Mr Jack So Chak Kwong, GBS, OBE, JP
Chairman
Hong Kong Trade Development Council

Mr Jack So Chak Kwong assumed the Chairmanship of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) on 1 October 2007. In this capacity, he presides over a 19-member Council comprising heads of Hong Kong's major commerce and industry organisations and senior government officials. The Council plans and supervises a global operation through an office network covering more than 40 key business centres, to promote Hong Kong’s trade and business with economies around the world.

Mr So began his career with the Hong Kong Government and joined the private sector in 1978, having held various senior positions in stockbroking, banking and property development. He served as Executive Director of the HKTDC from 1985 to 1992. He became Chairman and Chief Executive of the MTR Corporation in 1995. He was Deputy Chairman and Group Managing Director of PCCW from 2003 to 2007.

Mr So is a non-executive Director of AIA Group Ltd and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, and is also a senior advisor to Credit Suisse, Greater China. He was an independent Director of HSBC from 2000 to 2007.

In October 2013, Mr So was appointed Chairman of the newly established Consultative Committee on Economic and Trade Co-operation between Hong Kong and the Mainland. In January of the same year, he was appointed a non-official member of the Economic Development Commission, and Convenor of its Working Group on Convention and Exhibition Industries and Tourism.

Mr So is the Vice-Chairman of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Society. He also served as Chairman of the Hong Kong Film Development Council from April 2007 to March 2013.

Mr So has been a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference since 2008 and is an International Business Advisor to the Mayor of Beijing. He has been appointed Honorary Consultant to the Mayor of San Francisco in May 2013.

A Justice of the Peace, Mr So was awarded the Golden Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong SAR Government in 2011. In the same year, he received an Honorary Doctorate in Social Science from the University of Hong Kong.