Thursday, February 4th, 2021

7:00 pm (HKT), 6:00am(EST)

A fire a year ago engulfed 70 Mulberry Street, a 129-year-old building located in the heart of Manhattan’s Chinatown. It was the home of several non-profits and the Museum of Chinese in America’s nationally treasured archive of 85,000+ artefacts, the largest collection of Chinese-American history in the world. Immediately after the fire, COVID-19 struck. How have the fire and pandemic impacted the museum and its collection? What does the future hold for the museum? Nancy Yao Maasbach, President of the Museum of Chinese in America, will engage in conversation with S. Alice Mong, Executive Director of Asia Society Hong Kong Center, to put it all in context, looking back at Chinese-American history to move forward as a community.

Nancy Yao Maasbach has served as the President of the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) since 2015. As the President of MOCA, Nancy combines her experiences in managing organizations, knowledge of U.S.-China relations and research on redefining the American narrative. Nancy is also a lecturer on governance at the Yale School of Drama. She currently serves as an independent director for several Aberdeen Standard Investments-managed closed end funds.

Prior to her time at MOCA, Nancy was the executive director of the Yale-China Association, one of the oldest non-profit organizations dedicated to building U.S.-China relations. At the Yale-China Association, Nancy led more than 20 programs in the areas of arts, education, and health. These programs were lauded as best-in-class and models for bilateral engagement.

Before Yale-China, Nancy gained over 20 years of leadership experience at non-profit organizations and for-profit management, including staff and board positions at The Community Fund for Women & Girls, International Festival of Arts and Ideas, Tessitura Network, Council on Foreign Relations, Goldman, Sachs & Co., CNN, and Center for Finance and Research Analysis. Nancy was based in Hong Kong with Goldman Sachs from 1999—2004 and covered the handover of Hong Kong to the PRC for CNN International in 1997. 

Nancy received her MBA from the Yale School of Management and her AB from Occidental College. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.