Wong—who joined the company
Wong—who joined the company in 1985 after graduating from Hong Kong Polytechnic University as a surveyor and rose through the ranks to become the CEO six years ago—has earned a reputation for seizing opportunities and staying the course amid a crisis. At the turn of the millennium, between the Asian financial crisis and the 2003 SARS outbreak, he started rebuilding from scratch Hongkong Land’s residential property business, which it had divested in the 1980s. His first project, a redevelopment of an aging Hong Kong apartment complex called Lai Sing Court, had a bumpy start. After Wong spent more than two-and-a-half years persuading at least 90% of homeowners to agree to a collective sale and overcame objections from authorities to relax its height restriction, SARS crashed Hong Kong’s property market. Charles Ng, one of Lai Sing Court’s homeowners, recalls Wong still honored his commitments—even though he could have tried to renegotiate—and pressed ahead with the redeve