Derek Lin

I am the proud father of two boys in the Chinese track preschool program at GIS. My wife Jamie, a native Oregonian, and I moved to Portland in 2019. I currently work at Columbia Threadneedle Investments as a Portfolio Manager on its Emerging Markets team, with a focus on investing in companies in the Greater China region.

Born and raised in Toronto, Canada to the parents of Taiwanese immigrants and Jamie as a Korean American, we are familiar with the journey of trying to maintain a link to our heritage and elder generations through language and culture. Equally important, we believe the ability to think in a different language and the openness and inclusive mindset that an immersion education instills are critical assets in making our children well-rounded global citizens. It is for those reasons we strived to find an immersion education when we fortuitously found GIS and its newly minted Chinese program. It was immediately clear the mission and culture of the school with its wonderful staff and teachers were the perfect environment for our kids to grow up in.

Previously, I earned my Bachelor's of Commerce at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. I started my career at J.P. Morgan Chase in investment banking before being accepted into the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and its Lauder program in International Studies and graduating with an MBA as a Palmer Scholar. Post graduation, I have worked in the hedge fund industry in New York for roughly a decade before relocating to Portland. I hope to bring my experience in business and finance to the Board and make a contribution to the school’s growth during this exciting time of development and expansion.