Governance Structure and Successive Council Chairmen (Part 2) — HKUST

This is the second part of a two-part series, tracing the succession of six Council chairmen and how their terms intersected with the handovers of successive Vice-Chancellors. The legal basis of the governance structure, its three-tier division of responsibilities, and the administrative succession of five chief executives are covered in Part 1: Governance Structure and Successive Vice-Chancellors^※.

# I. What Exactly Is the Council Chairman? — Role and Appointment

The short answer: the HKUST Council Chairman presides over the University's highest governing body. He or she is appointed by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong in the capacity of Chancellor, must be a non-employee of the University, and typically serves a three-year term, renewable.

Under the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Ordinance, the Council is the University's supreme governing and executive body, exercising all of the University's powers and duties^※ — investments, contracts, property, senior appointments, budgets and finance, and the making of regulations all fall within its remit (for the division of responsibilities across the three-tier structure, see Part 1^※). The Chairman is the person who chairs this body's meetings and serves as its public face.

The appointment follows a top-down route: the Chairman is appointed by the Chief Executive^※ in the role of Chancellor, and by convention comes from the "non-public-office, non-university-employee" figures on the Council — most often people with substantial commercial or professional experience. The HKUST Council has around 27 members and is chaired by a non-executive Chairman who is not a University employee^※. This hard rule that "the Chairman must not be an employee" follows the British tradition of university governance (Court/Council/Senate), and is designed to let the governing layer maintain independent oversight of the University's administration. With this institutional background in mind, the succession of the six chairmen below is not merely a roll-call of names but the passing of the same "chair of governance" across more than three decades.

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# II. The Succession of Council Chairmen: Six Tenures (1988–present)

Running in parallel with the administrative succession of Vice-Chancellors is the governance-level inheritance of Council chairmen — and the two threads frequently intersect at handover points. Among the six figures there is a founding elder of Hong Kong politics, titans of property and the professions, and an artificial-intelligence scientist from Microsoft; the changing backgrounds are themselves a mirror of HKUST's shifting positioning over more than thirty years.

# Chung Sze-yuen (1st Chairman, 1988–1999) — The Founder, HKUST's Most Important "Political Driver"

Dr. Chung Sze-yuen (GBM, GBS, OBE, JP) took on his role before the University even existed. He chaired the University's Planning Committee from 1986^※, and went on to serve as the founding Chairman of the Council for eleven years (1988–1999)^※ (for the full story of the founding effort, see Founding and Naming^※). After stepping down as Council Chairman, he became Chairman of the University's Court (1999–2008) and Pro-Chancellor (1999–2011)^※, remaining active in University affairs for over two decades — the founding figure who spanned both governance tracks for the longest time.

Beyond HKUST, Chung's standing rested on his record in Hong Kong public life. An industrialist by background, he founded the Chuang's Consortium in his early years. He was appointed an unofficial member of the Legislative Council in 1965, joined the Executive Council in 1972, and in 1980 became its Senior Unofficial Member — the highest position in Hong Kong politics held by a Chinese person at the time^※, earning him nicknames such as "godfather of Hong Kong politics" and "Big Sir". He was not only HKUST's champion but had earlier been involved in setting up the Hong Kong Polytechnic (now PolyU) and the City Polytechnic (now CityU), chairing the councils of both institutions — truly one of the founding fathers of Hong Kong's higher education sector. In 1997 he became the first Convenor of the Executive Council of the Hong Kong SAR and was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal the same year; he passed away in Hong Kong in November 2018 at the age of 101^※. With an elder of his stature — spanning politics, business and education — presiding over the founding, HKUST entered its early years with far more leverage in securing land, funding and policy room than an ordinary new university.

# Vincent Lo (2nd Chairman, 1999–2002)

Dr. Vincent Lo (GBS) succeeded Chung Sze-yuen as Council Chairman in April 1999^※, serving a three-year term. A prominent Hong Kong property developer and philanthropist, he went on to become a member of the University's Court from 2002^※. His term overlapped heavily with the handover from Chia-Wei Woo to Paul Chu (2001), and he witnessed the University's transition from its founding sprint to a period of consolidation.

Lo is the founder and chairman of the Shui On Group, established in 1971^※, best known in mainland China for urban-renewal projects such as Shanghai's Xintiandi. He had been investing in Shanghai since the 1980s and was named an honorary citizen of Shanghai in 1999^※. His brief three years at the helm of the HKUST Council — a businessman with a "red capitalist" profile active in both Shanghai and Hong Kong — coincided with the University's shift from its founding push into routine operations.

