Nita Ing (; born 17 March 1955, in

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

) is the

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

ese-American president of

Continental Engineering Corporation Continental Engineering Corporation (CEC; ) is a large Taiwanese construction company. History The company was originally founded by Glyn T. H. Ing in 1941 as Wei Dah Corporation in Chongqing, Sichuan. In 1945, the company was restructured to be ...

and the former chairman of the board of the

Taiwan High Speed Rail Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) is a high-speed railway network in Taiwan, which consists of a single line that runs approximately along the western coast of the island, from the capital Taipei in the north to the southern city of Kaohsiung. Its c ...

Corporation, the company which built a high-speed railway system from

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

. A supporter of the

Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...

, she had been an advisor to the former President

Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian ( zh, t=陳水扁; born 12 October 1950) is a Taiwanese former politician and lawyer who served as the fifth president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progres ...

. Her career as a construction magnate took place largely within Taiwan's

, of which she has served as the chairman of the board.

Early life

Nita's hometown is

Wenzhou Wenzhou; Chinese postal romanization, historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in China's Zhejiang province. Wenzhou is located at the extreme southeast of Zhejiang, bordering Lishui, Zhejiang, Lishui to the west, Taizhou, Zheji ...

and comes from a

Wenzhounese Wenzhounese ( zh, t=溫州話, s=温州话, p= Wēnzhōuhuà, Wenzhounese: ), also known as Oujiang ( zh, t=甌江話, s=瓯江话, p=Ōujiānghuà, labels=no), Tong Au ( zh, t=東甌片, s=东瓯片, p=Dōng'ōupiàn, labels=no) or Au Nyü ( z ...

family. Her father,

businessman, Chi-Hou Ing, was the founder of

and paternal grandfather was the former deputy minister of Ministry of Finance of

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

in the early 20th century. Nita Ing was expelled from Taipei American School for "rowdy behavior" and sent to a Massachusetts boarding school in the 1970's when she was a teenager. She then majored in economics at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA), but was expelled from the University for setting up a fire for protesting women inequality. She was briefly married to Paul Gittleson in 1979 in Los Angeles, but divorced a few years later. Her children were from a subsequent relationship. She currently lives in Taipei, Taiwan with her two daughters, who both attend Taipei American School.

Career

After graduating, Ing started a career at Continental Engineering Corporation in August 1977, eventually rising to become president of the firm. From 1998 until 2009, she was the chairperson of the

Corporation. In 2010, she was appointed as the chairperson of Continental Holdings Corporation.

References

External links

Taiwan High Speed Rail official website

CEC Timeline
1955 births Living people American people of Chinese descent Businesspeople from Taipei Taiwanese emigrants to the United States Tibetan Buddhists from the United States Tibetan Buddhists from Taiwan 21st-century American women 20th-century American Buddhists 21st-century American Buddhists American Buddhists {{Taiwan-business-bio-stub