2024 Judging Panel

Dr. CHOW Wing Kin, Anthony was born in Hong Kong and is a solicitor admitted to practise in Hong Kong and England & Wales. He is currently the Senior Consultant of the law firm Guantao & Chow Solicitors and Notaries. On returning to Hong Kong from England in the late 70s, he joined the law firm Baker & McKenzie as an associate. In 1982, he established his own law practice Anthony W. K. Chow & Co which has since evolved to become Guantao and Chow. His principal areas of practice include corporate and commercial, civil litigation, property and trust.

Dr. Chow is also a China-Appointed Attesting Officer.

Public Service

Dr. Chow was the President of the Law Society of Hong Kong, the governing body of solicitors, for the period between 1997 and 2000. During his presidency, he devoted much time to the development of the Hong Kong legal profession in Mainland China.

Dr. Chow has also served the Hong Kong community in a number of ways over the last 20 years. He has previously served as:

Currently, he serves as:

Awards

Dr. Chow was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1998 and awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star by the Government of HKSAR in 2003.

He was admitted to Honorary Fellowship of The Hong Kong Institute of Education in March 2010, Honorary Fellowship of King’s College London in 2013, Roll of Honour of The Law Society of Hong Kong in 2015, Doctor of Social Sciences, honoris causa of The Open University of Hong Kong in 2018 and Doctor of Laws honoris causa of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2021.

Directorship

Dr. Chow serves and he served on the board of directors of a number of publicly listed companies in Hong Kong and Mainland China.

Professor Aris Stouraitis is Professor of Finance in the Department of Accountancy, Economics & Finance, Director of the Centre for Corporate Governance & Financial Policy, and Programme Director of the MSc in Finance (FinTech & Financial Analytics) at Hong Kong Baptist University. He holds Bachelor’s degrees in economics, accounting and finance from the American College of Greece, MSc in Management from INSEAD (France), and PhD in Finance from Imperial College London (United Kingdom).

His academic research interests are in corporate finance, with emphasis on corporate restructuring, corporate governance, and corruption. His research has been published in the Journal of Financial Economics, Management Science, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Review of Finance, Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Journal of Corporate Finance and other international academic journals. He has made presentations at conferences organized by the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Harvard Business School, the European Finance Association, the Asian Finance Association, and in more than 30 other international academic conferences worldwide. His research or commentary has been quoted in media outlets worldwide, including Bloomberg, The Economist, Channel News Asia, The Straits Times and The Business Times (Singapore), Hong Kong Economic Journal, Handelsblatt (Germany) and Superinteressante (Brazil).

He is a member of the Governing Council of the Institute of Financial Technologists of Asia (IFTA).

Ivy Wong is a corporate transactional lawyer based in Hong Kong who is qualified in multiple jurisdictions including Hong Kong, England and Wales, New York and British Virgin Islands. She has led many unprecedented and high-profile cross-border transactions, including many successful listings that are first-of-its kind on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and multiple landmark and innovative deals that won industry awards.

Ivy’s practice focuses on corporate finance, securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, compliance and general corporate work. She has extensive expertise in handling international clients and resolving issues arising from different regulatory regimes. Her clients include many reputable listed companies, multinational corporates and conglomerates, financial institutions and fund houses.

Ivy has been recognised as one of the leading law practitioners in Hong Kong and was shortlisted for Euromoney Asia Women in Business Law Awards for consecutive years. She has had a long track record of international law firm experience including having been a Partner of one of the largest international law firms where she served as a regional steering committee chair and global steering committee member for her practice. She has been quoted and interviewed by international media and journals including Bloomberg, CNBC, The Economist, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal.

Ivy is currently a Partner at Loeb Smith Attorneys, one of the leading and fastest-growing law firms in Asia Pacific that is headquartered in the Cayman Islands with offices in Hong Kong and British Virgin Islands. She is a panel judge for the Hong Kong Corporate Governance and ESG Excellence Awards co-conferred by The Chamber of Hong Kong Listed Companies and an external member of the School of Business Advisory Committee of Hong Kong Baptist University. She has served as a Vice Chair of the Social Sustainability Committee of The British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, and as a Hong Kong lead partner in diversity and as a member of the junior lawyers committee at an international law firm.