# John Chan Cho-chak (3rd Chairman, 2002–2008)

Mr. John Chan Cho-chak (GBS, JP) was appointed by the Chief Executive as the third Council Chairman on 1 April 2002^※, serving six years. He had been Managing Director of the Kowloon Motor Bus Company and also sat as a non-executive director of Hang Seng Bank and Guangdong Investment. After stepping down in 2008, he became Chairman of the Court and, in March 2023, was further appointed Pro-Chancellor^※ — after Chung Sze-yuen, the member who has held the most positions and served the longest in HKUST's governance structure.

Unlike his two predecessors with their business backgrounds, Chan came from the colonial Hong Kong civil service. He studied at the University of Hong Kong from 1961 to 1964, graduating with a BA in English literature, and went on to a civil-service career of roughly twenty-seven years, rising to directorate posts including Secretary for the Treasury and Secretary for Education and Manpower^※. In 1993 he left the government for personal reasons and became chairman of Kowloon Motor Bus^※; he also remained active in public office, serving as chairman of the Hong Kong Jockey Club from 2006 to 2010^※. A veteran administrator who knew government machinery and public finance inside out, Chan brought a steadying administrative and compliance-minded hand to the University's governance during this period.

# Marvin Cheung Kin-tung (4th Chairman, 2008–2014, died in office)

Mr. Marvin Cheung Kin-tung (GBS, JP, 1947–2014) took office as the fourth Council Chairman in April 2008^※ and was expected to serve until 2015, but passed away in office on 13 September 2014^※ — the only Council Chairman to die during his term. His six years chairing the Council coincided with the first term of Tony F. Chan as Vice-Chancellor (2009–2014).

Cheung was a business leader of accounting pedigree. He became the youngest partner in KPMG Hong Kong at 27 in 1974, and in 1996 was appointed chairman of KPMG China and Hong Kong, serving until his retirement in 2003^※, with a spell as a member of the Executive Council along the way. In 2006 he was diagnosed with acute leukaemia; after treatment in the United States he returned to public duties, and ultimately died of the illness in September 2014 at 66^※. The Chief Executive expressed deep sorrow at his passing^※. After Cheung's death, the Council's Deputy Chairman, Martin Tang, served as acting chairman until Andrew Liao took over in 2015 — a rare "chairman vacuum" in HKUST's governance history in which the acting mechanism proved its worth as a bridge.

# Andrew Liao Cheung-Sing (5th Chairman, 2015–2023)

Mr. Andrew Liao Cheung-Sing (GBM, GBS, SC, JP) was appointed by the Chief Executive as the fifth Council Chairman on 6 March 2015^※, serving eight years until March 2023^※. A senior counsel, he has long been active on Hong Kong's Executive Council and numerous public committees. Liao's tenure spanned two Vice-Chancellor handovers — to Wei Shyy (4th Vice-Chancellor, 2018) and to Nancy Ip (5th Vice-Chancellor, 2022) — and saw the establishment of HKUST (Guangzhou). After stepping down in March 2023 he became Chairman of the Court^※.

Liao is a senior figure in Hong Kong's legal profession. He was among the first graduates of the University of Hong Kong's law school (1972), went on to study intellectual property at the University of London, practised as a senior counsel, and was appointed a deputy judge of the High Court and a special judge of the Court of First Instance^※. He twice served on the Executive Council (2002–2009 and 2012–2017), was a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal in 2017^※. Having presided over two Vice-Chancellor selections during his eight-year term and witnessed the formation of the "one university, two campuses" structure, Liao is the longest-serving chairman of the six.

# Harry Shum Heung-Yeung (6th Chairman, 2023–present)

Prof. Harry Shum Heung-Yeung was appointed by the Chief Executive as the sixth Council Chairman on 6 March 2023, for a three-year term^※; in January 2026 his reappointment was announced, extending the term by a further three years from 6 March 2026^※, bringing his total tenure to 2029. He previously served as Executive Vice President of Microsoft's Artificial Intelligence and Research Group, overseeing Bing and Microsoft Research^※, and has over twenty years of ties with HKUST: he has been an adjunct professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering since 2000 and was conferred the title of IAS Professor-at-Large^※. On his reappointment he said: 「在科大迎来三十五周年这个历史时刻，我深感荣幸再次获委任为校董会主席。」 ("As HKUST marks its 35th anniversary at this historic moment, I am deeply honoured to be reappointed Chairman of the Council.")

