Our Northern California and Seattle Centers operate together as one team under Asia Society Northern California's 501c3.

Team

Margaret Conley

Executive Director

Margaret Conley, a Bay Area native, is the Executive Director of Asia Society Northern California and Seattle. She is Chair of Asia Society's global Asian Americans Building America task force. Margaret was previously based in Asia for several years as a television news correspondent with ABC News in Jakarta and Tokyo, and with Bloomberg Television in Shanghai. She was part of the global ABC team that won a News and Documentary Emmy Award for presidential inauguration coverage. Her interviews include Howard Schultz, Richard Branson, Ban Ki-Moon, LeBron James and Beyoncé. Her non-profit experience includes the Berggruen Institute, where she built and launched a Philosophy + Culture Institute with a focus on the US and China. She has a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a master’s in journalism from the University of Hong Kong, which specializes in coverage of Asia. Margaret was selected as one of the Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business by the San Francisco Business Times in 2019. She is on the Advisory Committee of TiE, and is a member of the board of the International Women's Forum.   

Mark Cohen

Senior Tech Fellow

Mark Cohen currently serves as the first Senior Tech Fellow at Asia Society Northern California and the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington, DC. Mark was most recently Director of the Asia Intellectual Property and Technology Project at Berkeley Law (2016-2023). He is also a non-resident fellow at several universities and think tanks, including UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, George Mason University Law School and the National Bureau of Asian Research. Prior to joining  Asia Society, Mark had a distinguished career in the U.S. government. He received the “Meritorious Honor Award”, the highest award in the US civil service, from President Donald Trump for his work on technology transfer issues involving China. He established the first office of the US Patent and Trademark Office in China and thereby launched the USPTO IP Attaché program.  He invited China and Korea to join the “IP-5” consisting of the five largest patent, trademark and design offices in the world, and he established Track II IP dialogues under the US Chamber of Commerce with China as well as India. Mark was an exchange student in Chinese at Nanyang University (Singapore). He holds a bachelor’s degree in Chinese Studies from SUNY Albany, a Master’s degree in Chinese Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia University. He formerly taught at Fordham University in China and Renmin University in Beijing and served as General Counsel to a mid-sized European pharmaceutical company. He has been named an “IP Trailblazer” by the National Law Journal, a “Diplomat of the Year” by PhRMA, and a “Top 300 Global IP Strategist” by Intellectual Asset Management magazine. He has testified frequently before Congress and published widely on IP, antitrust and technology issues.

Christie YoungSmith

Director of Programs

Christie YoungSmith is a Director of Programs for Asia Society Northern California. Bringing a strong base in education and research, Christie has led program and professional development, curriculum design, and decolonial research efforts at the Stanford Center for the Support of Excellence in Teaching (CSET), American University’s Antiracist Research & Policy Center, and AAPI Women Lead. Previously she taught in international and public schools in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and the Bay Area. Christie is of mixed-Chinese descent. She received her M.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Education, her B.A. from Johns Hopkins University, and is pursuing her Ed.D. with American University. Christie also has experience with museum education and curation, having worked and volunteered at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, and San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum.

Nina Udagawa

Director of Programs

Nina Udagawa is a Director of Programs at Asia Society Northern California. She was previously the Executive Associate and Program Manager, and before that worked in Washington, DC as a Diplomatic Assistant in the Office of Congressional Affairs at the Embassy of Japan. Prior to working at the Embassy, she interned at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Library of Congress, and Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA. Nina holds a B.A. in International Relations and History from the George Washington University; she has also studied Chinese and studied abroad at Donghua University in Shanghai. During her time in university, Nina was an active member of the Japanese Cultural Association and published a paper on the Amerasian Identity in Okinawa with the Okinawa Prefectural Government.

Jason Fong

Director of Partnerships and Memberships

Jason Fong is the Director of Partnerships and Memberships at Asia Society Northern California and Seattle. He previously served as the Membership and Marketing Project Manager at The Commonwealth Club of California, where he oversaw member acquisition, membership renewals, and annual donations. He has also served as the Development Scheduling Coordinator for the California Film Institute’s prestigious Mill Valley Film Festival, held every fall in Marin County, California. After graduating from the University of California, Davis, with degrees in Communication and Sociology, Jason got his start as an assistant in the newsroom of KGO-TV, eventually working his way up to producing live talk shows, including “The View from the Bay,” and “7 Live,” for which he received an Emmy Award, and “Food Rush,” for which he was nominated for an additional Emmy.

Divya Jhawar

Senior Accountant

Divya Jhawar, a Bay Area native, is a Part-Time Senior Accountant for Asia Society Northern California. Divya has a decade of experience in both the public and private sectors. As a certified CPA, Divya excels in coordinating month-end closing procedures in compliance with GAAP, utilizing various accounting and tax software. Adept at managing strict deadlines, she is a collaborative team player with a proactive, flexible approach, always ready to take on additional responsibilities. Divya's leadership skills include team building, mentoring, and conducting companywide trainings. In her recent role at The Education Fund (San Francisco), she played a pivotal role in transitioning accounting software from Financial Edge to Sage Intacct. Divya holds a CPA license in the State of California and brings a wealth of expertise in financial management and regulatory compliance.

Evan Matthew Chan

Executive Associate

Evan Matthew Chan is the Executive Associate at Asia Society Northern California and Seattle. As an interdisciplinary scholar of the Asia Pacific, Evan previously served as a Graduate Student Teaching Assistant at the University of San Francisco (USF). Co-teaching courses in the Asian Studies and Chinese Studies departments, he led seminars on Chinese literature in translation and Chinese American cinema. Evan also facilitated student community engagement opportunities with local nonprofit organizations serving the city’s Chinese American population. In addition to his work at USF, Evan has spent time supporting Fulbright Taiwan’s English Teaching Programs in Taipei, Taiwan. He was previously an intern at Asia Society Northern California. Evan holds an M.A. in Asia Pacific Studies and B.A. in Asian Studies and International Studies, both from the University of San Francisco.