Peng Zhao

{{Short description|Chinese-American financial services businessman}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Peng Zhao

| image = Peng Zhao portrait.jpg

| caption = Peng Zhao, May 2013

| native_name = 赵鹏

| native_name_lang = zh

| birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|34|2017|2|3}}

| birth_place = Beijing, China

| education = Peking University (BA)
University of California, Berkeley (MA, PhD)

| occupation = Businessman

| years_active = 2006-present

| employer = Citadel Securities

| title = CEO (2017-present)

| boards = The Asian American Foundation{{cite web |title=About us/Board members |url=https://www.taaf.org/about-us/home |website=TAAF.org |date=2023}}
National Committee on United States–China Relations

| spouse =

}}

Peng Zhao ({{lang-zh|s=赵鹏|p=Zhào Péng}}, born {{birth based on age as of date|34|2017|2|3|noage=y}}) is a Chinese-American businessman who is the CEO of market making firm Citadel Securities. Peng Zhao was born in Beijing, China.

Education

Zhao was a student of the Talented Children Training Program at Beijing No.8 High School from 1993 to 1997. He earned a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics from Peking University in 2001{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20170130/NEWS01/170139999/citadel-securities-veteran-zhao-takes-over-as-ceo|title=For its next CEO, Citadel Securities turns to a veteran|date=30 January 2017|website=Crain's Chicago Business|access-date=27 January 2020}} and a PhD in statistics from University of California, Berkeley in 2006.

Career

Peng Zhao was a summer associate at Lehman Brothers and was a quantitative researcher at Evnine & Associates before joining Citadel.{{Cite web|date=2013-10-22|title=Peng Zhao|url=https://quanttradingprinceton.wordpress.com/peng-zhao/|access-date=2020-08-18|language=en}}

Peng Zhao joined Citadel Securities in 2006 as a quantitative researcher.{{cite news|last1=McCrank|first1=John|last2=Mazzilli|first2=Meredith|title=Exclusive: Citadel Securities ups ETF game as part of growth push|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-citadelsecurities-strategy-exclusive/exclusive-citadel-securities-ups-etf-game-as-part-of-growth-push-idUSKCN1IN1CQ|accessdate=6 January 2020|agency=Thomson Reuters|issue=Business News|publisher=Reuters|date=22 May 2018|location=New York, N.Y., United States|language=English}}

In July 2016, Citadel Securities announced that then Microsoft COO, B. Kevin Turner, was joining the firm as CEO.{{cite news|last1=Massa|first1=Annie|last2=Leising|first2=Matthew|title=Wal-Mart to Wall Street Dream Dies as Citadel Securities CEO Out|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-27/citadel-securities-ceo-kevin-turner-left-firm-after-7-months|accessdate=6 January 2020|agency=Bloomberg L.P.|issue=Business|publisher=Bloomberg News|date=27 January 2017|location=United States|language=English|url-access=limited}} At this time a new role, chief scientist, was created specifically for Peng Zhao who was then the global head of market making.

Five months after joining, Kevin Turner left Citadel Securities, and on January 27, 2017, at age 34, Peng Zhao was promoted to CEO.{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20170203/NEWS01/170209978/chicago-billionaire-ken-griffin-splits-citadel-into-two-companies|title=If one Citadel is good, could two be better?|last1=Marek|first1=Lynne|date=3 February 2017|accessdate=13 December 2019|publisher=Crain's Chicago Business|agency=Crain Communications, Inc.|issue=Finance & Banking|location=Chicago, IL, United States|language=English|url-access=limited}}

Affiliations

Zhao is a director of the National Committee on U.S. China Relations.{{cite web |title=Board of Directors |url=https://www.ncuscr.org/board-directors/ |website=ncuscr.org |publisher=National Committee on U.S.-China Relations}} He is a founding board member of the non-profit advocacy and anti-discrimination group The Asian American Foundation (TAAF), established in 2021.{{cite news |last1=Ross Sorkin |first1=Andrew |last2=Lee |first2=Edmund |title=Asian-American Business Leaders Fund Effort to Fight Discrimination |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/03/business/dealbook/asian-american-donation-philanthropy.html |publisher=New York Times|date=3 May 2021}}{{cite web |title=The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) Officially Launched |url=https://www.angelachao.org/2021/05/05/the-asian-american-foundation-taaf-officially-launched/ |website=angelachao.org |publisher=Angela Chao}}{{cite web |title=Our Team |url=https://www.taaf.org/our-team |website=taaf.org |publisher=TAAF}}

In 2019, Zhao was named on Fortune's 40 Under 40 list.{{cite news|title=How the 40 Under 40 Get Stuff Done: Their Favorite Productivity Hacks|url=https://fortune.com/40-under-40/2019/peng-zhao|accessdate=24 September 2019|agency=Fortune Media IP Limited|publisher=Fortune|date=10 July 2019|location=United States|language=English}}

Philanthropy

Zhao and his wife organized a one million surgical mask donation to Chicago's first responders during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.{{Cite web|last=Main|first=Frank|date=2020-05-12|title=Chinese Americans in Chicago donate 1 million surgical masks to city's first-responders|url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/5/12/21256422/coronavirus-mask-donation-citadel-securities-peng-zhao-cherry-chen-chicago-first-responders|access-date=2020-08-18|website=Chicago Sun-Times|language=en}} The couple also supports Kartemquin Films, a non-profit documentary filmmaking organization, in its efforts to fund filmmakers from the AAPI community through the Zhao-Chen AAPI Voices Fund.{{cite web |date=2025 |title=Zhao-Chen Family AAPI Voices Fund |url=https://kartemquin.org/program/zhao-chen-family-aapi-voices-fund/ |website=Kartemquin Films |publisher=}} They were co-executive producers of the award-winning documentary Finding Yingying, which was released by Kartemquin Films.{{cite news |last1=Lodge |first1=Guy |title=Finding Yingying' Review: Heartfelt Documentary Probes a Chinese Student's Horrific Disappearance |url=https://variety.com/2020/film/reviews/finding-yingying-review-heartfelt-documentary-probes-a-chinese-students-horrific-disappearance-1234851590/ |publisher=Variety |date=11 December 2020}} The couple also funds the Victor Wong Fellowship, a program associated with Chicago's Second City, to train and mentor aspiring comedians from the AAPI community.{{cite news |last1=Cristi |first1=A.A. |title=The Second City Launches Victor Wong Fellowship for AAPI Voices in Comedy |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/chicago/article/The-Second-City-Launches-Victor-Wong-Fellowship-for-AAPI-Voices-in-Comedy-20220502 |publisher=Broadway World Chicago |date=2 May 2022}}{{cite news |last1=Haring |first1=Bruce |title=Second City to Offer an Asian American Pacific Islander Fellowship in Improv Comedy |url=https://deadline.com/2022/05/second-city-asian-pacific-islander-improv-comedy-fellowship-1235013445/ |publisher=Deadline |date=2 May 2022}} Peng and other founding board members of TAAF committed $125 million to support AAPI organizations and causes at launch. According to The New York Times, it was the single largest philanthropic gift devoted to Asian Americans.