Dr. Diane Chen, Founder of Consumer Education Services Inc. brings her vast experiences in business and education to the Board of Directors. Diane founded CESI in 1998, and served as CEO until stepping down in 2017 after two decades, remaining as CESI’s Board director.
Following her departure from CESI, Diane created a new nonprofit research focused agency, The Institute of Consumer Money Management (ICMM). Diane is currently the Executive Director and Board member of ICMM. You can find information about ICMM at www.icmmnc.org
In August of 2010, Dr. Chen was awarded the prestigious Triangle Business Journal Women in Business award as an Entrepreneur. She was also a recipient of the 2010 Business Leaders Women Extraordinaire award. Dr. Chen, a native of China, played a significant role in establishing the sister state relationship between North Carolina and the Liaoning Province, China. She served as the liaison and interpreter for Governor James Hunt’s trade delegation to China in 1998. In addition, Dr. Chen worked as the International Program Coordinator at Howard Community College in Maryland from 1994 to 1996. Prior to founding CESI in 1998, Dr. Chen was the President of New China Development Corporation for six years. In that capacity, she helped many North Carolina businesses, government agencies, and educational institutions establish partnerships with China and worked as a consultant to facilitate the trade and business missions between the US and China.
Dr. Chen earned both her Master and Doctorate degrees in adult education from North Carolina State University in 1993 and 1995 respectively. She currently holds positions as Advisory Board Members of First Citizens Bank and Enterprising Women Magazine. In addition, she is a member of the Advisory Board of National Foundation of Credit Counseling, and a board member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh.
