Personal Profile
Professor Alan Chow is currently an Adjunct Professor with the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong as well as advisor or board member of several family foundations and non-profits. He was formerly the Chief Executive Officer of The D. H. Chen Foundation, a private philanthropic foundation established by the late Dr Chen Din Hwa. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2013, Professor Chow had an illustrious career in the financial and commercial sectors, having held various senior management positions at Credit Suisse and Citibank as well as being the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of a publicly listed company in Hong Kong.
The unique combination of experiences from the financial and philanthropic sectors complemented with extensive involvement on both the funder and NGO sides has enabled Professor Chow to bring creative ideas and innovative solutions to addressing social issues, to apply his knowledge in governance, strategic planning and financial management to building capacity for non-profits, and to bridge the gaps between funders and NGOs. As a firm believer of "investing today, impacting tomorrow", he is most passionate about education, youth development and capacity building for NGOs. He also enjoys connecting funders, NGOs and other like-minded partners to collaborate for social betterment.
Besides being a member of the SIE Fund Task Force, currently Professor Chow is also serving a number of public bodies and non-profits including Tsinghua University (Member, Schwarzman Scholars Selection Panel), Community Investment and Inclusion Fund (Committee Member), Koo Foundation (Honorary Advisor), Hong Kong Institute of Educational Research, CUHK (Member, QSIP Advisory Committee) and Catalyst Education Lab (Honorary Advisor).
Expectation towards Social Innovation and the SIE Fund
"As social challenges are getting more complex and intertwined, the government and the social leaders are no longer the sole agents responsible for addressing daunting social issues where there are no easy solutions. With social innovation in place, players from different sectors are now empowered to come together and leverage their diverse experiences, skills and resources to meet social needs through creative and sustainable solutions. The SIE Fund, in this regard, should play a leading role in promoting cross-sector collaborations, creating an enabling environment to nurture social innovators and sharing best practices in the community. I also look much forward to learning from and working with the Fund and my fellow Task Force members."