Ping Sun and David Leebron moved to Houston in 2004, when David became the President of Rice University and Ping served as “First Lady” of Rice and University Representative. In the years since then, Ping and David have been deeply committed to both the university and the city of Houston. They were recognized by the Greater Houston Partnership as International Executives of the Year in 2010.
After serving for eight years as Dean of Columbia Law School in New York, David Leebron began what would be eighteen years as Rice University’s seventh president. During that time, which has been widely recognized as a period of significant transformation for Rice, the university greatly expanded its enrollment, engaged far more deeply with the city of Houston including the building of the Ion Innovation Hub, implemented the acclaimed Rice Investment which eliminated tuition payment for families earning less than $140,000, and transformed the campus with approximately $1.8 billion in new buildings and renovations. Under Leebron’s leadership, the university made a distinctive commitment to both arts facilities and campus art, and expanded its international engagements and footprint, including a Paris campus. Leebron’s international contributions have been recognized by the governments of France and Spain as well as universities in China. The Houston Business Journal awarded Leebron the Lifetime Achievement Diversity in Business Award, recognizing that during his presidency, Rice had become one of the most diverse elite universities in the country.
Ping Sun, a graduate of Princeton University and Columbia Law School, is of counsel at the law firm of Yetter Coleman. Ping is the chair of Asia Society Texas Center, a trustee for Texas Children’s Hospital, and on the boards of the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation and Hermann Park Conservancy. Ping also served as the co-chair of the Grants Committee of the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, a member of the Advisory Task Force for the Greater Houston COVID-19 Recovery Fund and the Advisory Board of the Houston Winter Storm Recovery Fund. For over a decade she was on both the United Way of Greater Houston and the Teach For America Houston boards.