Linda Kao
Assistant Dean of Global Programs at SMU Cox School of Business
The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants went from a student at SMU as a youth to serving as SMU Cox School of Business’ assistant dean for global programs — a role she’s served in since 1999.
Her family moved to Dallas around 1974 from Taiwan, when her father Buck Shu-Chang Kao, a former career diplomat, came to town to open Royal China in the Preston-Royal shopping center.
“My parents always reminded us how blessed we were and wanted us to make sure to give back to the community that has been so generous to us,” Kao said.
And give back to the Dallas community she did. Kao has served on boards including the World Affairs Council, the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations, the Texas Women’s Foundation, the Dallas Assembly, and the Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce. She and her family still live in the Preston Hollow area and her daughter attended Hockaday.
After graduating from SMU in 1978, Kao had a successful modeling career and worked in production for the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants. She also went on to work on seven summer and winter Olympic games from 1992 to 2002 and three World Cup games as an event consultant.
“I was behind the scene, working with the Hollywood aces to produce live telecasts from wherever we were,” Kao said of her pageant work. “While I was working on the pageant, I met a team of talented logistic experts, I had no idea they [were] Olympics consultants until they invited me to join them.”
It was her experiences in philanthropy and as a world traveler that led her to her job as assistant dean for global programs at SMU Cox School of Business.
“All my activities accumulated in the fall of 1997, when I was invited to sit at VIP table at Asian Chamber luncheon,” Kao said. “The [gentleman] sitting next to me turned out to be the new Dean of Cox School of Business (Albert W. Niemi Jr.). We had a nice conversation on SMU, on globalization in education … etc. At the end, Dean Niemi told me I was the person he was looking for to launch his Global vision. Up to that point, I never imagined myself working in … higher ed, but I was always ready to take on new challenges.”
Her immediate assignment was to create the global leadership program for the full-time MBA class. The program is now in its 23rd year.
“GLP is in its 23rd year and it is still the important capstone in MBA journey,” Cox said. “I love to see the impact of GLP on students. Over the years, I have expanded the programs for the entire graduate school at Kao. This is something I am most proud of. And to win the battle against stage IV cancer when I was told I couldn’t possibly survive. I am happy to be alive.”
