Our Stories

Viewing the World Beyond a Chinese Perspective

At Vanderbilt, Ming Xiong expands her business knowledge, network and point of view

Ming "Winnie" Xiong
Data and AI Product Leader, FinTech, Amazon

Vanderbilt MBA 2017

In China, Ming Xiong established a career path she wanted to continue to pursue. After graduating from college, she worked for a small, privately owned company where, as the only employee in HR, she handled all the tasks in that area.

From there, to “see how HR functions in a big firm and to gain global exposure,” Ming moved to Air Products, a large, multinational. As part of her role in corporate learning and development, she worked with colleagues from 11 different companies on global products for Air Products University.

With a good foundation in HR and experience that was international in scope, Ming wanted to broaden her knowledge with an MBA. “I realized I could provide more influential and powerful solutions if I understood business at a strategic level,” she says.

She chose Vanderbilt for three reasons: its “reputation as a world-class university”; the “high quality program — Vanderbilt’s HR concentration is ranked in the top four in the U.S.”; and the “close-knit and friendly community.”

Right away, she learned something at Vanderbilt that surprised her. Despite her experience working with international colleagues, she says, “I realized I was still viewing the world from a Chinese perspective. Studying at Owen, I had the chance to interact with faculty and students from different countries and different cultural backgrounds. Now I am viewing the world from a truly global perspective.”


Fun Fact: Ming began attending boarding school in China when she was 12 — an experience that she believes trained her to be an independent person.

“One reason I chose Vanderbilt is that its MBA program in HR concentration ranks in the top four in the U.S.”