Luodan Li, MPP'15, Named Forbes 2020 30 under 30 China

Dan (Luodan) Li, MPP’15, has been named to the prestigious Forbes 2020 30 Under 30 China for the Finance and Investment sector, a list recognizing the brightest young financial leaders and entrepreneurs making their mark in the world’s second largest economy.

Li is Deputy Director of the Data Lab for Harvest Fund, one of the top asset and wealth management firms with over $150 billion USD Asset Under Management (AUM) in China. After serving as assistant to chairman for two years upon joining the firm, Li was tapped in 2018 to develop and incubate an innovation team to digitalize the research and investment process with big data, knowledge graph and advanced analytics. With Li’s leadership, the crucial new function, now the Data Lab, has grown into a 30-member strong team over the past two years with Li overseeing strategy and operations.

“Knowing Dan’s special combination of leadership, financial, and data analytics skills, I’m not surprised at all by his success at Harvest Fund or his inclusion on the prestigious list of young leaders,” said Shilin Liu, Director of International Partnerships and Li’s former fellow classmate at Harris. 

For his part, Li credits his Harris education with preparing him with the skills, experiences, and network that he considers crucial to his earning a coveted spot on the Forbes list. “Harris prepares you with the critical thinking and analytical skills that help you stand out and make an impact in any kind of an organization,” Li said. “But it was my exposure to such an incredibly impressive, diverse group of peers at Harris – along with the range of opportunities I was able to avail myself of across the University of Chicago – that were just as important to whatever successes I’ve had in my young career.”   

Li passionately believes that the future lies in healthy, strong US-Sino relations and ensuring that leaders and citizens in each country better understand each other, a cause he committed himself to during his time at Harris. 

As a student fellow at UChicago’s Paulson Institute, he worked with American and Chinese companies to integrate sustainability into their business plans as part of launching the CEO Council for Sustainable Urbanization.  He also wrote several case studies on US-China cross-board investment. 

Li was also on the leadership team of KitcheNet, a start-up enterprise he and fellow UChicago students launched to provide affordable healthy family meals to families living in food deserts. KitcheNet won 3rd place at the John Edwardson '72 Social New Venture Challenge at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, one of the signature social venture competitions in which Harris students have traditionally made a strong showing.

Li’s involvement with Harris did not end upon his graduation.  He is extremely active in the Harris alumni chapter in Beijing where he helps plan the group’s activities and supports fellow alums and students however he can.