Wendy Cai-Lee started her banking career at JP Morgan Chase over 29 years ago. She is currently the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Piermont Bank, a full-service FDIC-insured, tech-forward, digital commercial bank in the U.S. Piermont is the country’s first FDIC designated Multi-racial Minority Depository Institution and a women-led, majority-minority board bank. Wendy is the first Asian woman to launch a U.S. commercial bank.
Prior to Piermont Bank, she was an Executive Vice President at East West Bank, and managed multi-billion dollar business units, including the bank’s Consumer and Commercial Banking Businesses. Before her commercial banking career, Wendy served as a Managing Director at Deloitte, focused on its U.S./China Cross-Border M&A business for a decade. Before that, she co-founded a POS software company and was the driving force behind raising multi-million dollar venture investments and building strategic alliances in the U.S. and Greater China. Her other previous experiences include investment banking and product management roles at JP Morgan Chase and Citi.
During her 29-year track record in managing and growing business units in both Fortune 500 companies as well as start-ups, Wendy developed unique skillsets in building de-novo business, executing M&A, developing corporate strategy, and negotiating complex transactions. Most importantly, she has a proven track record in building and managing high-performing teams.
Wendy has been an active supporter of Friends of UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) since 2007, an Emeritus member of its Board of Trustees and served as its chair of the Board for seven years. She also served as a member of Rutgers University’s Board of Overseers and the Dean’s Advisory Board at Douglass College. She was a Board Trustee and a member of the Corporate Council at Asia Society Texas Center and also was a member of the Advisory Board for the Queens Museum in New York City.
Wendy’s honors and accolades include:
- Most Powerful Women in Banking to Watch- American Bankers, 2022, 2023, and 2024
- Digital Banker of the Year – American Bankers, 2022
- “50 Most Important People in Commercial Real Estate Finance” – The Mortgage Observer
- “Above & Beyond” award: the City & State Magazine for her extraordinary leadership and contribution to the business community in New York.
- “40 Under 40” – Crains New York 2007
- “40 Under 40” – M&A Advisors, 2013
- “40 Under 40” NJBIZ, 2013
- Youngest recipient of the United Nations Population Fund’s Award for the Health and Dignity of Women
Wendy has successfully fundraised for numerous charitable organizations, disaster relief efforts, and micro-financing projects in Asia.
She is a frequent speaker on cross-border trade, innovation, and financial technology at industry forums, universities and media programs, including CNBC, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Fortune, Forbes, TechCrunch, Finovate, Harvard, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania and many others. Wendy is fluent in multiple Chinese dialects.
