Born in Malaysia and now residing in Hong Kong, K O Chia's journey with Edinburgh Napier began in 1977. Having just qualified as an engineer, K O joined Hewlett Packard in Scotland and studied at ENU part-time while working full-time for the multinational information technology company. He graduated in 1980 with a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management Studies.
His time at ENU provided a practical management foundation through many role-playing simulations, particularly in human resources management, that had a lasting impact for his future career.
Today, 40+ years later, he has broad and extensive C-suite experience as a family office senior executive, seasoned venture capitalist, tech entrepreneur, and a corporate executive in the technology and consumer sectors across Asia, Europe and U.S.
For 10 years he served as the Deputy CEO/Managing Director & Director of Grace Financial Ltd., a SFC licensed, Hong Kong-based family office, before retiring in 2021. He managed the firm's global public and private investments, impact investments and philanthropic activities, in addition to overseeing the Operations, IT, and Human Resources functions and being spokesperson. He led the transformation of the firm’s culture based on family values and ESG principles.
Between 1997 and 2004, he rose to be Managing Director/Partner at Walden International, a U.S.-Asia venture capital firm where, as venture capitalist, he oversaw North Asia (ex-Taiwan) investments and Asia-US cross-border activities.
Prior to this he gained entrepreneurial experience in a telecom technology start-up. He was head of Asia Pacific and was part of a team that took the company from start-up to public listing in less than 5 years. He started his career with Hewlett-Packard where he gained extensive product management and marketing experience in Europe and Asia-Pacific and subsequently at Apple in Asia.
Currently, he serves as President of the Hong Kong Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (HKVCA) and was previously Chairman of the Family Office Committee. Between 2009 to 2021, K O Chia was a Trustee of the Edinburgh Napier University HK Scholarship Committee which annually selects and awards scholarships to deserving candidates. Other roles have included Member of Advisory Committee, School of Continuing & Professional Studies at Chinese University of Hong Kong; and Advisor to the Entrepreneurship Fund at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. Over the last 20 years, he has served on numerous public and private corporate boards, HK SAR government technology and welfare committees, HKTDC committees and universities’ technology transfer and continuing education committees as part of community contribution.
He holds an MBA from Strathclyde University, Scotland, DipMS from Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland and BEng (Hons) Electronics Engineering from Sheffield University, England. He is a Fellow of Hong Kong Institute of Directors and a GlobalScot.