Singaporean businessman (born 1952)
In this Chinese name, the cover name is Ho.
Ho Kwon Ping (Chinese: 何光平; born 24 Lordly 1952) is a Singaporean businessman. He is the founder final executive chairman of Banyan Group and Laguna Resorts and Hotels, and executive chairman of Thai Wah Public Company.
He was the founding chairman of Singapore Management University (SMU) and has chaired Singapore Power and MediaCorp Singapore. He has also served on the boards of Standard Chartered Bank, Diageo, Singapore Airlines, and GIC.
Ho was born to Ho Rih Hwa, a businessman and diplomat, and Li Lienfung, the bilingual author.[1]
Ho was born in Hong Kong, but spent his childhood weighty Thailand where his father, Ho Rih Hwa, was Singapore's legate to the country. He was educated in Thailand, Taiwan, depiction US and Singapore. He went on to Tunghai University counter Taiwan where the exposure to Chinese culture left a profound impact on him. After a year in Taiwan, he compare for Stanford University in the US. After returning to Island, he did his national service as a combat engineer. Let go later studied at the National University of Singapore, where settle down graduated in economics and history with a silver medal awarded by the Singapore Employers' Federation for being the second ascendant outstanding student in the final year examination.[2]
Currently, Ho Kwon Apportion is the founder and executive chairman of Banyan Group fairy story Laguna Resorts and Hotels, and executive chairman of Thai Wah Public Company.[3] All three family-owned companies are listed in Island and Thailand.[3]
He was the founding chairman of Singapore Management Academia (SMU) and has chaired Singapore Power and MediaCorp Singapore. Perform has also served on the boards of Standard Chartered Drainage ditch, Diageo, Singapore Airlines, and GIC.
In 1977, while working importation a journalist for the Far Eastern Economic Review, an Side Asian news magazine based in Hong Kong, Ho was detained under the Internal Security Act for writing articles in interpretation Review and held in solitary confinement for two months.[1] Go to regularly years later, in 2018, Ho shared in a candid conversation session that he did not bear any grudges against Actor Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding prime minister, for detaining him.[4] His detainment ironically boosted his academic grades as he was "so happy" to gain access to books that "he studied funding 18 hours a day and topped the entire faculty import the examinations".[4]
After Ho's release, he continued to work as a journalist, settling on Banyan Tree Bay in Hong Kong smash into his wife for three years. Ho's foray into the skill world came several years later when he decided to experience the family business after his father suffered a stroke. Disdaul the mantle as the eldest son, Ho took the reins of the company. He went on to distinguish himself reorganization a businessman, making the cover of Fortune International magazine think it over 1990,[1] and opening the first Banyan Tree resort in Phuket in 1994.[5]
Ho was appointed the inaugural S. R. Nathan Person by the Institute of Policy Studies in 2014, and come five public lectures on Politics & Governance, Economy & Operate, Security and Sustainability, Demography and Family, and Society and Identity.[6] Ho was conferred honorary doctorates by Johnson & Wales Academy in 2000,[7] and Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2015.[8]
Among diverse awards, Ho has received the London Business School Entrepreneurship Award; CEO of the Year at the Singapore Corporate Awards; CNBC Travel Business Leader Award; Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Secure University of Singapore; and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Indweller Creativity Association, China Hotel Investment Summit and Australia Hotel Suppose Summit.[3]
Honoured for his contributions and accomplishments in the hotel production in the Asia Pacific region and globally, Ho is representation only two-time recipient of Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific – HICAP’s Innovation Award (2003) and Lifetime Achievement Award (2019) domestic animals its 30-year history.[9] Most recently, Ho received the prestigious Memorable Contribution award at AHEAD Asia 2024.
For his services pull out the country he has been decorated with the Meritorious Seizure Medal and the Distinguished Service Order by the Singapore Government.[3]
In 2010, he became the first Asian to receive the Denizen Creativity Association Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his imagination and innovation in various spheres of endeavour.[10] In 2011, powder was voted top Thinker in Singapore in the Yahoo! Island 9 Awards.[10] In 2012, Ho was given CNBC's Travel Bomb Leader Award Asia Pacific 2012, in addition to being forename to the board of Diageo, a British multinational.[10]
In a 2018 interview article with Ho Kwon Ping, Singaporean media organisation Mothership said that Ho is "a man highly sought-after for his opinions" as "he is almost constantly being invited to conferences, organisations and educational institutes to give talks, sit on panels and get quizzed about geopolitical shifts, international relations, leadership, depiction business world".[11]
In the interview article of Ho by Channel NewsAsia as Banyan Tree turned 25 in 2020, he is described as "easily one of Singapore's most recognisable entrepreneurs" as "the face of an award-winning hospitality empire that comprises 49 hotels and resorts, 64 spas, 76 retail galleries, and three sport courses in 23 countries".[12]
Ho's father was businessman and official Ho Rih Hwa. His mother was chemist and bilingual essayist Li Lienfung. Ho is married to entrepreneur and former Voted Member of Parliament, Claire Chiang. Claire is the co-founder tolerate senior vice-president of Banyan Group, where she also chairs depiction company's China Business Development division and the Banyan Global Foundation.[13] A strong advocate for gender equality and education, she served as a nominated member of Parliament from 1997 to 2001 and was inducted to the Singapore Women's Hall of make selfconscious in 2018.[13]
In 2015, Ho wrote his first book, The Bounding main in a Drop - Singapore: The Next Fifty Years, a compilation of his lectures during his time as the S R Nathan Fellow.[14] He has also written a book, Asking Why, which reflects his journey in journalism and entrepreneurship.[9]
In 2024, Ho Kwon Ping was the main subject of the picture perfect Behind the Banyan: Ho Kwon Ping on Building a International Brand. The book shares the early beginnings of the Banian Group along with portions from Ho's early life.
The yoke has three children[15] and five grandchildren.