Dr. Adrian Cheng is a global business leader, arts patron and philanthropist based in Hong Kong.
As CEO of New World Development Company Limited (NWD), Dr. Cheng oversees the strategy and operations of NWD and its US$79.2 billion in assets. He has transformed a 50-year-old business into a forward-looking and dynamic ecosystem of property development, infrastructure, healthcare, education, retail, hospitality projects and more. His vision to weave sustainability, culture, innovation and community enhancement into business is embodied in iconic landmark projects, a majority of which are under the K11 brand, across Mainland China and Hong Kong. For his dedication to Creating Shared Value – to linking business success and social progress, Dr. Cheng won the Shared Value Champion Award in 2020, the first CEO in Asia to ever receive this honour.
Through CTF Education Group (CTFEG), he is empowering the next generation to be future ready. CTFEG runs K-12 schools which serve over 10,000 children and young people.
Through his charity WEMP, Dr. Cheng has commissioned research by Cambridge University, with field work done collaboratively with Hong Kong educators, into children’s psychology, social and cognitive skills, wellbeing and mental health in Hong Kong. The research will be done over the course of three years, and the outcome, analysis and recommendations will be shared across the world.
As a patron of the arts, Dr. Cheng is the Founder of the K11 Art Foundation. He is a Trustee of the Royal Academy of Arts in London and sits on the Visiting Committee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the International Circle of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, among other similar committees in Hong Kong and elsewhere.
Dr. Cheng serves on the Dean’s Council of the Harvard Kennedy School, and the Asia Advisory Board of the Ivey Business School, among other academic advisory boards. Dr. Cheng is a graduate of Harvard University. He is the youngest person in Hong Kong history to receive the honour of Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Government (2017). He has also been awarded the honour of Officer of the French National Order of Merit (2021). Fortune Magazine named Dr. Cheng a “40 Under 40” global business force, and the World Economic Forum listed him as a “Young Global Leader” in 2012. Dr. Cheng is an alumnus of St. Paul’s Co-educational College in Hong Kong.