Christine Liang is a Taiwanese-American businesswoman. She is the President and Founder of ASI Corp., a

Fremont, California Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area, Fremont has a population of 230,504 as of 2020, making it the fourth List of cities and towns in the San Fra ...

-based wholesale distributor of computer software, hardware, and accessories.

Biography

Born Christine Chu, she attended Deming University in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

and graduated with a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1979. She married Marcel Liang in 1984. Half a year after their marriage, Marcel left Taiwan to pursue his graduate degree at

Emporia State University Emporia State University (Emporia State or ESU) is a public university in Emporia, Kansas, United States. Established in March 1863 as the Kansas State Normal School, Emporia State is the third-oldest public university in the state of Kansas. ...

Emporia, Kansas Emporia is a city in and the county seat of Lyon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 24,139. Emporia lies between Topeka and Wichita at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 with Interstates 33 ...

, while she remained in Taiwan, working for a jewelry store. Marcel received his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

in 1986 and moved to the

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Cou ...

to work for a motherboard manufacturer, where Liang joined him. Initially she was employed by a retail firm that sold computer keyboards and cases, but decided to open her own business importing computer components from Asia and distributing them in the United States. She founded Asia Source Inc. in

Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the nor ...

, in 1987, using $16,000 in personal savings. In 1989 Marcel joined the company as Chairman and CEO. As the company branched into distribution of U.S.-made products, the business name was changed to ASI in 2001. Liang credits her older brother, James Chu, founder of ViewSonic, with stocking ASI's initial inventory by selling her computer monitors and components at cost price. ASI imports and distributes monitors, disk drives, keyboards, motherboards, and floppy drives. Its clients are large computer companies and retailers, as well as

value-added reseller A value-added reseller (VAR) is a company that adds features or services to an existing product, then resells it (usually to end-users) as an integrated product or complete "turn-key" solution. This practice occurs commonly in the electronics or IT ...

s who build computers for specific markets and needs. ASI maintains 10 warehouses in the United States and also offers customer support. ASI Corp. is the largest family-owned business in Silicon Valley, with 2014 revenues of $1.39 billion. In 2010 the company was ranked first on DiversityBusiness.com's list of the Top 100 Women-Owned Businesses in California, and in 2015 the firm ranked in the top 5 of the Top 500 Women-Owned Businesses in the United States. Liang serves as president, with a 51% share; her husband Marcel Liang is Chairman and CEO.

Awards and recognition

Liang has received recognition for running a woman-owned business. In 1996 she was ranked 17th on '' Working Woman'' list of the top 50 women-owned businesses; she was ranked 12th on the magazine's 1997 list and 22nd on its 1998 list. Also in 1996, she was a finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year by '' Inc.'' The National Foundation for Woman Business Owners included her on its 1997 list of the Leading Woman Entrepreneurs of The World. In 2007 ''

Pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

'' placed Liang 4th on its list of America's 50 Top Women Business Owners of 2007. '' Avenue'' has named her one of the 500 Most Influential Asian Americans.

Personal

Liang and her husband Marcel have two children. They reside in Fremont, California.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liang, Christine American women company founders American company founders Women corporate executives Taiwanese company founders Taiwanese emigrants to the United States Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Taiwanese women company founders 21st-century Taiwanese businesspeople 20th-century Taiwanese businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesswomen