Jane Marie Chen is the co-founder of Embrace, a social enterprise startup that aims to help the 15 million premature and low birth-weight babies born every year, through a low-cost infant warmer, that gives premature and low-birth-weight infants a better chance at survival. A premature baby lacks the ability to regulate its own body temperature. The Embrace Warmer uses a phase change material incorporated into a sleeping bag design to regulate the temperature of these babies, without the need for a constant supply of electricity. The device is being used in clinic and hospital settings around the world, with India as its primary market. Currently, Chen serves as chief executive officer of Embrace Innovations, which has a mission to design and bring to market healthcare technologies for the developing world, starting with the infant warmer. The Embrace infant warmer costs about 1% of a traditional incubator, and is estimated to have helped over 300,000 babies to date. Chen served as the first CEO of Embrace, the non-profit arm of the organization, before stepping into the CEO role for Embrace Innovations, the for-profit social enterprise that was spun off in 2012.
Prior to Embrace, Chen worked with nonprofit organizations on healthcare issues in developing countries. She spent several years as the program director of a startup HIV/AIDS nonprofit in China, and worked for the Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Initiative in Tanzania. She also worked at Monitor Group as a management consultant, advising Fortune 500 companies. Chen has been a TED speaker, and was selected as one of Forbes' Impact 30 in 2011. In 2019, Chen was featured in AOL/Verizon/Yahoo's "FUTURIST" Series, profiling industry leaders across all different disciplines who are advancing their fields with technology, innovation, and fearlessness. Chen has been recognized as the Inspirational Young Alumni of the Year by Pomona College, and selected as a "Woman of Distinction" by the American Association of University Women. Chen has spoken at numerous international conferences, including the Skoll World Forum, Bloomberg Design Conference, Forbes Women's Summit, and the World Economic Forum. In 2012, Chen was named as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and was featured in Dove's "Real Role Models" campaign for women and girls. She was also profiled in AOL's Makers campaign. Chen is a TED Fellow, Echoing Green Fellow, and Rainer Arnhold Fellow. In 2013, Chen and the other co-founders of Embrace, Linus Liang, Nag Murty, and Rahul Panicker were awarded the prestigious Economist Innovation Award, under the category of Social and Economic Innovation. In the same year, Chen and her co-founder Rahul Panicker were also recognized as Schwab Social Entrepreneurs of the Year by the World Economic Forum. In 2014, Chen was invited to the White House's first ever Maker Faire, where she presented Embrace's work to President Obama. In the same year, Beyoncé made a $125,000 contribution through Chime for Change which allowed Embrace to distribute its infant warmers to nine countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Embrace
While doing her MBA at Stanford, Chen and a few other fellow graduate students were assigned a class project to create a low-cost infant incubator that could be used in rural areas.San Jose Business Journal"> In 2008, they co-founded Embrace, a 501 non-profit, to bring their project to life. In January 2012, Embrace moved into a hybrid structure. The non-profit entity, Embrace, donates infant warmers to the neediest areas through NGO partners, and provides educational programs on newborn health alongside the distribution of warmers. The for-profit social enterprise, Embrace Innovations, sells the warmers to paying entities, including governments and private clinics, all focusing on emerging markets. Embrace believes that this type of "hybrid" structure allows it to most effectively achieve its mission: to supply its infant warmers to every baby in need. Embrace Innovations, the for-profit social enterprise, raised its Series A round of financing in 2012 from Vinod Khosla's Impact Fund and Capricorn Investment Group. The company raised a second round of investment capital from Marc Benioff in 2014. In 2016, Embrace Innovations launched a line of consumer baby products called Little Lotus Baby, which have a buy-one give-one model; each product sold helps to save a baby in a developing country with the Embrace warmer. The Little Lotus products leverage the technology used in the Embrace warmer to keep babies at an ideal skin temperature, thereby helping to improve their sleep.
Personal life
Chen's personal hobbies include meditation, yoga and surfing. She writes a blog called Hanging Zen, and a column for Forbes about the life and startup lessons she learned through surfing.
