A Private Off-the-record Conversation with Regina Ip

Speaker Series: Regina Ip,
Member, the Executive Council of the HKSAR; Legislative Councilor, Hong Kong Island; Chairperson, New People’s Party; Chairperson, Savantas Policy Institute;
Co-Chair, Maritime Silk Road Society

Breakfast, Friday, 4 December 2015, 08:15-10:00 am, China Club

Hong Kong Core Values and the City’s Challenges, Opportunities, & Future Role

Event Details:
The Stanford GSB Chapter of Hong Kong is pleased to invite you to a private off-the-record breakfast event with Regina Ip, one of Hong Kong’s foremost and most experienced political leaders and often mentioned as a future Chief Executive for the SAR. Never one to shy away from a challenge or a controversy, Regina is consistently ranked one of Hong Kong’s most popular legislators and her meeting with the Chapter comes at a particularly timely moment in Hong Kong’s history.

Regina’s career has spanned two forms of government and three chief executives. “2+3” was also a theme in her famous spearheading of the implementation of Article 23, which she has publicly referred to as “the most traumatic experience and important lesson in my life.”

In her first post-return to Hong Kong political campaign in 2007, she lost by a mere 7% to Anson Chan in a by-election only to see her vote tally increase by almost 50% to secure the same seat one year later – the 4th highest vote total of any Hong Kong candidate. Regina’s legislative track record has included tackling the issues of maid’s levies, vicitims of the Lehman collapse, financial sector reform, promotion of technological innovation, right of abode issues and the like.

Your Chapter is delighted that Regina will be able to share her thoughts on Hong Kong’s challenges and opportunities. We look forward to welcoming you to this very special off-the-record event.

Speaker’s Bio: The Honourable Mrs. Regina IP Lau Suk-Yee

Regina Ip is a member of the Hong Kong Government Executive Counsel, Chairman of the New People’s Party, a Legco Member (for Hong Kong Island) and founder of the Savantas Policy Institute.  Often cited as a future Chief Executive of Hong Kong, her path has been one of deep roots both in Hong Kong and with Stanford.

Educated first in Hong Kong (St. Stephen’s Girls and then HKU with First Clas Honors), she began her career as an English teacher at New Method College which she quickly followed with a Masters degree from the University of Glasgow.  Her Government career began in 1975, eventually leading to head of the Industry Department, conducting trade negotiations on behalf of Hong Kong with the EU, the WTO and APEC and was followed initially by her 1996 appointment as Director of Immigration and appointment in 1996 as HK’s first ever female Secretary for Security. In these roles, she led the HKSAR passport’s visa-free acceptance across the globe, as well as taking the lead, in HK’s reunification with China, on such critical issues as the right of abode, the public order ordinance and the Cheung Chi Keung kidnapping cases. Regina was awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star in 2002

In 2006 she left Government Service to return to Stanford, initially as a visiting scholar and then, as a successful candidate for the Master’s Programme in East Asian Studies (complementing her earlier Sloan Program Master’s from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business), prior to returning to Hong Kong and re-entering political life, founding the Savantas Policy Institute in 2006 and the New People’s Party in 2011.