Gerald Yao

Co-Founder and Director FiscalNote

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Gerald Yao is a co-founder of FiscalNote, the Washington, D.C. company that sells software, data and analysis on legislation and regulation, and he has sat on its board since it was founded in 2013. For more than a decade he was also one of its executives, serving as Chief Strategy Officer from 2014 until spring 2025 and, from 2022, as Global Head of ESG. He no longer holds an executive title; FiscalNote’s 2026 proxy statement lists him as a Class II director and co-founder, with a term running to the 2027 annual meeting. Together with Executive Chair Tim Hwang he holds all of the company’s high-vote Class B stock.

Career Highlights

• Co-founded FiscalNote and has served as a director since its founding in 2013.
• Chief Strategy Officer from 2014 to spring 2025, helping to incubate functions across the organization and overseeing corporate strategy and new market growth in APAC and on ESG matters.
• Global Head of ESG from June 2022, per FiscalNote’s investor-relations biography.
• Holds 6.79% of FiscalNote’s total voting power, per the 2026 proxy statement, as one of the two Class B shareholders.
• Earlier served as director of finance for the National Youth Association from 2010 to 2013.

Professional Journey

FiscalNote’s filings describe Yao as having spent a decade leading operations in the non-profit, public schools and start-up sectors before the company was founded. The one role they name is director of finance for the National Youth Association, from 2010 to 2013. He studied finance and sociology at Emory University.

In 2013 he co-founded FiscalNote with Tim Hwang, who became chair and, until the end of 2024, chief executive. The company’s premise was that legislation and regulation are data that software can collect, organize and analyze for the businesses and organizations they affect. Yao joined the board at the start and in 2014 became Chief Strategy Officer. The company credits him with helping to incubate many of its internal functions and with leading corporate strategy, expansion into new markets in the Asia-Pacific region, and its ESG work. In June 2022 he also took the title Global Head of ESG. That was the year FiscalNote went public, through its combination with the SPAC Duddell Street Acquisition Corp., completed in July 2022.

His executive tenure ended in spring 2025. The proxy statements say he was Chief Strategy Officer until April 2025, and the company’s investor-relations page says March. FiscalNote’s 2026 proxy lists him only as a Class II director and co-founder, and his most recent Form 4 reports him as a director, not an officer. Through a revocable trust he still holds Class B shares carrying 25 votes each. Those gave him 7.5% of the company’s voting power at the end of 2025, according to the annual report, and 6.79% in the 2026 proxy.

He remains on the board through a difficult period for the company. FiscalNote’s shares were suspended from the New York Stock Exchange in March 2026 and now trade over the counter. It has reached forbearance agreements with subordinated creditors, its fiscal 2025 annual report raised substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern, and in June 2026 director Key Compton became chief executive. In August 2026 the company sold its FrontierView business to Oxford Economics.

Education

Emory University

Studied finance and sociology. FiscalNote’s filings do not state a degree.