Ronnie Chan Eminent leader in philanthropy

陳啟宗

Chair

Hang Lung Properties Limited

Mr. Ronnie C. Chan is the Chair of Hang Lung Group Limited and its subsidiary Hang Lung Properties Limited, both publicly listed in Hong Kong, with the latter being a constituent stock of the Hang Seng Index and the Dow Jones Sustainability Asia Pacific Index. Founded in Hong Kong in 1960, Hang Lung expanded into mainland China in 1992, developing, owning, and managing world-class commercial complexes in key cities like Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Wuxi, Jinan, Dalian, Kunming, Wuhan, and Hangzhou.

In Hong Kong and mainland China, Mr. Chan is Chairman of the Executive Committee of The Better Hong Kong Foundation, Convener of the Hong Kong Development Forum, a Director of The Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong, and a Governing Board member of the China-United States Exchange Foundation and Our Hong Kong Foundation. He founded and chairs the China Heritage Fund, which preserves and conserves heritage architecture of historical significance in China, and is a co-founding Director of The Forbidden City Cultural Heritage Conservation Foundation in Beijing. He is Co-Founder and Chairman of the Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society, and Founding Chairman Emeritus of the Asia Business Council. He is a former government-appointed Non-Executive Director of the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong, and had previously served as Chairman of the Hong Kong-United States Business Council, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the One Country Two Systems Research Institute, and Vice President and Advisor of the China Development Research Foundation in Beijing.

Internationally, Mr. Chan is Chair Emeritus of the Asia Society and Chairman of its Hong Kong Center, a founding Trustee of the African-Asian Society and sits on the Board of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Committee on United States-China Relations, and the Committee of 100. Mr. Chan is a former director of Standard Chartered, Enron, and Motorola. He is a former member of the governing boards of the World Economic Forum, the East-West Center, the Pacific Council on International Policy, Eisenhower Fellowships, and The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation. He is also a former member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta.

Mr. Chan is active in education. He is an Honorary Court Member and a former Council Member of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a Life Trustee of the University of Southern California, a Governing Board member of the Indian School of Business, and serves on the President’s Council on International Activities at Yale University. He is an Advisor on Strategic Development to Tsinghua University, a Co-Chairman of the Hang Lung Center for Real Estate at Tsinghua University, and a Vice Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the School of Management at Fudan University. Mr. Chan previously served as a Trustee of China Foreign Affairs University, a Co-Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Center for Real Estate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a member of the Advisory Council of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, the International Advisory Committee of the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College, and the International Advisory Committee of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at Waseda University. He was a Brittingham Visiting Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In 1986, Mr. Chan co-founded Morningside, a diversified investment group engaged in private equity and venture capital investments in North America, Asia, and Europe. It was among the earliest private equity investors in Hong Kong and mainland China. Morningside is committed to philanthropy and preservation. Through the Morningside Foundation, it has made major gifts, including the establishment of the Morningside College at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, endowments to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, named after Mr. Chan’s late father, and the UMass Chan Medical School, and the creation of the MIT Morningside Academy for Design. Mr. Chan and his wife made the first named gift in the field of occupational science and endowed the Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Southern California, named in honor of Mr. Chan’s mother. Other notable philanthropic programs and projects initiated or supported by Mr. Chan include: the restoration of Jianfu Palace Garden and the Hall of Rectitude within the Forbidden City in Beijing; nurturing and enriching young minds through Hang Lung Mathematics Awards, Morningside Music Bridge, and Morningside Cultural China Scholars Program at Zhejiang University; Morningside Center of Mathematics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences; International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians (ICCM) where the Morningside Medals of Mathematics were awarded; endowed professorships at Harvard University, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and The University of Hong Kong; and various scholarships and programs in Hong Kong and mainland China that have supported over 10,000 students.

Mr. Chan is a frequent speaker at international conferences, and has published numerous articles in Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, Fortune, Asian Wall Street Journal, Far Eastern Economic Review, and Japan Times. Mr. Chan holds a BSc and an MSc from the California State University, Los Angeles, and an MBA from the University of Southern California, and was conferred honorary doctorate degrees by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Tel Aviv University. Mr. Chan has received many awards for his contributions to society, including: Grand Bauhinia Medal (HKSAR Government), the inaugural “Friends of Diplomacy” Award (Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC in the HKSAR), Builder of Bridges Award (Asia Society), The “Passing the Torch – Outstanding Figures of Chinese Cultural Heritage Protection” Award (China Foundation For Cultural Heritage Conservation), Asa V. Call Alumni Achievement Award (University of Southern California), Alumnus of the Year Award (California State University, Los Angeles), US-Asia International Public Service and Philanthropy Award (US-Asia Institute), Philanthropy Excellence Award (Committee of 100), Chern Prize (ICCM) for exceptional public service in support of mathematics, Lifetime Achievement Award for Leadership (Hong Kong Association of New York), Rockefeller Award for Distinguished Philanthropic Service (International House), Dwight D. Eisenhower Global Leadership Award (Business Council for International Understanding).

Mr. Chan is 72 years of age and resides in Hong Kong with his wife.