ACC Hong Kong held its annual general meeting on 28 May, and has announced that the board elected Sandra Wu as its new president. Wu will replace outgoing president Lin Shi, who will remain on the board.
“First and foremost, on behalf of the board and the members of ACC Hong Kong, I would like to thank Lin Shi, the outgoing president, for being an integral part of the important advances the Hong Kong chapter has made as part of the strategic alliance with ACC Global,” Wu told Asia Business Law Journal.
“We have seen enormous growth in our membership base during Lin’s tenure as president. She has graciously agreed to stay on another year as director of the executive committee, and I plan on engaging her many talents in ACC activities, as well as serving as my mentor during the transition period.
“During my presidency, I wish to continue expanding ACC Hong Kong’s professional network by collaborating with local associations, chambers and societies through co-hosted events and seminars.
“I also hope to work more closely with our international chapters in Singapore, Australia and China to continue to deliver high-quality cross-border conferences that equip the new generation of in-house counsel with the essential knowledge and insights to navigate an increasingly complex business environment.
Wu is the founding partner of Origin X Capital Limited, a Hong Kong-based venture capital firm and service provider investing in fintech and blockchain startups, and so brings a strong tech knowledge to the position.
“I am preparing to attend the 2019 Asia Blockchain Summit in Taipei, where legal and financial professionals as well as technology experts from leading industry startups, investment firms, financial service giants, global brands and policy makers will gather to discuss the disruptive yet transformative impact blockchain technology has across various industries,” she said.
“The thematic concerns of this conference served as a reminder that as an association we need to continue to evolve if we are to serve the dynamically changing needs of our members, especially in this digital day and age.”
Outgoing president Lin Shi told Asia Business Law Journal she was “very excited about Sandy’s presidency. She has so many new ideas.
“Sandy understands the organization and has good relationships with ACC senior management in the Asia-Pacific and in the US, and this will be very important to further integration of our organizations. One of her aims as president it to increase engagement with our members.
“She has a lot of great ideas and is in touch with innovative tech through her work.”
Shi said ACC HK was evolving and was focused on the changing wants and needs of its membership, something the recent regional conference in Hong Kong had helped to address.
She said Wu had further revamped the association’s board committees with a view to more membership participation on the committees.
In terms of her own tenure of five years, Shi said seeing the membership grow showed her that the association was providing resources that the members wanted, which was satisfying. ACC HK’s growth, despite Hong Kong Law Society setting up its own in-house law committee, showed there was a lot of demand in the market, she said.
“In terms of our alliance with the ACC, our membership has always been very international, many work for multinational organizations with very regional roles, not just Hong Kong-centric,” she said. “So, we needed to provide more regional and global resources, and the alliance with the ACC made sense.”
Shi said the management skills she attained as president had been personally rewarding and experience that she applied in her own workplace.
ACC HK is also expanding its networking capabilities and forming a partnership committee to help capitalize on these opportunities. “Constituents of the Chambers of commerce, for example, have overlapping interests. Amcham has a legal subcommittee, and we can pool our resources to host bigger events,” Shi said.
The ACC HK board also appointed Eddie Bao, Erika Evasdottir and Philip Meyer as directors, and appointed Andrew Levy and Vincent Ng to fill casual vacancies arising from the resignations of Gordon Chan and Beverly Chau.
Eddie Bao was appointed treasurer and Sharyn Chang remains as vice president. The Board also elected Davyd Wong as general secretary. ACC HK also thanked Gordon Chan, Beverly Chau, Sun Kim and Ben Yip for their service to the association.
