Lam Woon-kwong (born 19 April 1951) is a
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
politician and civil servant who has worked as convenor of the
Executive Council and chairperson of the
Equal Opportunities Commission.
Early years
Lam Woon-kwong was born in 1951.
He graduated from the
Social Sciences
Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...
Faculty of the
University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...
with a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Economics and Sociology. He has two master's degrees: in
Public Administration
Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...
from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
and in
Buddhist Studies
Buddhist studies, also known as Buddhology, is the academic study of Buddhism. The term ''Buddhology'' was coined in the early 20th century by the Unitarian minister Joseph Estlin Carpenter to mean the "study of Buddhahood, the nature of the Bud ...
from the University of Hong Kong.
In government
Lam benefited from a meteoric rise midway through his civil service career (around the time of the
Handover
In cellular telecommunications, handover, or handoff, is the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel. In satellite communications it is the process of transf ...
) due to the early retirement of many of
Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service officers and the local senior civil servants expected to fill their roles. Promoted thrice between 1993 and 1996, Lam became one of many junior officers who rose swiftly through the ranks. Speaking to the ''
Standard Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object ...
'' in 1995, even he admitted his surprise.
[''The Civil Service in Hong Kong: Continuity and Change'' page 94]
. Ahmed Shafiqul Huque, Grace OM Lee, Anthony BL Cheung. 1 July 1998. Hong Kong University Press
Hong Kong University Press (abbreviated as HKU Press) is the university press of the University of Hong Kong. It was established in 1956 and publishes more than 50 titles per year in both Chinese and English. Most works in English are on cultura ...
. Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...
. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
Lam served as
Director of Education for just nine months. He was appointed
Secretary for the Civil Service
The Secretary for the Civil Service is the head of the Civil Service Bureau in Hong Kong. Unlike other secretaries for bureaux, the Secretary for the Civil Service is filled by an administrative officer from the civil service, who may choose t ...
by Governor
Patten in 1996, the first to be promoted, rather than transferred, into the role.
[ While there, he pushed through reforms despite significant opposition from unions.]Secretary for Home Affairs
The Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs is the head of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau of the Government of Hong Kong, which is responsible for local issues, and the provision of community and youth services.
List of office holders Regist ...
from July 2000 to June 2002.
Lam became Director of the Chief Executive
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
's Office of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a Special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the List of ...
for Tung Chee Hwa
Tung Chee-hwa (; born May 29, 1937) is a Hong Kong businessman and retired politician who served as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2005, upon the transfer of sovereignty on 1 July. He served as a vice chairman of th ...
in July 2002. In January 2005, women's magazine ''Sudden Weekly
''Sudden Weekly'' () was a women's magazine published in Hong Kong by Jimmy Lai
Lai Chee-ying ( zh, t=黎智英; born 8 December 1947), also known as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong businessman and politician. He founded Giordano (clothing), ...
'' (Issue 493) carried a story that included photographs of Lam with a woman outside a hotel in Tokyo and an interview with his wife of nearly 30 years.CY Leung
Leung Chun-ying ( zh, t=梁振英; born 12 August 1954), also known as CY Leung, is a Hong Kong politician and chartered surveyor who has served as vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Confe ...
, despite public concern at a possible conflict of interest, he retained his position as Chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission.[Bio for HK Philharmonic Society]
/ref> He was known for publicly disagreeing with Leung on occasion.
A HKU poll in 2016 rated him the most popular member of the Executive Council.
Other activities
For the 2008 Olympic Games
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...
, he was chief executive officer of Olympic Equestrian Events (Hong Kong).[ He is a governor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Society.][
Lam has been a regular commentator at the ]South China Morning Post
The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...
since 2012.
Awards
*2000: Gold Bauhinia Star
The Gold Bauhinia Star (, GBS) is the highest rank in Order of the Bauhinia Star, under the Order (distinction), honours system of Hong Kong, created in 1997 to replace the British honours system after the Handover of Hong Kong, transfer of sovere ...
*2005: Justice of the Peace
*2009: Chief Executive's Commendation for Community Service Award
References
External links
Exco bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lam, Woonkwong
1951 births
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
Government officials of Hong Kong
Recipients of the Gold Bauhinia Star
Alumni of the University of Hong Kong
Harvard Kennedy School alumni
Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong
Alumni of Queen's College, Hong Kong
Hong Kong justices of the peace