Ronnie Chan
Philanthropic Visionary; Chairman of Asia Society’s Hong Kong center
Ronnie Chan, who recently completed his tenure as Global Co-Chair of Asia Society’s Board of Trustees, will be honored for leading by example to develop a new ethos of philanthropy in Asia. As Chan built Hong Kong’s Hang Lung Group into a world-class real estate developer, he also spearheaded efforts to further educational causes, restore historical sites, including Beijing’s Forbidden City, nurtured a new generation of philanthropists among successful entrepreneurs, and founded the Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society. His legacy to Asia Society includes opening the stunning Hong Kong center, which received the American Institute of Architects' top design honor in 2016, and his tenure as the first Asian to lead the Board of in Asia Society’s 62-year history. A civic and business leader in Hong Kong and China, Chan is nevertheless an Angeleno at heart. He received his MBA from the University of Southern California in 1976 and has served as a Trustee since 1995. In 2014, Chan and his wife, Barbara, pledged $20 million to USC's pioneering occupational science and therapy program. The gift is the largest in the field's history, but Chan says "it does not matter how much we donate; it matters whether the donation is meaningful." In that spirit, Chan has encouraged entrepreneurs across Asia to take steps, large and small, to help others.