Yu Wu and Chaomei Chen Department Head

CHAOMEI CHEN, M.S. ’88 is a former financial industry business executive with expertise in risk management. She currently serves multiple technology companies as an advisor and board member. Previously, Chen was a chief risk officer at LendingClub, where she was responsible for the establishment and enhancement of the enterprise risk management organization. Previous positions include overseeing all risk management functions for the Washington Mutual (WaMu) credit card portfolio at JP Morgan Chase and serving as vice chair and chief credit officer at Providian Financial Services, where she was instrumental in its turnaround prior to its acquisition by WaMu. Chen’s experience also includes executive positions with Fleet Credit Card Services and PNC National Bank, as well as management positions with Citicorp, American Express, and Household Credit Services. During her career, she oversaw multi-billion dollar business and credit risk portfolios and directed the large-scale implementation of credit risk management, business risk management, collections, fraud prevention, BASEL implementation, and database marketing for operations, both domestic and international. Chen earned her B.S. in mathematics at China’s Southwest Jiaotong University and an MSE in mathematical science at Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering. She is an active member of the Whiting School Advisory Board and the Johns Hopkins University Board of Trustees.

YU WU, M.S. ’89, Ph.D. ’96, currently serves as a member of the Board of Overseers at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, where he was also a research fellow from 2018 to 2019. He was a guest professor at China’s Jianghan University from 2012 to 2017, teaching U.S. history. He came to teaching after retiring from the U.S. financial industry in 2006. Since then, he had helped edit, translate, and publish a few of his father’s academic works. From 1994 to 1998, Wu worked for financial services, information companies, and banks, specializing in strategic planning and competitive analysis and holding positions such as analyst, manager, and director at Household Bank Credit Card Services, Fair Isaac Company, and PNC Bank Credit Card Services. From 1998 to 2006, he served as vice president at FleetBoston Bank Credit Services, Providian Financial Services, and Washington Mutual Card Services, where he was responsible for strategic initiatives and competitive intelligence. Winner of a Fulbright scholarship, Yu earned his Ph.D. in history at the Johns Hopkins University studying with advisor Jack P. Greene, Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emeritus in the Humanities. He also received a B.A. and an M.A. in history from China’s Wuhan University, and an M.S. at the Johns Hopkins University.