Alissa Hsu Lynch
Alissa Hsu Lynch ‘99 (Ah-LEE-sah Sue Linch) is a board director, speaker, and host of the podcast The Leadership Dance, who started her career as a professional modern dancer before transforming into a global business executive at industry giants including Johnson & Johnson and Google. She now serves on the Board of Directors of The Honest Company and American Ballet Theatre.
The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Alissa learned the value of hard work, humility, and dreaming big from her parents. She discovered her passion for dancing at an early age and dreamed of becoming a professional one day. After graduating from Princeton University with a degree in English, she realized her childhood dream and enjoyed a successful career as a world-class dancer for six years, performing on stages around the world. Following her retirement from dance, Alissa earned her M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and pivoted to the world of business.
Over the course of 25 years in corporate America, Alissa demonstrated her agility in navigating multiple industries, roles, regions, and companies. She rose rapidly through the ranks at Johnson & Johnson from Assistant Brand Manager to Worldwide Vice President and made her imprint on iconic consumer brands including Johnson’s Baby, Aveeno, Neutrogena, and CeraVe (at Bausch Health), as well as J&J’s medical device business. She also lived abroad twice–in Shanghai, China and Zürich, Switzerland. She then made a daring leap to Google, where she reinvented herself once again, pioneering strategic partnerships with Fortune 500 companies to drive digital transformation in healthcare through the innovative application of data, analytics, and AI.
Recognized by Fierce Healthcare as one of the most influential minority healthcare executives, she was named to the Financial Times Agenda Diversity 100, listed among the 2025 Directors to Watch by Directors & Boards, and was honored by Board Prospects as one of 100 AAPI Board Directors Making a Difference. She is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, holds two design patents, and was an Entrepreneur in Residence at DigitalDx Ventures. She lives in New York City with her husband and is the mom of two young men.