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She has directed most of her donations to Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Cornell University. She also “supports diversity in the workplace by giving to a nonprofit that encourages employers to hire neurodiverse people.” 3
Background
Yang grew up in Singapore and moved to the United States to study. 4 She is a 1974 graduate of Cornell University, 5 and she earned a master’s degree from Columbia University in 1976. 6
Yang was married to Hock E. Tan, president and CEO of Broadcom, a global technology infrastructure company. 7 In 2010, Tan was named the highest paid CEO in the United States. His net worth as of June 12, 2025 was over $254 million. 8 They had three children, two of whom were diagnosed with some form of autism. 1 9 In the late 1990s Tan and Yang moved to Philadelphia from Singapore to obtain a better education for their autistic son. Yang attended college classes with her daughter Eva who had a milder form of autism. 10 Yang and Tan are no longer married. 11
Yang was an investment banker at the First Boston Corporation and at Lehman Brothers before retiring in 2001. She is a member of the Cornell University board of trustees. She is also on the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations Dean’s Advisory Council, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Administrative Board, and the advisory council of the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics. 12 6
Philanthropy
Yang was listed as a “Titan” in the TIME 100 most influential people in philanthropy of 2025, alongside several well-known liberal philanthropists such as Michael Bloomberg, Melinda French Gates, MacKenzie Scott, and Alice Walton. 13 She was number 34 in the “Philanthropy 50” list published by the Chronicle of Philanthropy covering 25 years of philanthropy. 2
Most of her and her former husband’s donations have been awarded to Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Cornell University. Yang was a Cornell University graduate, 5 and Tan earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master’s degree from Harvard University. 14
In 2024, Yang’s donations included $30 million to Harvard University for a Brain-Body Center, $35 million to Cornell University to endow a wildlife health center, and $28 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to launch the K. Lisa Yang Global Engineering and Research Center. 1 The Cornell Wildlife Health Center was renamed to the Cornell K. Lisa Yang Center for Wildlife Health due to her endowment. 5
In 2021, Yang’s gifts included $51.7 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for three programs including the establishment of the K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics and the K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center and $28.3 million to Cornell University to establish the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and other programs. 15 2 7
She was the lead donor for the K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Employment and Disability Institute in the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations. 5 2 In June 2025, Yang gave an additional $1.5 million to the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to establish a research fellowship. The center records and analyzes wildlife sounds to “monitor aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity and the health of ecosystems globally.” 16
In 2019, Yang and Tan gifted $20 million to Harvard University to establish the Hock E. Tan and K. Lisa Yang Center for Autism Research. Yang then gifted $14 million to create related fellowships. 17
Since 2017, Yang, along with her former husband Hock E. Tan, have donated over $200 million to create six endowed research centers and several fellowship programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which are referred to as the “Yang Tan Collective at MIT.” 7