Julia Suryapranata Gouw is the former president, chief operating officer and a member of the board of directors of

East West Bancorp East West Bancorp is the parent company of East West Bank. It is a publicly owned company with over $70 billion in assets as of 2024. The company's wholly owned subsidiary, East West Bank, is the largest state-chartered bank in California as of 2 ...

, Inc. and

East West Bank East West Bank is an American bank that is the primary subsidiary of East West Bancorp. It is the largest publicly traded bank headquartered in Southern California. The company has been ranked the #1 performing U.S. bank with more than $10 billi ...

. She originally joined East West Bank in 1989 as controller and became executive vice president and chief financial officer from 1994 to 2008.

Early life

She was born in

Surabaya Surabaya is the capital city of East Java Provinces of Indonesia, province and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern corner of Java island, on the Madura Strai ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. Her father was originally from

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

, and her mother was from

Banjarmasin Banjarmasin is the largest city in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. It was the capital of the province until 15 February 2022. The city is located on a delta island near the junction of the Barito and Martapura rivers. Historically the centre of t ...

. Gouw spent 18 years of her life in

with her family. Gouw graduated from

SMA Santa Maria Surabaya SMA or S.M.A. may refer to: Places * American Samoa, ITU letter code * Santa Maria Airport (Azores) (IATA code) *San Miguel de Allende, Mexico People * Sergeant Major of the Army, U.S. * Sima (Chinese surname), or Sma * Joshua Falk, known as ' ...

, and soon after she graduated high school she moved to the United States in 1978 where she earned a bachelor's degree in Accounting from the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

. She married Ken Keng-Hok Gouw on June 1, 1981.

Career

Gouw served as Senior Audit Manager at

KPMG KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...

where she managed a team of accountants that performed the financial and regulatory audits of financial institutions, real estate firms, and construction companies. Gouw first joined East West Bank in 1989 as controller. Shortly thereafter, Gouw was appointed executive vice president and chief financial officer. She held this position until 2008, after which she became chief risk officer. Gouw was then appointed president and chief operating officer in 2009 until her retirement from East West Bank in March 2016. She has served as a commissioner for the

Ontario International Airport Authority The Ontario International Airport Authority (OIAA) is an airport authority that governs Ontario International Airport in Ontario, California. The OIAA was created in August 2012 under a joint-powers agreement between the City of Ontario, Californ ...

(OIAA) since September 2016.

Board activity and awards

Gouw has been ranked among the "25 Most Powerful Women in Banking" five times by

American Banker ''American Banker'' is a New York-based trade publication covering the financial services industry. Originally a daily newspaper, the print edition ceased publication in 2016, but continues to be published as a print magazine nine times a year. ...

Magazine and has twice received the Los Angeles Business Journal's "Women Making a Difference" award. She has also been recognized in

Los Angeles Business Journal The ''Los Angeles Business Journal'', established in 1979, is a weekly newspaper and online news source in Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most po ...

's "L.A.'s Top Women in Finance". Gouw has been named Philanthropist of the Year by the

National Association of Women Business Owners The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) is an organization in the United States founded in 1975 that has the purpose of networking the approximately 10.6 million women-owned businesses so as to provide mutual support, share resou ...

in Los Angeles. She has also been featured in the book ''Women Leaders at Work – Untold Tales of Women Achieving Their Ambitions'' alongside a select group of women founders and CEOs. Corporate board activity * Board of directors of

, Inc. and East West Bank (2004 – 2016) * Board of directors of Pacific Mutual Holding Company and Pacific Life Corp. (2011–present) Nonprofit board and committee activity * Board of visitors –

UCLA School of Medicine The UCLA School of Medicine (also known as the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA) is the accredited medical school of the University of California, Los Angeles. Founded in 1951, it is the second medical school in the University of Califor ...

(1997–2012) *

Carter Center The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. He and his wife Rosalynn Carter partnered with Emory University after his defeat in the 1980 United States presidential ele ...

– Ambassador Circle (2000) * Board of overseers –

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

(2001–present) *

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit organization, nonprofit fundraising affiliates. Prior to 2015, United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public. Individual Un ...

's Major Gift Advisory Council (2002–2003) * Board of directors –

Huntington Hospital Huntington Health, an Affiliate of Cedars-Sinai is a 544-bed, not-for-profit hospital in Pasadena, California. The hospital originally opened as Pasadena Hospital, though the official name of the hospital is the Pasadena Hospital Association DB ...

(2003–2008) * Board of trustees –

Saint John's Health Foundation In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Ortho ...

(2003 – present) * Executive women's advisory board, UCLA

Iris Cantor Iris Cantor (née Bazel, born February 14, 1931) is an American philanthropist based in New York City and Los Angeles, with a primary interest in medicine and the arts. Cited as among the 50 top contributors in the United States, as head of the I ...

Women's Health (2004 – present) * Board of directors – The UCLA Foundation (2006–2013) * Board of directors – John Wayne Cancer Institute (2007–2012) * Board of directors – California Bankers Association (2011 – present) * Economic Development Task Force – City of Pasadena (2012) * Board of overseers –

UCLA Health System UCLA Health is the public healthcare system affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, located in Los Angeles, California. It comprises a number of hospitals, UCLA School of Medicine, and an extensive primary care network in the ...

(2013–present) Awards and recognitions * 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking – '' American Banker Magazine'' (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011) * Philanthropist of the Year – National Association of Women Business Owners, Los Angeles (NAWBO- LA) in partnership with United Way's Women Leaders (2003) * Philanthropist of the Year, Women Making a Difference – Los Angeles Business Journal (2003, 2008) * Top 10 CFOs in Banking – American Banker (2006) * Best CFO's in America – Institutional Investor magazine (2006, 2007) * 25 Women to Watch – American Banker Magazine (2010) * L.A.'s Top Women in Finance, Los Angeles Business Journal (2012) * Featured in Women Leaders at Work – Untold Tales of Women Achieving Their Ambitions, by Elizabeth Ghaffari

Women's health advocacy

Gouw served on the board of visitors of the

David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA The UCLA School of Medicine (also known as the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA) is the accredited medical school of the University of California, Los Angeles. Founded in 1951, it is the second medical school in the University of Califor ...

, where she established an endowed chair for mood disorders research. She also served on the board of directors of The UCLA Foundation and is the founding chair of the executive women's advisory board for the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women's Health Center.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gouw, Julia S. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Indonesian people of Chinese descent Indonesian emigrants to the United States American people of Chinese-Indonesian descent American women in business American chief operating officers Gies College of Business alumni Women chief financial officers American chief financial officers 21st-century American women