Inducted: 2023

MS in Economics, 1994

Pin Ni, a former University of Kentucky Department of Economics doctoral student, founded Wanxiang America Corporation in 1994. He continues to serve as the president and executive vice president of the Wanxiang Group, one of China's largest automotive components manufacturers.

Headquartered in Elgin, Illinois, Wanxiang America Corporation is one of the most successful Chinese corporate investors in the United States. Wanxiang America Corporation has acquired and turned around numerous troubled facilities in the Midwest. The company, which works in the automotive, clean energy, and real estate industries, has seen its revenue grow to more than $4 billion to date.

Ni was honored as “The Most Influential Business Person of the Year” by the China General Chamber of Commerce – U.S.A in 2016. In 2019, he received the China Institute’s highest honor, the Blue Cloud Award, for his achievements as a “Bridge Builder” between China and the United States.

Ni serves as a board director of World Business Chicago, the China Institute and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and The Nature Conservancy Illinois Chapter. He also is a member of the Northwestern University Board of Trustees and the Advisory Board of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy.