Young Global Financial Executive Cindy Zu Selected for the Puget Sound Business Journal 40 Under 40 Award

Twenty-nine year old community leader, startup investor and global financial executive Cindy Zu (www.cindyzu.com) has been selected as an honoree for the Puget Sound Business 40 Under 40 Award.

Zu, a passionate music, youth and entrepreneurial champion in Seattle who joined her first nonprofit board at age 25, sits on four nonprofit boards in her city including the Music Center of the Northwest, Family Law CASA, Crooked Trails and the Seattle Finance Collective. Zu is a board director at two private companies, an Advisory Board Member of the Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Course at the University of Washington and an executive at Pitchbook Data, one of Seattle’s leading tech companies.

“It’s such an honor to be named a 40 Under 40 honoree by the Puget Sound Business Journal,” says Zu. “I feel so humbled by the many incredible leaders in our city that have come before me and won this iconic award. I’ve worked globally and Seattle is truly such a dynamic city to be living in now. It’s bursting with some of the best and brightest talent in our nation today.”

Cindy began her career at J.P. Morgan in Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York and Seattle in various roles within the Corporate Investment Bank and Asset Management divisions. In 2016, she led the strategy for an AI fintech company and negotiated licensing deals with major hedge funds internationally. Currently, she is an executive at PitchBook Data. Her experience ranges from advising Fortune 500 companies to high net worth individuals, governments and venture capital firms.

“Cindy has been an invaluable part of our board and continues to inspire us with her genuine passion for music education and dynamic leadership style to getting things done and growing our organization,” says Chas Arnold, Executive Director at the Music Center of the Northwest (www.musiccenternw.org).

“We are on a mission at the Music Center of the Northwest to foster love and knowledge of music by providing high quality musical instruction. We are so honored and proud of Cindy’s 40 Under 40 award.”

“I’m a passionate advocate for getting more people involved in nonprofit board work,” says Zu. “Millennials can give so much to the causes they care about. What seems so easy to us, such as giving counsel on social media and SEO strategy, can mean so much to a nonprofit. It takes just one millennial to make a massive impact and that person could be you.”

Zu comes from an immigrant family who instilled the values of perseverance, patience and self-confidence.

“I grew up with two immigrant working parents,” Zu says. “My mother would always slip some sage womanly business advice growing up. She does negotiations for a living and I vividly remember her telling me, ‘always wear heels’. That way, you can look a man eye to eye during a negotiation. You should never have someone speak down to you. She’s already pretty terrifying at a towering 5’3″, imagine her at 5’5″.”

The Puget Sound Business Journal will commemorate this year’s 40 Under 40 Award honorees in a virtual event to be held September 15, 2020 in Seattle.

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