Brief info
Associate
Emily Liao Master brings more than 20 years’ experience in executive management, marketing, communications, operations, revenue growth, and strategic and program planning for for-profit, nonprofit and governmental organizations to her role as an Associate with Aspen Leadership Group.
Emily seeks to disrupt the status quo by helping people and organizations to see, think, and act differently—with attention to excellence, equity, and access. Emily began her career with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where she worked for 15 years in the marketing, artistic planning and audience development departments, working closely with Music Director Riccardo Muti (2010-2016). She later served as Chief of Staff at one of the largest global executive search and leadership advisory firms, leading a range of strategic and operational initiatives. Emily was most recently the Executive Director of the Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority, which she led during the renovation of the Davidson Center as well as the completion of the new Shelby White and Leon Levy Lod Mosaic Archaeological Center (in 2022) and the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel (in 2023) by achieving a $150 million campaign goal. For more than a decade, Emily has served as a philanthropic consultant to a number of private foundations as well as public funders across the United States.
After 8 years in Juilliard's Pre-College Division (piano, viola and organ), Emily completed pre-med studies and received her AB in Music cum laude, and certificate in musical performance from Princeton University and her MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She has also completed executive education at the Guanghua School of Management (Peking University, China), IPADE Business School (Universidad Panamericana, Mexico), and the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice in arts and culture strategy. Emily is on the boards of the Princeton Club of Chicago, Picosa and Equity Arc, and a member of Women of Color in the Arts, Women of Color in Philanthropy, the Chicago chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and a volunteer with Arts and Business Council of Chicago. She also serves as co-chair of the Chicago Western suburbs Alumni Schools Committee, a Princeton University Mentoring Program (PUMP) mentor, and a Princeton Internships in Civic Service mentor and interviewer. She has also served as a mentor for Northwestern’s M.S. in Management Science program.