Mrs Anson Chan, GBM, GCMG, CBE, JP

Mrs Anson Chan was a very distinguished senior civil servant. Before her retirement, Mrs Anson Chan was the first Chief Secretary of Administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.

Mrs Chan joined the Hong Kong Government as an Administrative Officer upon her graduation from the University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and English Literature in 1962. In her four-decade distinguished and illustrious civil service career, Mrs Chan held many senior positions, including Director of Social Welfare, Secretary for Economic Services and Secretary for the Civil Service. In 1993, Mrs Chan was appointed Chief Secretary of the Hong Kong Government, the first Chinese and the first woman to take up this prominent position. As the head of the civil service, Mrs Chan was instrumental in ensuring a stable and effective civil service as well as a smooth transition of the territory in 1997. She then assumed the position of Chief Secretary for Administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in July 1997 until her retirement at the end of April 2001.

Mrs Chan's outstanding service to Hong Kong was not only highly recognised by Hong Kong citizens but also won her international acclaim. She has received honorary degrees from a number of local and overseas prestigious universities. Mrs Chan was awarded Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1992 and Grand Bauhinia Medal in 1999 to signify her remarkable contributions to Hong Kong.

Dr Allen Lee, CBE, JP

Dr Allen Lee, chairman of Pacific Dimensions Consultants Limited, is a distinguished figure in the political arena of Hong Kong. He was the founding chairman of the Liberal Party of Hong Kong and is currently a member of the Executive Committee, Commission on Strategic Development of the HKSAR Government. He is a deputy of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the 9th and 10th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China.

Dr Lee was a member of the Legislative Council from 1978 to 1997. During that period, he was the Senior Member of the legislature from 1988 to 1991. He was also a member of the Provisional Legislative Council from 1997 to 1998. Between 1985 and 1992, Dr Lee was appointed as a member of the Executive Council.

Professor Johannes M M Chan, S C

Professor Johannes M M Chan is a Barrister-at-law, Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong.

Professor Chan was born and educated in Hong Kong and England. He joined the University of Hong Kong in 1985, was a Senior Lecturer in 1991, an Associate Professor in 1996, Professor in 1998, Head of Department of Law from 1999 to 2002, and Dean of the Faculty of Law since 1 July 2002. In 2003, he was appointed as the first Honorary Senior Counsel in Hong Kong.

Professor Chan specialises in human rights, constitutional and administrative law, and publishes widely in these fields. He has appeared as counsel in many leading Bill of Rights/human rights and constitutional law cases. Internationally, he has worked on specific issues with many non-governmental organisations, such as Amnesty International, Lawyers Committee, the International Committee of Red Cross and Article 19. He has also appeared in official international forum and acted as a trial observer in the Asian region.

Professor Chan has served on many government/public and professional bodies, including the Bar Council, the Consumer Council, the Broadcasting Authority, the Press Council, the Administrative Appeals Board, the Municipal Services Appeals Board, Law Reform Sub-Committee on Privacy, Council of the Hong Kong Red Cross, and the Central Policy Unit. In 1995, he was elected as one of the Ten Young Outstanding Persons in Hong Kong. In 1999, he received the Human Rights Press Award.

Mrs Lily Yam, GBS, JP

Mrs Lily Yam had extensive experience in public administration as a senior civil servant.

She joined the Hong Kong Government as an Administrative Officer upon graduation from the University of Hong Kong in 1969. She served in various offices, including the then Education and Manpower Branch and Civil Service Branch of the Government Secretariat, the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority, the Central Policy Unit and the Secretariat for the Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service. She was Commissioner for Transport from 1995 to 1997.

Mrs Yam worked in the Independent Commission Against Corruption from 1975 to 1984. She returned to head the Commission in April 1997 and served in that position until July 1999. She was Secretary for the Environment and Food from January 2000 to June 2002 before retiring from government service in July 2002.

Mrs Yam received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Hong Kong and a Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard University.

Ms Christine Loh

Christine Loh is the founder and CEO of Civic Exchange, an independent, non-profit policy think tank. Ms Loh has an English law degree from the University of Hull and a Master's of Law degree in Chinese and Comparative Law from the City University of Hong Kong. She has been awarded the degree of Doctors of Law, honoris causa, by her alma mater, the University of Hull.

Ms Loh spent 14 years in the commercial world. She was appointed to the Hong Kong Legislative Council in 1992, and ran two successful elections in 1995 and 1998. She chose not to seek re-election in 2000 in order to found Civic Exchange. Since starting Civic Exchange, she has researched, written and commented extensively on political reform, political economy, environment and urban planning.

In addition to being elected to the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (Stock Exchange) in April 2006, Ms Loh sits on the boards of a number of local and international organisations, including the Advisory Committee of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission; and Court of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Mrs Elizabeth Bosher

Elizabeth Bosher was a member of the Administrative Service of the Hong Kong Government from 1972 to 1996. She held a number of senior posts including, from 1986-88, the post of Deputy Secretary for Constitutional Affairs – where she was closely involved in the drafting of the 1987 Green Paper and 1988 White Paper on the further development of representative government in Hong Kong. From 1989 to 1990, she was Deputy Secretary for General Duties where she supported work on a range of issues concerning preparation for the transition of sovereignty and the drafting of the Basic Law.

Mr Chandran Nair

Chandran Nair is the founder of the Global Institute For Tomorrow, a hybrid Asian-based organisation whose work focuses on the inter-relation of Asian society and values with those of the rest of the world.

Mr Nair was chairman of ERM in the Asia Pacific until March 2004. He established the company as Asia's leader in environmental consulting, developing it from a single office of 10 people in Hong Kong in 1991 to 500 in 12 countries when he left in 2004.

In addition to his work with GIFT, Mr Nair has maintained his strong interest in business. He is involved in providing strategic management advice and coaching to business leaders with a focus on achieving growth targets, bringing about organisational change, and leadership development.

Mr Nair is a visiting scholar at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's School of Business, running a course, “Leading in Asia for the Future”, as part of the HKUST MBA programme. He has lived and worked in Asia, Europe and Africa. In Africa, he worked as a volunteer in Swaziland for three years in the field of rural water supply and sanitation as well as community participation. During this time he was involved in the anti-apartheid movement.