About Me — Tim Yang
Father, Husband, Brother, Son. Senior AI Manager at CVS Health, a Fortune 4 Company, Ex-BCG, Ex-McKinsey. 2x Entrepreneur, US Soccer U8-U13 Coach. Thinker and commentator. Growing roots in USA and China, and building bridge between them.
Through my writing (very first article on Medium), I hope to inspire and guide others in their own journeys. I believe that sharing experiences and knowledge can help create a better world for everyone.
Early life in a nutshell
I was born and raised in both Mainland China and Hong Kong, and at the age of 20, I came to California for college. I graduated from UCLA in 2017 with double majors in Mathematics/Economics and Statistics, both with Summa Cum Laude honors. I then earned a Master of Business Analytics degree (MBAn) from MIT Sloan School of Management in 2018, where I had the pleasure of meeting my wife.
After completing my studies, I joined Boston Consulting Group as a Data Scientist and worked on various interesting projects around the world until the pandemic hit. In 2020, I got married and during the lockdown, my wife and I were blessed with the arrival of our son, Jame L Yang （杨纯玺） in 2021. Shortly after, I joined CVS Health as a Senior Manager in AI and Data Science.
As the pandemic eventually came to an end, my wife and I decided to embrace the new normal and relocated to New York City in 2022.
My professional journey
Growing up with parents who were entrepreneurs in international commerce, I had an early introduction to the world of business. My first job was with my own start-up project, which I started during my freshman year in 2014. I designed a board game for the World Cup, and the outcome was not bad, selling 1000+ sets. During subsequent summers, I interned in Mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, exploring my interests in finance and insurance, until I discovered Data Science (a domain in its early years) in 2017, which captured my attention.
My first internship in Data Science was with the Risk Team at McKinsey, where I worked on a Capstone Project with MIT, building a novel approach to predict mortgage loan delinquency. I then joined BCG Gamma (now BCG X) as a full-time Data Scientist, hoping to explore different industries and use-cases, and to work with interesting and amazing colleagues. I had the opportunity to work with clients in various sectors, including Health Care, Insurance, Cruise Line, Pharmacy Retail, and Private Equity, on projects such as personalization, cost reduction, next best action, COVID modeling, and due-diligence.
However, the pandemic brought travel to a halt, and in 2021, with the birth of my son, I joined CVS Health (Aetna Insurance), a Fortune 4 company with an ambition to transform and modernize with Tech and AI. As a Senior Manager, I have been leading projects and cross-functional teams, engaging stakeholders for new AI opportunities, providing guidance to junior members, and implementing best practices within the organization.
All these incredible life events, both exciting and challenging, have contributed to my personal growth and have made me a more responsible person among others.
Outside of work
If the college matriculation exam had not existed, I would have pursued my ultimate passions of becoming a professional soccer player or a racing car driver. However, now, those dreams can only be realized by my son, James. Fortunately, my love for soccer has found different outlets. I have been involved in numerous soccer projects such as the World Cup board-game startup, captain of my college team, and led an MIT analytics project partnering with FC Barcelona. I also have a U8 license to become a certified coach and plan to use my experience to mentor not only my son but also his peers towards a professional career.
Reading and writing are passions of mine that I find help to broaden my perspective and make me more open-minded. I enjoy reading news, business reviews, and history books at night, which help me see things from different dimensions and bring inspiration to my day-to-day problem-solving as a manager.
Educating my son has been a challenging yet incredibly rewarding job. I believe New York City is an excellent place for early childhood education, fostering both book-smart and street-smart children. As a first-generation immigrant from China, I am building roots in both the US and China and believe that a strong bond between the two societies will yield maximum rewards for future generations.
More to come…
I have always enjoyed making new friends and learning from others. I believe in sharing my experiences, successes, and failures to help the younger generation grow. In my upcoming writing, I plan to discuss various topics, including:
- What it was like to build a flagship product for BCG
- My experience working in data science for FC Barcelona
- How ChatGPT can help first-generation immigrants
- My gap-year before college, and
- How my failures have become a part of my journey
