The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) today (Friday) conferred Honorary Fellowships on three distinguished leaders in recognition of their contributions.
The three recipients of the 2010 Honorary Fellowships are: Dr Jack Lau, Dr Li Ning, and Mr James E Thompson.
HKUST Pro-Chancellor Dr the Honorable Sir Sze-Yuen Chung, Council Vice-Chairman Dr Michael Mak, and President Tony F Chan officiated at the conferment ceremony. The three recipients' brief biographies are set out below:
Dr Jack Lau, Chairman and CEO of Perception Digital, is HKUST's first PhD graduate and first successfully incubated entrepreneur. After completing his post-doctoral research at Stanford University, he returned to HKUST as an assistant lecturer at the then Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department and was the Director of the University's Consumer Media Laboratory. Dr Jack Lau is the co-founder of Perception Digital, one of the first companies accepted by the University's Entrepreneurship Program. Started in 1999, the Company has grown into the University's largest spin-off company with a staff of over 250, many of whom HKUST graduates. In December 2009, Perception Digital became the first HKUST-associated start-up companies listed on Hong Kong's Growth Enterprise Market.
Dr Li Ning, Chairman and CEO of Li Ning Company Limited, won the reputation as the "Prince of Gymnastics" when he swept 6 gold medals at the World Gymnastics Championships in 1982. In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, he won three gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal for the Chinese gymnastics team. He retired from competition in 1989. The following year, he set up the Li Ning Sports Goods Company, which has today become a world's fourth largest sports enterprise, with over 7,200 retail outlets across China with a RMB 8 billion annual turnover. Dr Li Ning co-founded the Chinese Athletes Educational Foundation to provide continuing educational and training programs for serving and former Chinese athletes and coaches to enable them to pursue alternative careers upon retirement from sports. Meanwhile, the Li Ning Foundation has provided generous and timely relief for victims of China's disasters, including the Sichuan Earthquake in 2008.
Mr James E Thompson, or Jim Thompson as he is more popularly known, is founding Chairman of Crown Worldwide Group. He came to Hong Kong in 1970, bringing with him a moving company he set up five years ago in Japan. Today, the enterprise has grown into the world's largest privately-held international moving company, with over 4,000 employees spread out in 53 countries, serving over 10,000 companies, including blue-chip and household names. In helping people to relocate, his company also intelligently offers them practical ways to adapt to their new life. In 2003, after negotiating with 22 government departments, Crown Worldwide Group signed a lease to turn former British war-time bunkers in Hong kong into Crown Wine Cellars, winning the UNESCO Award of Merit.
Dr Li Ning Shares International Brand Building Experience
After the presentation ceremony, Dr Li Ning shared with the HKUST community how he built the "Li Ning" international brand for his company over the past 20 years, and how to ride on opportunities and meet challenges. At the sharing session, moderated by Prof Jiewen Hong of HKUST's Marketing Department, about 400 staff and students raised numerous questions, to which Dr Li answered with both insight and humor.
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Ross Lai
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Email: rosslai@ust.hk
