SONIA CHENG
CEO, ROSEWOOD HOTEL GROUP
The CEO of the Rosewood Hotel Group, Sonia Cheng runs a company that has more than 30 properties across 18 countries around the world. The jewel in the company’s crown is the Rosewood Hotels & Resorts brand, with its Hong Kong property winning second place in The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2023. It also owns the New World Hotels & Resorts and Khos brands, as well as Paris’s Hôtel de Crillon and New York’s The Carlyle. The company has nearly 30 more locations planned over the next decade, including Rosewoods in Shanghai and Milan, as well as a second Rosewood in London.
Cheng promotes environmentally friendly and socially responsible policies across the company. It has partnered with Hong Kong NGO ImpactHK to address the needs of homeless individuals; operated the Rosewood Raise relief initiative for workers during the pandemic; and launched the Rosewood Empowers and Rosewood Sustains programmes, which offer equal access through employment and employ circular hospitality principles respectively.
A member of the family behind the New World Development empire—of which she is an executive director, as well as vice-chairman of its jewellery retailer Chow Tai Fook—she joined the family business in 2008.
The sister of Adrian, daughter of Henry, and granddaughter of Yu-tung, she has five children with her husband Paulo Pong.
NICOLAS AGUZIN
CEO, HONG KONG EXCHANGES AND CLEARING
Nicolas Aguzin took over as CEO of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) in May 2021, becoming the first non-Chinese person to hold the coveted position. Since then, the organisation has gone from strength to strength under his leadership, emerging from a difficult pandemic period to post record financial results, including a 31 per cent increase in net profit for the first six months of 2023. In 2023, HKEX also opened new offices in both New York and London, where it already owns the London Metal Exchange.
The exchange’s growth has been driven by his policy of diversification, including a sharp rise in its derivatives business. He has sought to drive HKEX’s three strategic imperatives: connecting China and the world, capital with opportunities, and the present with the future. He has also strengthened ties with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Argentinian by birth, he joined JP Morgan in 1990 in Buenos Aires as a financial analyst, but moved to Hong Kong more than a decade ago. Before joining HKEX, he was a 30-year veteran of JP Morgan, taking on the role of Asia Pacific CEO from 2013 to 2020, followed by a stint as the CEO of its International Private Bank.
“As the most international city in China, and the most Chinese city outside mainland China, connectivity is at the heart of Hong Kong,” he says. “It has a unique ability to bring together culture, communities, capital and commerce. This gives Hong Kong an important role to play.”
KENNETH FOK
VICE PRESIDENT, SPORTS FEDERATION AND OLYMPIC COMMITTEE OF HONG KONG
One of the leading figures in Hong Kong sports administration, Kenneth Fok has been a member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council representing the sports sector since 2021, and is also the vice-president of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong. As well as playing a leading role in the preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympics, he was also chef de mission for the Hong Kong team at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, when the team brought home a record medal haul of eight golds, 16 silvers and 29 bronzes.
The eldest son of Timothy Fok, Hong Kong’s top sports administrator, and Loletta Chu-Lo, he is also vice-president of family company the Fok Ying Tung Group, which was established by his grandfather, legendary business and political figure Henry Fok Ying Tung. Kenneth oversees the Hong Kong and mainland China investments of the company, which has interests ranging from real estate to finance to hospitality.
His other sporting roles include vice-chairman of the Hong Kong government’s Elite Sports Committee and member of its Sports Commission. Beyond sport, he is also active in the cultural sphere, and in 2023 he was appointed chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.
He is married to Guo Jingjing, four-time Olympic diving gold medallist and Unicef and WWF ambassador; they have one son and two daughters.
ERIC FOK
CHAIRMAN, HONG KONG FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION
In 2023, Eric Fok was elected as chairman of the Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA), having become vice-chairman in 2019 and first joined the board in 2015, when he was only 32 years old, making him then its youngest member. He takes over at an important time, with Hong Kong preparing to host events including the football competition in the 2025 National Games. In 2022, meanwhile, his regional role became more significant, when he was appointed vice-president of the East Asian Football Federation, having become a member of the Asian Football Confederation executive committee in 2019.
Service in the HKFA is almost a family tradition: Eric’s grandfather, legendary businessman and political figure Henry Fok, was president of the HKFA from 1970 to 1997, and was succeeded in the position by Eric’s father, Timothy Fok, who still holds the post today.
Eric is vice-president of the family-run Fok Ying Tung Group, and oversees its business in
