Julia S. Gouw is the Chairwoman of Piermont Bank, a commercial bank in New York. She was the former President and Chief Operating Officer of East West Bank.

Gouw was ranked one of the “25 Most Powerful Women in Banking” five times by American Banker magazine and has received the Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Women Making a Difference” award two times in recognition of her achievements and philanthropic contributions.

Gouw was a board member of the Trusteeship, an International Women’s Forum affiliate organization that connects preeminent women in leadership positions across various professional fields.

Gouw currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Pacific Life and Vizio (NYSE: VZIO).

Gouw is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She was the founding chair of the Executive Advisory Board of UCLA Women’s Health to promote women’s health both in research and medical treatments. She also endowed the UCLA Chair of Mood Disorders Research especially in women in memory of Dr. Lori Altshuler.

Born and raised in Indonesia, Gouw came to the United States in 1978 where she earned her B.S. degree in accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.