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Alina Cho
Correspondent
CNN

Alina Cho is a New York-based correspondent for CNN/U.S. She joined the network in February 2004. For one of her recent assignments, Alina provided rare, live coverage from inside North Korea for CNN. She was part of the official press delegation traveling with the New York Philharmonic for the orchestra's groundbreaking concert in Pyongyang. She also provided a personal look at the division of North and South Korea through the eyes of her parents, who are survivors of the Korean War.

Alina was also part of the Peabody and Emmy award-winning CNN team that covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans.

Before joining CNN, Alina was an anchor and correspondent for ABC News. During her tenure with ABC, she was a regular substitute anchor for World News Now and World News This Morning. She also served as the network's online correspondent for ABC News Live and as a correspondent for NewsOne, the network's affiliate news service. Alina reported from the United Nations during the months prior to the war in Iraq and covered the sniper attacks near Washington, D.C., in 2002.

Prior to ABC News, she was an anchor with CNBC where she covered a variety of national and international stories including leading the network's coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Prior to joining CNBC, she held several posts with the ABC affiliate WFTS in Tampa, Fla., including morning and weekend anchor and reporter. During her tenure with the affiliate, she earned a regional Emmy award for her reporting on the 1996 St. Petersburg riots. Before joining WFTS, she was with Chicagoland Television where she worked as a reporter for the news network.

Alina earned a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and an undergraduate degree in communications from Boston College.

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Jeannie Diefenderfer
Senior Vice President, Global Engineering & Planning
Verizon Services Organization

Jeannie Diefenderfer is senior vice president – Global Engineering & Planning for Verizon wireline business, a position she’s held since December of 2008. She is responsible for the planning and design of Verizon’s global data, voice and IP wireline networks which span cities in 150 countries across 6 continents. Diefenderfer’s responsibilities also include the engineering of Verizon’s fiber to the premises (FTTP) platform which supports the award-winning FiOS Data and TV service.

In addition, Ms. Diefenderfer serves on the boards of the Ms. Foundation for Women and Tufts University. From 2001 to 2008, she was a member of the board of Independent Trustees at Citizens Funds, an SRI mutual fund complex. Internal to Verizon, she has served on the boards of the Minority Multicultural Association of NYNEX, Women's Association of Verizon Employees, and the Asian Focus Group. Mrs. Diefenderfer was featured in the 1999 Crain's New York Business "40 under 40," as one of 40 young "rising stars" and was a member of the 1999 class of the David Rockefeller Fellows Program. In addition, she received the 1999 Corporate Achievement Award from the Organization of Chinese Americans and the 2001 Star Award from the New York Women's Agenda.

A native of Seoul, South Korea, Ms. Diefenderfer immigrated to the US when she was 13 years old. She holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Tufts University, and an MBA from Babson College. Ms. Diefenderfer and her husband, George, have two children, daughter, Mia, and son, Derek.

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Jyothsna Natauri
Managing Director, Investment Banking
Goldman Sachs

Jo is responsible for the firm’s life sciences and diagnostics efforts. She serves on the Investment Banking Division Women’s Network Steering Committee. Jo joined Goldman Sachs in 2006 as a vice president and was named managing director in 2008.

Prior to joining the firm, Jo was a healthcare investment banker at Deutsche Bank. Earlier in her career, she worked at Cytyc Corporation and was responsible for the company’s Mergers & Acquisitions execution and strategic efforts in diagnostics and women’s healthcare.

Jo earned a BA in Economics and Biology from the University of Virginia.

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Chiaw Eei NgGibson
Managing Director. Enterprise Strategic Planning
Aetna

Chiaw Eei NgGibson is a Managing Director in Aetna’s Enterprise Strategic Planning where she is responsible for supporting Aetna’s business expansion in China. Previously she was Head of Aetna Benefits and HR Economics where she was responsible for the medical and retirement benefits strategy for 35,000 Aetna employees, 13,000 Retirees, and Aetna’s Board of Directors. Chiaw Eei also previously led the Strategic Planning function within HR. Prior to joining HR, Chiaw Eei spent 10 plus years in Aetna’s Internal Audit function. She was Audit Director responsible for Aetna’s Health Operations, and also managed the audit function for Aetna’s Asia Pacific businesses covering eight countries (China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand). Ms. NgGibson previously held roles at Cigna’s Retirement business.

Ms. NgGibson is a Certified Public Accountant who received her B.S. in Management from University of Louisiana, and her MBA in Finance and Accounting from Seton Hall University. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accounting (AICPA), and was a member of the National Business Group on Health Racial and Ethnic Disparity Board. She is a trustee of the Children’s Museum in Connecticut.

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Alice Young
Partner and Chair of the Asia Pacific Practice
Kaye Scholer LLP

Ms. Young is a Partner and Chair of the Asia Pacific Practice at Kaye Scholer LLP International Law Firm. For over 35 years, she has advised multinationals and entrepreneurs on their business activities and investment considerations in the United States and throughout Asia, including complex cross-border transactions and sensitive legal and governmental strategies. She also assists clients in identifying potential Asian partners and resources.

Ms. Young is listed with Who’s Who and has been named by Crain’s in their list of the “Top 100 Minority Executives” (one of only three corporate lawyers named), and by Avenue Asia magazine as one of the five most influential Asian-American corporate lawyers in the United States. In 1989 she was named by Crain’s as one of the “40 Outstanding Achievers Under 40,” and received the “New York Doers” Award, and in 1992 she received from New York Women’s Agenda a Star Award for outstanding corporate and civic achievements. In 2004, she was honored for her leadership and community work by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and was a Harvard University Traphagen Distinguished Alumni Speaker. In 2008, she was one of only 20 women attorneys nationwide selected for the ABA/Catalyst DirectWomen Board Institute.

Ms. Young was in the first class of women graduates of Yale College, where she majored in East Asian Studies and received a Bates Fellowship to study in Japan under Yasunari Kawabata, the first Japanese Nobel Prize Winner in Literature. At Harvard Law School, she was a member of the East Asian Legal Studies Program and was a research assistant and advisor to the Admissions Committee.