After a long succession of middle-aged men, there's a new face on the line-up of the University of Hong Kong's Edward KY Chen lecture series.
Just 31 years old and part of the new vanguard of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Clara Shih brings a fresh take to economics for an upcoming lecture.
Hong Kong-born Shih is the CEO of Hearsay Social, a technology start-up that helps large banks and Fortune 500 companies manage their social media presence and works with groups such as Farmers Insurance and Northwestern Mutual.
As a woman in her early thirties, she is a rarity in the male-dominated technology industry, and she is part of a field of business that has evolved thanks to the advent of Facebook.
"The vast majority of business happens with our weak ties. Facebook allows you to keep in touch with more of them," said Shih, sitting in a private dining room at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental.
Seeing the potential, she created a Facebook application called Faceforce in 2007 that was the first social business application on the network.