Where I build

At the intersection of AI, education technology, and global talent — bridging the Canadian, American, and Chinese innovation ecosystems.

I am a Vancouver-based AI builder, product strategist, and community organizer. Over the past decade I have co-founded and led HackHub, a venture-backed technology company across Canada and China, shipped developer tools at Amazon used by thousands of Alexa developers worldwide, and taught more than three thousand hours of engineering and AI curriculum to people who now work at Amazon, Microsoft, Tencent, and iFlytek.

The through-line is the same: build things that help talented people find their footing across borders. Today that means running HackHub, leading a national nonprofit focused on AI literacy, advising universities on entrepreneurship, and starting an International MBA at UBC.

Work

HackHub · Co-Founder & CEO

Current · Vancouver

Amazon · Software Development Engineer II

Alexa · Vancouver, Seattle, Santa Monica

What HackHub builds

Four product lines, one thesis: talent moves further when the infrastructure around it is built well.

HackHub Platform

Hackathon management SaaS

A global platform for running hackathons end to end. Hosted 200+ events across North America and Asia and became the data foundation for ProMatch.ai.

EduHacks

International hackathon series

Vancouver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Toronto, Beijing, and Nanjing. 50,000+ participants and 200+ university and company partners including Microsoft, Adobe, SFU, and UBC. Recognized by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, BC Premier John Horgan, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, UBC President Santa Ono, and SFU President Andrew Petter.

AI OPC Bootcamp

Engineering and AI education

Designed and launched as a core revenue stream with an instructor team of 30+ recruited from top technology companies. Trained 500+ engineers, PMs, and designers now at Amazon, Microsoft, Tencent, and iFlytek. Its generative AI curriculum was adopted by Siemens CNC Nanjing as internal corporate training for three consecutive years.

ProMatch.ai

LLM-powered recruiting

A proprietary talent model trained on HackHub data, paired with an LLM recruitment agent that cut average hiring time from one month to under one week.

Community & leadership

Canada Young Golfer Association · Founder & President

Current

A nonprofit with 1,000+ members across Vancouver, Toronto, Seattle, and Los Angeles. Annual tournaments raise funds for the Autism Society of BC, Fraser Health Foundation, and BC Children's Hospital.

c14z Entrepreneurs Club · North America Ambassador

Current

Connecting Chinese entrepreneurs and institutions to the North American innovation ecosystem. Success stories include Insta360, PQI, and the North International University Alliance.

Jiangsu Overseas Federation Society, Canada · Vice President

Current

Bridging Canadian and Chinese business communities; recognized for cross-border culture and technology contributions.

Also

  • Entrepreneurship Advisor, Foshan University and Shanghai Lida University
  • Innovation Club Mentor, Siemens
  • Art Camp Lead, Burning Man Project
  • Founder, Snowly, a ski and snowboard community of 2,000+ members
  • Coding mentor at nwHacks, Lumohacks, HTML500, and BC Tech Summit

Recognition

  • Forbes Under 30 Scholar
  • Formal recognition for EduHacks from the Prime Minister of Canada, the Premier of British Columbia, and the Mayor of Vancouver
  • Outstanding Young Entrepreneur, CCSA Star Award, Canadian Community Service Association
  • Recognition for Support to Labour Market Integration of Newcomers, Immigrant Employment Council of BC
  • Hack.summit Global Top 100
  • nwHacks Best Use of iOS/OSX · Thinkific Liquid Contest, 1st Place
  • Dean's Honour Roll, Simon Fraser University · Lighthouse Labs Prize

Education & credentials

University of British Columbia

International MBA (IMBA), Sauder School of Business

Cornell University

Applied Machine Learning and AI, Cornell Certificate Program

Simon Fraser University

B.Sc. Interactive Arts and Technology, Burnaby, BC

Programs & certifications

  • Advanced Architecting on AWS
  • Lighthouse Labs Web Development Diploma
  • New Ventures BC Acceleration Program
  • Beta University Pre-accelerator, Silicon Valley
  • PHBS Ventures & Startup Bootcamp, Shenzhen

In brief

Who
Yan Hong, AI builder, founder, and community organizer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Roles
Co-Founder and CEO of HackHub; President of the Canadian AI Literacy and Innovation Foundation; International MBA candidate at UBC Sauder; formerly Software Development Engineer II at Amazon Alexa.
Focus
AI products, education technology, and talent programs that connect the Canadian, American, and Chinese innovation ecosystems.
Recognition
Forbes Under 30 Scholar; recognized by the Prime Minister of Canada, the Premier of British Columbia, and the Mayor of Vancouver for EduHacks.
Contact
hi@yanh.ca · LinkedIn