Peng Zhao ( zh, s=赵鹏, p=Zhào Péng) is a Chinese-American businessman who is the CEO of Citadel Securities. Peng Zhao was born in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Education

Zhao was a student of the Talented Children Training Program at Beijing No.8 High School from 1993 to 1997, and attended

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

and earned a bachelor's degree in

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical s ...

in 2001. In 2006, he obtained his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

degree in

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...

from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Career

Peng Zhao was a summer associate at

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Gol ...

and served as a

quantitative research Quantitative research is a research strategy that focuses on quantifying the collection and analysis of data. It is formed from a deductive approach where emphasis is placed on the testing of theory, shaped by empiricist and positivist philosop ...

er at Evnine & Associates before joining Citadel. Peng Zhao joined Citadel Securities in 2006 as a quantitative researcher. In July 2016, Citadel Securities announced that then Microsoft COO,

B. Kevin Turner B. Kevin Turner (born April 3, 1965) is an American businessman and investor who is currently the chairman of Zayo Group and the vice chairman of Albertsons/Safeway Inc. From 2016 to 2017, he was the vice chairman of Citadel LLC and CEO of Ci ...

, was joining the firm as CEO. At this time a new role, chief scientist, was created specifically for Peng Zhao who was then the global head of

market making A market maker or liquidity provider is a company or an individual that quotes both a buy and a sell price in a tradable asset held in inventory, hoping to make a profit on the ''bid–ask spread'', or ''turn.'' The benefit to the firm is that it ...

. Five months after joining, Kevin Turner left Citadel Securities, and on January 27, 2017, at age 34, Peng Zhao was promoted to CEO.

Affiliations

Zhao is director of the National Committee on U.S. China Relations. He is a founding board member of the non-profit advocacy and anti-discrimination group

The Asian American Foundation The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) is an American foundation founded in 2021 by a group of prominent Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, aiming to support an array of Asian American and Pacific Islander causes and create a national infrastruc ...

(TAAF), established in 2021. In 2019, Zhao was named on ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...

's''

40 Under 40 ''Fortune'' magazine's 40 Under 40 is a list of individuals the publication considers to be the most influential young leaders for the year. The list has existed in two phases: First, from 1999 to 2003, the list was presented purely as a numeric ...

list.

Philanthropy

Zhao and his wife Cherry Chen organized a one million surgical mask donation to Chicago's first responders during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The couple also supports

Kartemquin Films Kartemquin Films is a four-time Oscar-nominated 501(c)3 non-profit production company located in Chicago, Illinois, that produces a wide range of documentary films. It is the documentary filmmaking home of acclaimed producers such as Gordon Quinn ( ...

, a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

documentary filmmaking organization, in its efforts to fund filmmakers from the AAPI community through the Peng Zhao and Cherry Chen Fund for AAPI Voices. The couple were co-executive producers of the award-winning documentary ''

Finding Yingying ''Finding Yingying'' is an 2020 American documentary film directed and produced by Jiayan "Jenny" Shi about the disappearance of college student Yingying Zhang and her family's search to find her. The film had its world premiere at the Middleb ...

'', which was released by

. Zhao and Chen also fund the Victor Wong Fellowship, a program associated with Chicago's Second City, to train and mentor aspiring comedians from the AAPI community. Peng and other founding board members of TAAF committed $125 million to support AAPI organizations and causes at launch. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', it was the single largest philanthropic gift devoted to Asian Americans.

References

External links