Michael Chen, Advisor, The CEO Forum Group & Co-Founder and Chairman, National Pickleball League (NPL)
Michael Chen is the co-founder and Chairman of the National Pickleball League (NPL), which is the first ever professional pickleball league focused on team play for Champions Pros (Age 50+) representing currently 12 cities across the USA. Prior to that he had been CEO of GE Media Finance and a President at NBC.
He also is the CEO of Chen & Associates, an advisory services firm focused on the financial services, media, aviation, and sports industry, and his firm was instrumental in assisting with the restructuring of Bridgewater Associates in 2022.
From 2012-2013, he was a Management Committee Advisor and Strategic Partner to the Chief Investment Officer at Bridgewater Associates.
From 2011-2012, he was the President of NBC News’ Strategic Initiatives Group and served on the Board of Directors for The Weather Channel.
Prior to joining NBC News, Michael was a GE Officer and President & CEO of GE Capital’s Media, Communications, and Entertainment (MCE) business from 2006-2010.
He also created and was the Chairman of the Board of the Peacock Equity Fund from 2006-2010, which was a digital media fund supported by GE and NBC Universal. The fund was sold to Comcast successfully in 2011. Michael started his career at IBM in finance and spent 12 years at GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS), where he was the Manager Director, North America of GECAS from 1999-2006.
Michael has been featured in Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. and was featured as one of the best salespeople in America in the best-selling book “Secrets of Great Rainmakers,” by Jeffrey Fox, and was the highest ranking Asian American at NBCUniversal during his time there. In 2008, he was named the top Asian American in Business by a leading Asian American organization.
He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rochester and an MBA in Finance from the SC Johnson School of Business at Cornell University.