Nelly is a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan and the Head of Hong Kong IPO and Corporate Finance Group, responsible for Hong Kong IPO execution and communication with the Stock Exchange in the Asia Pacific region. She has over 20 years of experience in public and private financing in the capital market. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan in 2010, Nelly worked in China Investment Banking of UBS and Deutsche Bank for many years. Nelly is also a Certified Public Accountant in Hong Kong and the US with extensive experience in the Corporate Finance team in PwC Hong Kong and Beijing.

Nelly is highly recognized by clients and market practitioners. She has led numerous landmark capital market transactions, covering high-profile clients in mainland China, Hong Kong and other Asia Pacific regions. She has rich experience in IPO execution, advised a large number of Hong Kong listings of state-owned enterprises (SOE), multinational corporations, new economy companies and industry-leading companies. In recent years, Nelly executed the unprecedented secondary listings and dual primary listings of Greater China issuers, steering the market trend of homecoming listings in Hong Kong.

Nelly is also a pioneer in the Hong Kong capital market. She has been invited as guest speaker to various industry forums and interviewed by multiple Hong Kong media. With her keen industry insights and rich market experience, Nelly serves as an important bridge of communication among corporates, investors and the regulators, and she has been promoting reforms to enhancing the Hong Kong listing regime.

Mr Anthony Cheung specializes in Green & Sustainable Investment, ESG Investing and Climate Governance in Asia. Anthony is the Managing Director, Head of ESG at Polymer Capital Management and he has served various asset management roles in London, Singapore and Hong Kong including Gartmore, Pictet and BNP Paribas. Mr. Cheung is a Visiting Fellow of Sustainability & Capital Markets at University of Hamburg. He was the first in Asia who attained the Certified ESG Analyst (CESGA®) designation and was awarded Regional ESG Leader Award by Insights and Mandate (I&M) in 2019.

Mr. Cheung actively advocates sustainability governance best practice. He currently serves as Supervisory Board member of the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), and Steering Committee member of the World Economic Forum Climate Governance Initiative (CGI) Hong Kong. With his deep ESG expertise, coupled with his experience serving in various industry positions and board directorships, Mr. Cheung works closely with financial industry and asset owners to promote ESG best practices and initiatives in Asia.

Ms. Caroline Chiu is an Assurance partner and the Hong Kong Professional Practice Director of Ernst & Young, with over 25 years of professional experience in the audit and sustainability practice, serving private and listed companies in a broad range of industries and sectors in Hong Kong, China and the US.  Caroline has extensive experience in serving clients on pre-IPO/IPO transactions and cross border capital market transactions.  She also provides sustainability assurance and advisory services including ESG rating advisory and provides supports to clients on decarbonization roadmap and compliance requirements on ESG related matter.

Caroline is currently a member of the EY Global ISSB Policy Committee, a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA) Auditing and Assurance Standard Committee, a member of HKICPA Financial Reporting Standards Committee’s Sustainability Advisory Panel and a member of Financial Reporting Review Panel for the Hong Kong Accounting and Financial Reporting Council.  She is also an advisory member of the Advisory Board on Accountancy of Lingnan University, Hong Kong.

Dr. William Yu is the Chief Executive Officer of World Green Organisation. He is an energy economist and climate professional by training and completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge. He earned an Executive MBA from the Thunderbird Global Management School, AZU, U.S.. and completed a Sustainable Finance Programme at Cambridge. Additionally, Dr. Yu is the scholarship recipient of the Executive Education in non-profit strategic management at the Harvard Business School.

Dr. Yu is ESBN Task Force Member, The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. He is also a member in Advisory Council on the Environment (ACE), Environment and Ecology Bureau and member in Council for Carbon Neutrality and Sustainable Development, HKSAR Government.

Dr. Yu is accredited by UNDP as an official trainer on United Nations SDG Impact Standards. He is also Advisor on Certified ESG Planner (CEP) qualification, and Certified China Carbon Trader of Shanghai Environment Energy Exchange, advising investment banks and several public accounting firms on Forestry Carbon Credit Projects, Valuation of Carbon Assets and Carbon Trading.