Shirley is Compton Visiting Professor in World Politics at the Miller Center of Public Policy at the University of Virginia and also on the faculty of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She also teaches at Tsinghua University (Beijing) and National Chengchi University (Taipei). Her book, Taiwan’s China Dilemma, on the impact of the evolution of Taiwanese national identity on cross-Strait economic policy was published by Stanford University Press in 2016 and in Chinese in 2019. Prof. Lin is currently working on the high income trap in East Asia. Her commentaries frequently appear in both English and Chinese media. She graduated from Harvard College and earned a Ph.D. from the University of Hong Kong.

Previously, she was a partner at Goldman Sachs, where she led the firm’s private equity and venture capital efforts in Asia. She spearheaded the firm’s investments in many technology start-ups and was a founding board member of the Alibaba Group and the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation. She also specialized in the privatization of state-owned enterprises in China and Singapore. Prof. Lin currently serves on the boards of Goldman Sachs Asia Bank, Langham Hospitality Investments, and Mercuries Life Insurance. She is also a director of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation and was appointed by the Hong Kong government a member of the Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation.