Finalist: Stephen Daryl Chu

Chief Legal and People Officer
InStride
Columbia Law School

Stephen Chu graduated from Columbia Law School in 2009, clerked for Central District Judge Gary Feess in Los Angeles, worked a few years at the Los Angeles office of Gibson Dunn, went in-house at CBRE under Stephen Ballas (Deputy GC) and Larry Midler (Global GC) and became a general counsel in 2018 at Zwift, a VC-backed startup based in Long Beach that gained unicorn status during his time there. The company grew from 125 employees to over 600. Chu was the first person in Zwift’s legal department, grew the team to 10 legal and compliance professionals in 2022 as he managed all legal, compliance, and risk matters.

Chu moved to InStride as chief legal and people officer in August 2022, a TPG-backed start-up based in Downtown Los Angeles. InStride has 160 employees total, and Chu manages a small three-person legal team and an 11-person HR department.