Philip N. L. Chen
Chairman, John Swire and Sons (China) Ltd.
Deputy Chairman, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.
Director, Swire Pacific Ltd. and John Swire and Sons (Hong Kong) Ltd.
Philip Chen is chairman of John Swire and Sons (China) Ltd., deputy chairman of
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., and a director of Swire Pacific Ltd. and John Swire and Sons
(Hong Kong) Ltd.
He first joined the Swire Group in 1977 and was assigned to Cathay Pacific. He became
chief executive in January 2005 and also chairman of Hong Kong Dragon Airlines
(Dragonair) until June 2007. Prior to that, he was deputy managing director, then
chief operating officer of Cathay Pacific.
Mr. Chen was the chief executive of Hong Kong Dragon Airlines from 1994 to 1997.
Before his appointment at Dragonair, Mr. Chen was regional general manager of Southeast
Asia for Cathay Pacific, based in Singapore. He has also been based in Beijing as the
chief representative and general manager of Swire China, covering a wide range of different
businesses. Mr. Chen was employed by the University of Hong Kong from 1984 to 1988
in charge of the marketing module in the university’s MBA program.
Mr. Chen attended Wah Yan College in Hong Kong and received BA, DMS, and MBA
degrees from the University of Hong Kong. In 1995, he attended the Sloan Master’s
Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
He has been appointed to various roles by the HK SAR Government, including member
of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Commission on Strategic Development,
Aviation Development Advisory Committee, and Committee on Review of Post-Service
Outside Work for Directorate Civil Servants, as well as a member of the board of the
2009 East Asian Games. He also chairs the Quality Assurance Council of the University
Grants Committee and the Corruption Prevention Advisory Committee of the Independent
Commission Against Corruption. He is a nonexecutive director of Hong Kong International
Theme Parks Limited, which runs Hong Kong Disneyland.
Mr. Chen is a steward of the Hong Kong Jockey Club and is also involved in education
both locally and overseas, as well as in various trade and community activities. He
has published five books of travel stories, written in Chinese, which have all reached
the best-seller list. The royalties from the book sales have been donated to two charities.
In 2000, the Hong Kong Government appointed Mr. Chen as a Justice of the Peace and
awarded him the Silver Bauhinia Star in July 2002.
Mr. Chen is married with one son and one daughter.