Mai Chen named in Top 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life in Global Diversity List supported by The Economist
Mai Chen, Chair of the Superdiversity Centre for Law, Policy and Business, has been named on The Economist’s Top 50
Global Diversity List. Mai Chen is also Managing Partner at Chen Palmer Partners, Chair of New Zealand Asian Leaders,
Adjunct Professor for the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland, and a Director of the BNZ.
Ms Chen is listed in the Top 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life, a category that recognizes the achievements of
individuals who have used their position in public life to make an impact in diversity. The Global Diversity List is
affiliated with the Global Diversity Awards, which produces the annual European Diversity Awards. The Global Diversity
List is supported by The Economist publication.
“Mai’s recognition on the Global Diversity List is a tribute to her pioneering work on diversity throughout her career
starting with her work at the ILO in the United Nations, to her first book on the International Women’s Convention, her
Chairpersonship of the tri-departmental government review into whether the law prohibiting women in combat should
change, to the ground breaking human rights cases she has argued and more recently, her establishment of NZ Asian
Leaders and the Superdiversity Centre. Mai published the Superdiversity Stocktake: Implications for Business, Government and New Zealand in November 2015, which has been downloaded over 93,000 times. She also published “The implications of Superdiversity
on Electoral and Referenda Laws” in November 2015 with the support of a NZ Law Foundation grant. In April 2016, the
Centre published the CQ Stocktake: Developing Cultural Capability to Succeed in New Zealand following the Response to the Superdiversity Stocktake Forum held in Auckland in March 2016”, said Marina Matthews,
Co-CEO of the Superdiversity Centre. Mai was also inaugural Chair of NZ Global Women.
Ms Chen is one of two women on the Global Diversity List for the Asian Pacific region. The Global Diversity List states
that Mai Chen is championing the role of diverse New Zealanders noting “that by 2035 some 50% of her country will be of
Asian, Maori or Pasifika descent.”
“Mai’s research and advocacy on superdiversity and cultural intelligence has put these issues on the map for business,
government and for all NZers. Mai has combined her own experiences as a Taiwanese immigrant to NZ with her public law
and policy expertise to really shift the dial on these issues in a country with one of the most superdiverse cities in
the world – Auckland,” said Ms Matthews
The Superdiversity Centre has developed specialized tools to enable businesses and government to assess their cultural
capability and to get measurable improvements in the cultural capability of their organization to better serve customers
and get the best from their staff,” said Ms Matthews.
For more information on the Global Diversity List, see http://www.globaldiversitylist.com/top-50-diversity-figures-in-public-life.html
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