Ping Fu was born in China and grew up during the Cultural Revolution. In 1981, she was locked by the Chinese government in solitary confinement after her short stint as a journalist. She was then deported to the United States after days of isolation.

In US, Ping switched into the field of computer science and completed her doctorate in this field. She demonstrated a gift for software applications and helped design the software animation for the movie Terminator 2.

In 1997, she co-founded a company, Raindrop Geomagic, from borrowings. By the end of 2000, the money she invested in the company was gone when the tech bubble had burst.

Ping later convinced her investors and helped jump-start the company. It became profitable in 2003 and increased revenue by more than 2,000 percent over the last five years, doubled its number of employees, and grew internationally by acquiring a European technology company and setting up subsidiaries in Germany and Asia.

Geomagic is now an undisputed leader in the field of digital shape sampling and processing (DSSP), a process of scanning an object with optical beams to render a complete 3-D model. More than 3,000 users worldwide turn to Geomagic to provide the technology for customizing products.

Ping Fu received the 2003 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in Information Technology. She was named one of 2004 Women Extraordinaire by Business Leader magazine and picked as Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc., the handbook of the American Enterpreneur, in December 2005. (More story about Ping Fu at Inc.com)

"Ms. Fu exhibits all of the attributes that would make any person extraordinary," says Dan Davies, editor and publisher of Business Leader. "She's overcome hurdles to become both a professional and personal success, standing as an example for employees, peers and women across the region."