhance the security of ships and ports, developed in response to the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

Before joining Foremost Group in 1996, Ms. Chao worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions Department of Smith Barney, now Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

She is a frequent speaker in the United States, Europe, and Asia and serves on the Boards of the American Bureau of Shipping Council, Harvard Business School’s Board of Dean’s Advisors, and the Metropolitan Opera. She also serves on the Chairman’s Council of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Founding Board Council of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles as well as the Boards of the Shanghai Mulan Education Foundation, the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Foundation, and the Foremost Foundation. She serves as the Co-Chair of The Asian American Foundation’s (TAAF) Advisory Council, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, serves on the Young Leaders Forum of the National Committee on US-China Relations, and is the Honorary Chairperson of the Chiao-Tung University Alumni Association in America. Previously, Ms. Chao served on the Boards of the Bank of China, the Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s International Maritime Business Department Advisory Board, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and the Museum of Modern Art PS1 as well as on the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy Board of Advisors, Lincoln Center Global’s China Advisory Council, the American Ballet Theatre’s Global Council, the Hospital for Special Surgery’s International Advisory Council and the Executive Committee of the Baltic International Maritime Council.

Ms. Chao earned an M.B.A. degree from Harvard Business School after receiving her undergraduate degree in economics from Harvard College where she graduated magna cum laude in three years. Born in the United States, Ms. Chao also speaks Mandarin and lives in Austin, Texas.

Learn more about Angela at AngelaChao.org or read her profile in the Q2 2023 edition of Leaders Magazine’s Women Leaders section.