HKU to present Honorary University Fellowships to four distinguished individuals

The Pro-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) Dr David Li Kwok Po will confer Honorary University Fellowships upon four distinguished individuals at a ceremony held on September 23, 2014 (Tuesday).

Honorary University Fellowships are conferred to individuals in recognition of their contributions to the University and society. The four distinguished individuals to be conferred at the Presentation Ceremony are:

1. Ms Wendy GAN Kim See
2. Ms Beatrice MOK
3. Mr Daniel YU Chung Kwong
4. Mr David YU Kai Chiu

Details of the 2014 Honorary University Fellowship Presentation Ceremony:

Date: September 23, 2014 (Tuesday)
Time: 5:30pm
Venue: Rayson Huang Theatre, University Main Campus

Biographies of the recipients:

Ms Wendy GAN Kim See

Ms Wendy Gan Kim See is an executive director of Pacific Century Premium Developments and has served as head of sales and marketing at Swire Properties Limited.

Ms Gan holds a BA (First Class Honours) from HKU, a joint EMBA from Northwestern University in the US and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and is an alumna of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She received a Diploma in Surveying from the College of Estate Management in the UK.

As a marketer, her campaigns have received top honours at various awards including the HKMA/TVB Marketing Excellence Award for three years, a MAXI Award from the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors’ top awards in property marketing. In 2011, Ms Gan received the “China 100 Outstanding Female Entrepreneurs” award endorsed by the All-China Women’s Federation.

Ms Gan has been an alumni leader at HKU for the past 17 years, and has served as, inter alia, Chairman of Convocation and Member of the Council and Court, and has personally participated in a number of significant committees and reviews. She has chaired several fund-raising committees to support the University and last year established the “Anissa Gan Scholarships for Arts Students Worldwide Exchange”.

Ms Gan is a member of the Board of Directors of HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education and an Honorary Director of the HKU Foundation. She is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors and the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong.

Ms Gan has served as President of the Rotary Club of Queensway and the Hong Kong Chapter of Soroptimist International supporting philanthropic projects in Hong Kong and Mainland China.

Ms Beatrice MOK

Ms Beatrice Mok founded and manages her own real estate portfolio and property management firm in Hong Kong. She holds a BSc in Mathematics from London University, a MSc from Stanford University, and an MBA from Harvard University.

In 2012, she founded the Community Partner Foundation, a charitable foundation that aims to support initiatives extending care to and lifting the spirits of those facing life’s difficult challenges. In its short history, her Foundation has supported some thirty community projects, including mental health programmes for youth and suicide prevention services.

There are two individuals whom Ms Mok credits as her principal sources of inspiration – her late father Dr Mok Hing Yiu, a renowned physician of internal medicine, and her late husband, Mr Danny D B Ho, both past Presidents of the HKU Alumni Association. Ms Mok has continued their spirit of benefaction, and in 2012 established the Danny D B Ho Professorship in Family Medicine to enhance medical research and primary patient care. As a believer of behavioural health for social well-being, she funded the Danny D B Ho Lecture and Workshop Series in Holistic Therapy at the HKU Centre on Behavioural Health.

To enrich the quality of residential life at St John’s College where her husband had made many lifelong friends, she also supported the renovation of the dining hall of St John’s College, now renamed Danny Ho Bradbury Hall.

Ms Mok is a member of the University’s Court and an Honorary President of the HKU Foundation.

Mr Daniel YU Chung Kwong

Mr Daniel Yu Chung Kwong is a celebrated industrialist in Hong Kong, and the Chairman and Director of Maxwell Electronics Limited.

Mr Yu realised from an early age that he had an innate talent for working with electronics, and founded Maxwell Electronics in 1966 after furthering his studies in the US, starting with manufacturing camera flash units for export. With his innovative designs and business sense, Mr Yu’s manufacturing business was propelled to unforeseen levels of success, contributing greatly to Hong Kong’s export sector, and later expanding into Mainland China. Although he is still involved with the stewardship of his company, he feels he is now in a position to devote more of his time to philanthropic work.

Over the past half-century, Mr Yu has witnessed both the ups and downs of the Hong Kong economy as well as the devastation of different pandemics ranging from the H5N1 virus to the SARS outbreak. As he admires the achievements of HKU and appreciates the devotion and hard work of its academics, Mr Yu established an Endowed Professorship in Virology in 2012, to support HKU researchers who work tirelessly in a never-ending race against emerging infectious diseases.

Mr Yu extended his support with another Endowed Professorship in Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology in 2013, believing that research and medical breakthroughs in the field will ultimately improve the lives of those who struggle with chronic rheumatoid and immunological disorders.

Mr Yu is an Honorary Patron of the HKU Foundation.

Mr David YU Kai Chiu

Mr David Yu Kai Chiu is the Chairman of the Dor Fook Co. Ltd. He is also the Managing Director of Cheong Shing Investment Loan and Exchange Co. Ltd., which was established in 1870 in Hong Kong by his great grandfather. The company businesses have included shipping, transport and property.

Mr Yu has continued his family’s distinguished philanthropic tradition, and along with the HSBC Trustee, they manage the Yu Chun Keung Charitable Trust Fund bequeathed by his father, the late Yu Chun Keung.

The family’s support of HKU dates back to 1965 when it established its first scholarship, the Yu Chun Keung Memorial Scholarship, to support students studying architecture. The trust later established the Yu Chun Keung Memorial Scholarship for Master of Research in Medicine and the Yu Chun Keung Memorial Scholarship for Medical Elective Travel in 2000.

When the Medical Faculty’s new campus on Sassoon Road opened in 2002, it was the Trust that made the Yu Chun Keung Medical Library possible. Since then, the Trust has continued to provide it with annual support, and cohort after cohort of medical students have benefitted from its world-class facilities. In 2013, the Yu Chun Keung Tam Shuk Yin Learning Centre was established in the Centennial Campus at HKU.

Mr Yu is Chairman of the Hong Kong Yue Clansman Association, was an Honorary Aide-de-camp to Governor Sir David Trench, and has served the community in person for 25 years in the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force, his last appointment being Superintendent of Police.

HKU Honorary University Fellowships website: http://www4.hku.hk/honfellows/ .

For media enquiries, please contact HKU Communications and Public Affairs Office:
Ms Melanie Wan, Senior Manager (Media), Tel: 2859 2600 / Email: melwkwan@hku.hk); or
Ms Rhea Leung, Manager (Media), Tel：2857 8555 / email：rhea.leung@hku.hk).