2023 International Awards: Jing Wang and Lei Chen
Joon S. Moon Distinguished International Alumni Award
Published: Tuesday, 26 Mar 2024 Author: Jonathan Gibson
Jing Wang and Lei Chen are the 2024 recipients of the Joon S. Moon Distinguished International Alumni Award, which recognizes alumni who came to MSU as international students for their outstanding leadership and contributions in or to the international field or international communities, organizations, companies, agencies, individuals and/or governments.
Jing Wang is co-founder and chairman of FinTell Inc. As one of the leading fintech companies in China, FinTell provides advanced big-data risk management and decisioning capabilities to financial institutions.
From 2015 to 2017, Wang was vice president, deputy general manager and co-founder of Baidu Financial Services Group. During this tenure, he built the risk management organization, and end-to-end risk capabilities to drive long-term profitable growth. Wang is an accomplished leader in the risk management, modeling, and data analytics space. Prior to joining Baidu, he was senior vice president at American Express, where he held various senior risk and information management positions. Wang was also a voting member on several American Express enterprise-wide risk committees.
Wang is passionate about building strong communities and giving back. He is a co-founder of Purple Swan Corporation, a non-profit dancing organization with a mission to connect East and West, promoting cultural diversity. Wang also served on the International Advisory Board of the Eli Broad College of Business.
Wang studied nuclear physics at Fudan University and earned a Ph.D. in physics and an MBA in finance from Michigan State University.
Lei Chen is the managing director, head of Fraud Risk for Lending and Fraud Data Science for the Consumer and Community Banking at JPMorgan Chase, responsible for fraud risk management strategy for Credit Cards, Auto, Home Lending and Business Lending, as well as leading the Fraud Data Science team.
Prior to joining JPMorgan Chase, Chen held the position of managing director, head of Fraud Management for the Consumer Business at Goldman Sachs. In this role, she led the team to build fraud infrastructure, capabilities, models, strategies and processes for the successful launch of new products such as Apple Card and Apple Card Savings.
Chen is an award-winning gymnast (Chinese College Aerobic Gymnastics Championship) who serves on the board of Purple Swans Corporation and is also actively involved in the community by performing with the Purple Swans dance troupe, and organizing activities to raise awareness for youth mental health. She also served as the lead of the Executive Women's Interest Network at American Express and has been recognized for her contributions and leadership through American Express Hall of Fame Award, multiple President's Leadership Awards, and Chairman's Awards for Innovation.
Chen received a B.S. and M.S. in statistics from Fudan University in China, and a Ph.D. in statistics from Michigan State University.
Wang and Chen were nominated by Mike Lindhout, senior director of International Advancement. “Jing and Lei support their alma mater through their philanthropy [and] actively engage with MSU students, providing career advice and networking opportunities throughout the Spartan alumni network,” said Lindhout.
