Sophia Cheng is the chief investment officer of Cathay Financial Holdings, and teaches in the department of international business at National Taiwan University. Cheng has more than 20 years of experience in research and investment with the last position being the chairman of Merrill Lynch Taiwan. Prior to joining Cathay, Cheng was the independent director of SinoPac Holdings and later SEVP of JihSun FHC, where she led company strategy plan and supervised the group's investment. Cheng is highly regarded by the government and is well known for her work in financial sector research and her proactive participation in forming government policies, including promoting banking reform and tax reform. Cheng has been the government affairs consultant of Executive Yuan of Taiwan since 2012 and advisory committee member of National Development Council since 2015.