Yitao Yao

Yitao Yao has a diverse work experience spanning over several companies and roles. Starting in 1992, they worked as a Research Scientist and later as a PostDoctoral Researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1995, they co-founded Fuchs, Regas, & Yao, Inc, where they successfully designed and developed scientific control systems. Yitao then joined Globalstar in 1996 as an Architect, contributing to the design and implementation of a control and simulation system for satellite communication. In 2000, they worked as a Lead Architect at Jamcracker and then as the Chief Architect at MobileWebSurf, where they invented and developed mobile technology solutions. From 2002 to 2011, Yitao held the role of Distinguished Architect at eBay, responsible for architecture and development of various core services and solutions. From 2011 to 2013, they were the Chief Architect and Co-Founder of Inkiru, Inc, where they designed and developed cloud solutions for real-time predictive intelligence platforms. In 2013, Inkiru, Inc was acquired by Walmart, where Yitao continued their work as the Chief Architect, VP of Engineering @WalmartLabs - Global Technology until 2020. Yitao led enterprise architecture, digital transformation, and predictive analytics initiatives. From 2020 to 2024, Yitao served as the Chief Architect, VP of Engineering at Nike before transitioning to their current role as the Vice President of Technology at Intuit.

Yitao Yao has a Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering (Computational Fluid Dynamics) from UC Santa Barbara, which they obtained from 1989 to 1992. Yitao also pursued an MS in Computer Science (Parallel and Distributed Computing) from UC Santa Barbara, from 1995 to 1996. Prior to this, Yitao Yao completed an MS in Ocean Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, spanning from 1986 to 1988. Additionally, they acquired a BS in Naval Architecture from Shanghai Jiao Tong University for the period of 1980 to 1984.