Peter Kwong-Ching Woo ’72
Chairman
Wheelock and Company Limited and the Wharf (Holdings) Limited
China
Peter Woo was born in Shanghai and attended St. Stephen’s College in Hong Kong. He graduated as senior class president from the University of Cincinnati with majors in physics and mathematics and earned his MBA from Columbia Business School.
After holding various positions at the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York and in Hong Kong, in 1975 Mr. Woo joined the World-Wide Shipping Group, a company founded by his father-in-law, the late Sir Yue-kong Pao, and later became vice chairman.
Mr. Woo is chairman of Wheelock and Company Limited and the Wharf (Holdings) Limited. These companies own properties in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, and Japan, i-Cable Communications (cable TV and broadband Internet), Wharf New T&T (telephony), Modern Terminals Ltd. (sea container terminals), Marco Polo Hotels, and Hamptons International.
In October 2000, Mr. Woo was appointed by the Hong Kong government as chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, with more than 40 offices outside Hong Kong.
Starting in 1988, he chaired the management and organizational reform initiatives for Hong Kong’s public hospital system with the Provisional Hospital Authority. He was chairman of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority from 1995 to 2000, overseeing 46 public hospitals, 50,000 staff, and an annual budget of some US $2.5 billion.
From 1993 to 1997, Mr. Woo was chairman of the Hong Kong Polytechnic. He oversaw its change of status to the Polytechnic University, the largest university in Hong Kong, and extensive management reengineering initiatives.
Mr. Woo was chairman of the Hong Kong Environment and Conservation Fund Committee, established in 1994 and cofunded by him and the Hong Kong government. He also served in 1991 as a deputy chairman of the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum, a nonprofit group focusing on the environment internationally.
In 1995, Mr. Woo was selected as Leader of the Year by the Hongkong Standard. He was appointed a justice of the peace in 1993 and was awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong government in 1998. He was also awarded the Cross of Officer in the Order of Leopold by the late King Baudouin I of Belgium in 1993.