Shum is the most "tech" of the six chairmen. He earned his undergraduate degree from Southeast University, a master's in electronic engineering from the University of Hong Kong, and in 1996 a PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University under Turing Award laureate Raj Reddy^※. He co-founded Microsoft Research Asia and served as its director, leading teams that developed Bing and the AI assistant Xiaoice^※; after leaving Microsoft, he founded the International Digital Economy Academy (IDEA) in Shenzhen in 2020 and serves as its chairman, and from March 2026 he concurrently chairs the board of the Hong Kong AI Research and Development Institute^※. He is also a foreign member of the US National Academy of Engineering and a foreign fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Having an AI scientist at the helm of governance aligns neatly with Nancy Ip's (5th Vice-Chancellor) push for AI and deep-tech research and the University's strategic drive to establish a medical school.

# Council Chairmen at a Glance

Viewed side by side, the six chairmen reveal a quiet shift in backgrounds: from a political elder of the founding era (Chung Sze-yuen), to a property developer and a seasoned civil servant in the years of consolidation (Lo, Chan), to accounting and legal luminaries in the expansion phase (Cheung of KPMG; Liao, senior counsel), and now to an AI scientist (Shum). This trajectory — "politics and business, then the professions, then technology" — mirrors in some measure HKUST's own evolution from "fighting for a foothold" to "steady operations" to "betting on deep tech". The terms also vary widely: Chung and Liao led the way with eleven and eight years respectively, while Lo and Shum each served single terms of around three years — a reminder that whether a chairman is reappointed often owes more to the circumstances of the moment than to any institutional rule.

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# III. Two Mechanisms for Continuity: Acting Succession and "Retiring Without Leaving"

That the six-chairman relay has rarely broken stride rests on two parallel institutional designs.

First, the acting mechanism absorbs sudden vacancies. When Marvin Cheung died in office in 2014 — the only unplanned departure of a Council Chairman in HKUST's history — Deputy Chairman Martin Tang immediately took over as acting chairman, bridging the gap until Andrew Liao formally took office in 2015. The standing post of Deputy Chairman exists precisely as a buffer for such contingencies.

Second, "retiring without leaving" preserves experience. The more notable pattern is a recurring path of transfer: several chairmen, on stepping down from the Council, did not leave the University but moved into the Court system — or even rose to the Pro-Chancellorship. The Court is the University's supreme advisory body, whose main functions are to promote the University's interests and raise funds^※ (its position within the "three bodies" division is explained in Part 1^※); the Pro-Chancellor is the honorary senior office assisting the Chancellor (the Chief Executive).

The three men in turn followed this path, ensuring that HKUST's governance layer has always retained a core of veterans familiar with the University's history and operations. The acting mechanism guards against rupture; the transfer mechanism preserves experience. Together, they are the institutional reason for the unusually high continuity of HKUST's governance.

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# IV. Where the Two Threads Intersect

This table reveals a pattern: in HKUST's history, the Vice-Chancellor and the Council Chairman have rarely changed at the same time — most handovers are staggered, so the governance layer always keeps at least one thread of continuity. The sole exception was 2008–2009 (Paul Chu → Tony F. Chan; John Chan → Marvin Cheung), when both lines changed in the same year, precisely at the onset of HKUST's rise in international rankings. Whether that simultaneous renewal was coincidence or reflected a deliberate intention to refresh governance and administration in tandem at a key development juncture is an open question.

Across the six chairmen, one further pattern stands out: the transfer route from "Council Chairman" to "Court Chairman / Pro-Chancellor". After Chung Sze-yuen, John Chan and Andrew Liao each left the Council chairmanship, all three moved into the Court system to continue serving the University. This path of "retiring without leaving" goes some way towards explaining why HKUST's governance layer has maintained such strong continuity of experience through repeated personnel changes.

All terms, titles and personnel details in this article are as stated in the cited sources; in case of discrepancy, the latest official announcement prevails. For the administrative succession of the successive Vice-Chancellors, see Part 1: Governance Structure and Successive Vice-Chancellors^※.

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# Further Reading

• Governance Structure and Successive Vice-Chancellors (Part 1)^※ — the legal basis of the "three bodies, one line" and the administrative succession of five Vice-Chancellors; the companion piece to this article.
• Founding and Naming^※ — the pre-history of the University, from Chung Sze-yuen's Planning Committee to the University's birth.
• Timeline of University History (1986–2026)^※ — places the handovers of chairmen and Vice-Chancellors on HKUST's developmental timeline.
• Facts and Figures Year by Year^※ — a quantitative overview of HKUST's size, rankings and institutional fundamentals.

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