George Lam

Chairman
UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Sustainable Business Network

A champion for digital transformation, tech entrepreneurship, sustainable development, green transformation, responsible banking, responsible investing and international cooperation, Dr. Lam is Chair of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) Sustainable Business Network (ESBN) and the ESBN Task Force on Sustainable and Inclusive Finance. He has held a number of senior positions in banking and finance and the innovation and technology sector in Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific region and is the immediate past Chairman of Cyberport, Hong Kong's digital technology flagship and FinTech hub.

Dr. Lam has extensive international experience in general management, strategy consulting, corporate governance, direct investment, investment banking and asset management. He started his career in Canada at Bell-Northern Research (the research and development arm of Nortel) and Bell Canada, and later he returned to Hong Kong to serve as a General Manager of Hongkong Telecom, Vice President and Managing Partner - Greater China of the international management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, Executive Director of Singapore Technologies Telemedia (a member of Temasek Holdings), Vice Chairman and COO of Investment Banking Division of BOC International Holdings (the international investment banking arm of the Bank of China group), President & CEO and Vice Chairman of the Board of Chia Tai Enterprises International Limited (now C.P. Lotus Corporation) of multinational conglomerate CP Group, Senior Executive Vice President of CP Group, Chairman - Hong Kong and ASEAN Region and Senior Adviser – Asia, of Macquarie Capital, Non-Executive Chairman – Greater China and ASEAN Region and Chief Advisor – Asia, of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, and Senior Advisor, Macquarie Group Asia.

From the private sector but also actively participating in public service and international cooperation, Dr. Lam is a member of the Chief Executive's Policy Unit Expert Group, the Governance Committee of the Hong Kong Growth Portfolio and the Development Bureau Common Spatial Data Advisory Committee of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, and Convenor of the Panel of Advisors on Building Management Disputes of the HKSAR Government Home Affairs Department. He is also a Hong Kong accounting advisory expert of the PRC Ministry of Finance, a member of the Consultative Committee on Guangdong-Hong Kong Co-operation (Guangzhou Nansha), a member of the Belt and Road and Greater Bay Area Committee of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, the Board of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, the Hong Kong Investor Relations Association Advisory Board and the Court of the City University of Hong Kong, President of Hong Kong ASEAN Economic Cooperation Foundation, Chairman of the Innovation and Technology Committee of the Belt and Road General Chamber of Commerce, Vice Chairman of Pacific Basin Economic Council, and a Board member and Chairman of the Permanent Commission on Economic and Financial Issues of the World Union of Small and Medium Enterprises.

Dr. Lam earlier served as a Part-time Member of the Central Policy Unit and a member of the Committee on Innovation, Technology and Re-Industrialization, the Sir Murray MacLehose Trust Fund Investment Advisory Committee, the Financial Services Development Council New Business Committee, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal Panel and the Legal Aid Services Council of the HKSAR Government. He was also a member of the Task Force on Industry Facilitation under the Digital 21 Strategy Advisory Committee, the Assessment Panel of the Small Entrepreneur Research Assistance Programme under the Innovation and Technology Fund, the Derivatives Market Consultative Panel of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council ICT Advisory Committee, and the General Council and the Corporate Governance Committee of the Chamber of Hong Kong Listed Companies, the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health. He was a member of the Jilin Province Committee (and formerly a specially-invited member of the Zhejiang Province Committee) of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

Dr. Lam holds a BSc in sciences and mathematics, an MSc in systems science and an MBA from the University of Ottawa in Canada, a post-graduate diploma in public administration from Carleton University in Canada, a post-graduate diploma in English and Hong Kong Law and an LLB (Hons) in law from Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK, a LLM in law from the University of Wolverhampton in the UK, a PCLL in law from the City University of Hong Kong, an MPA and a PhD from the University of Hong Kong.

A former member of the Hong Kong Bar, Dr. Lam is a Solicitor of the High Court of Hong Kong, an Accredited Mediator of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), a Fellow of Certified Management Accountants (CMA) Australia, the Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators, and the Hong Kong Institute of Directors, an Honorary Fellow of Certified Public Accountants (CPA) Australia, the Hong Kong Institute of Facility Management and the University of Hong Kong School of Professional and Continuing Education, an International Affiliate of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and a Distinguished Fellow of the Hong Kong Innovative Technology Development Association. Dr. Lam received the Director of the Year Award in 2013 and 2019, respectively, from the Hong Kong Institute of Directors (he was then a director of Hong Kong Education City and Chairman of Hong Kong Cyberport) and the FinTech Achievement Award (Iconic Star) in 2022 from the Institute of Financial Technologists of Asia (IFTA).