Derek Hu ’92

When Derek Hu graduated from UCLA in 1992 with a B.A. degree in English literature he had already experienced three summers in internships at law firms in Los Angeles. Hu believed his passion for reading and writing would lead him to a career in the legal field. His internships taught him a lot, but also made him rethink his career path. He decided he wanted to go into management and consulting instead.

After graduation Hu worked creating solutions for companies, analyzing business models, researching and developing strategies that best fit the organization. This experience led him to New York where he helped Jim Scott International open an office in the city. The company produced soft goods, fashion, bedding and fabric. He was able to work with some of the largest retailers in the U.S. and was able to travel to Asia often, mainly Taiwan and Hong Kong for business. His travels were more than eye-opening. As a Chinese American growing up in Los Angeles Hu was exposed to his culture through family and his surroundings, but he was thirsty to experience it first hand. His business travels exposed him to vibrant, energy-filled cities. He says in the mid 90s, Hong Kong was becoming an important economic center and all over Asia there was a need for young professionals. Those professionals were mainly from the U.S., the United Kingdom and from all over Asia, which made for a very diverse crowd.

Hu enjoyed his travels so much that he began to look for professional opportunities in Hong Kong. One of his mentors at the time was a recruiter of top talent for different companies in Hong Kong. Through his mentor he was introduced to the realm of executive searches. He quickly found out that executive searches are a lot like management consulting. “You have to understand a company’s business model and the organization as a whole in order to find the talent that fits. Each company has a different financial goal and each finance person will have a different skill set. Executive searches as a profession is mysterious and you can’t go into it lightly. You have to have a different mindset in the industry you are representing. You must have specialized people skills and business experience in order to navigate through it,” he says.

Hu was able to capitalize on the skills he had acquired both in the U.S. and while traveling to make executive searches a career path that has spanned almost 18 years. He is currently based in Shanghai, China as a partner and the Greater China country manager of Eric Salmon & Partners, a leading executive search firm. He set up the operations in Greater China, and places key executives in the Asia Pacific region.

A true believer in mentorship, Hu encourages anybody and everybody to have a mentor, or several, no matter where you are in your career path. He says, “You never stop learning. You can always use advice and use mentorship.” He expands on this, referring to his wife as a mentor as well. He explains that in Chinese well respected people are referred to as teachers or masters. He says his wife is extremely wise and helps him navigate through his personal life. By doing this she is a mentor to him.

During his time at UCLA, Hu was involved in student government as a USAC General Representative as well as involved with the American Chinese Association as a student government representative. He was also part of an off-campus, non-UCLA fraternity.

As an alumnus, Hu is a new member to the UCLA Alumni Association Board of Directors. He began his involvement by meeting another alumnus while waiting in line to renew his passport at the consulate in Shanghai where he was invited to student recruitment and send-off events. He eventually met Lily Tsau ᾿81, senior director of international alumni outreach who encouraged him to get involved with the alumni board.

In addition to serving on the board, Hu serves as a China board member for Teach for China, a nonprofit foundation which helps China’s young people to get access to a quality education. More than 93,000 students in underdeveloped regions in China have been impacted.

As an alumnus living internationally, Hu understands the importance of being connected back to the campus. He considers UCLA a big part of his life. His mother worked in the UCLA Medical Center when he was younger so he grew up at UCLA, running around campus even before he was a student. He believes UCLA is the focal point not just for Los Angeles but for California, the U.S. and all over the world. “China and the U.S. are economies more connected every day. In the same way China is connected to Latin America. We are global, business is global, so our networks must be global. A lot of people have a connection to UCLA and just have to be asked to join.” Hu’s goal is to keep creating those connecting points to reach as many alumni as possible and form larger communities of Bruins, everywhere.