Biography
Peng Zhao is Chief Executive Officer of Citadel Securities, a global financial services firm with offices across the United States, Asia-Pacific and Europe. One of the firm’s early architects, he joined Citadel Securities directly out of graduate school as a Senior Quantitative Researcher.
Peng has led the company through a period of continued growth and sustained expansion. He was named to Fortune Magazine’s 40 Under 40 list, which noted that under his stewardship, “Citadel Securities has not only widened its lead as the top market maker in U.S. stocks,” but also emerged as a transformative influence in new and growing markets.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Peng and his wife Cherry, both Chinese Americans, organized the donation of over one million masks to first responders and helped raise funds for medical supplies in Hubei province, aid to families displaced by the pandemic and early resources for vaccine development.
Peng earned his PhD in Statistics from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a Berkeley Fellow, and holds a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from Peking University. He serves on the Board of Trustees for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
“My wife Cherry and I are grateful for the hard work of our frontline responders. We wanted to do our part to ensure that they had the necessary resources to fulfill their critical mission. We’re also committed to driving positive change in response to harmful rhetoric directed against AAPI communities. I’m pleased that TAAF will lead the way in protecting our AAPI frontline workers, who risk their lives every day to save all Americans, and in fostering greater unity and understanding.”