Laura May-Lung

Mrs Cha is a member of the Executive Council of the Government of Hong Kong, Chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd and a member of the Financial Leaders Forum.

Mrs Cha is an Independent Non-Executive Director of HSBC Holdings plc, and the Non-Executive Chairman of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the Asia Pacific subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc. She is a Non-Executive Director of Unilever plc; a Senior International Advisor of Foundation Assets Management Sweden AB; and a member of Sotheby’s International Advisory Board. In addition, Mrs Cha is also Vice Chairman of the International Advisory Council of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and a Director of the World Federation of Exchanges.

Mrs Cha became the first, and to-date, the only person outside Mainland China to join the Central Government of the People’s Republic of China at the vice ministerial rank when she was appointed as Vice Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission in January 2001. She served in that position until September 2004. Mrs Cha worked for the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong from 1991 to 2000, becoming its Deputy Chairman in 1998.

Mrs Cha earned her BA degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a JD degree from the Santa Clara University in California. She practiced law in San Francisco and Hong Kong from 1983 to 1991. She was also a former member of the Committee of 100 in the US. She received an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Law from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2002.

She was awarded a Silver Bauhinia Star in 2001, a Gold Bauhinia Star in 2009 and the Grand Bauhinia Medal in 2017 by the Hong Kong Government for her public service.