Christine Loh

Dr Christine Loh OBE, JP
File:Christine Loh CWMC 2006.jpg Christine Loh Kung-wai at the CWMC 2006.
Member of the Legislative Council
In office 24 May 1998 – 10 September 2000
Preceded by	(none)
Succeeded by	abolished
Constituency	Hong Kong Island
Majority	12.76%
In office 17 September 1995 – 30 June 1997
Constituency	Island Central
Majority	65.32%
In office 1992 – 17 September 1995
Constituency	Appointed
Personal details
Born	(1956-02-01) 1 February 1956 Hong Kong
Political party	Citizens Party (defunct)
Domestic partner	Craig Ehrlich
Alma mater	St. Paul's Convent School Island School Bedford High School University of Hull City University of Hong Kong
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Christine Loh
Traditional Chinese	陸恭蕙
Simplified Chinese	陆恭蕙
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lù Gōnghùi

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Loh.

Christine Loh Kung-wai, OBE, JP (born 1 February 1956), is Under Secretary for the Environment in Hong Kong.

She is a former Legislative Councillor, founder and CEO of Civic Exchange, founder of the Citizens Party, and founder of Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor.

Until her appointment as Undersecretary for the Environment, Loh was CEO of Civic Exchange, the Hong Kong think tank that she co-founded in 2000. She was named "Woman of the Year for 2006" by Hong Kong Business. She has worked in many areas, including law, business, politics, media and the non-profit sector, but is best known as a leading voice in public policy in Hong Kong, particularly in promoting democracy and environmental protection. She has long been associated with the campaign to save Hong Kong's Harbour from excessive land reclamation and overdevelopment.

Education and professional career

Loh attended St. Paul's Convent School in Causeway Bay, and later Island School in Mid-levels, Hong Kong. She then went to Bedford High School in the UK. She later attended the University of Hull, City University of Hong Kong (Masters of Law in Chinese & Comparative Law) and the University of Hull (Doctor of Law, honoris causa) and was trained as a lawyer but she worked for 12 years as a commodities trader (1980–1991), rising to become managing director and later director of business development. Loh spent fourteen years in the commercial world, holding top regional posts in commodities trading at Philipp Brothers and Phibro Energy – the physical commodities trading arms of US multinational Salomon, Inc. (now Citicorp) — before joining a Hong Kong company (CIM Co.), where she headed the special projects division between 1992 and 1994. In April 2006, she was elected by shareholders of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) to be a director of the company.

Political career

Loh was appointed to the Legislative Council (LegCo) in 1992. In 1995 and 1998 she ran in two direct elections and won by large margins. She co-founded, in 1995, the Society for Protection of the Harbour and was responsible for creating and sponsoring the historic Protection of the Harbour Ordinance. While part of the democratic camp in LegCo, she took a less confrontational approach than some, preferring to keep open lines of communication with the so-called pro-China camp.

In 2000, she and Lisa Hopkinson co-founded a Hong Kong-based non-profit think tank, Civic Exchange, and once again entered the political spotlight, but outside of the LegCo. She resigned as its chief executive on 11 September 2012 upon her appointment as Undersecretary for the Environment in the administration of CY Leung, taking up her new post the following day. At the same time, she resigned from all her positions in other non-profit organisations, academic affiliations, and non-executive directorships in commercial firms.

Other activities

From 1991, Loh hosted a public affairs radio programme and a variety of TV programmes.

Affiliations

• Chief Executive, Civic Exchange, 2000–present
• Chairperson, Hong Kong Observers, 1980s
• Chairperson, Friends of the Earth (HK), 1991–1992; 1993–1994
• Chairperson, Citizens Party (HK), 1997–2000
• Chairperson, Society for Protection of the Harbour, 2003-200?
• Council Member, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 1999–2005
• Honorary Research Fellow, Centre of Urban Planning and Environmental Management, University of Hong Kong, 2001–2005
• Member, Advisory Committee, Securities and Futures Commission, 2001–2005
• Board Member, Community Business Advisory Member, International Advisor, Asia Society, USA
• Co-Chair, Human Rights in China, since 2005

Awards

• Woman of the Year ([1]) – 2006
• Outstanding Young Person’s Award 1988
• Communicator of the Year, 1994
• Stars of Asia, Businessweek, 1998
• Stars of Asia, Businessweek, 2000
• Entrepreneur of the Year (Women of Influence Award 2003)

External links

• Christine Loh's profile at Civic Exchange
• bio at rocky Mountain Institute

Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Preceded by Man Sai-cheong as Representative for Hong Kong Island East	Member of Legislative Council Representative for Hong Kong Island Central 1995–1997	Replaced by Provisional Legislative Council
New parliament	Member of Legislative Council Representative for Hong Kong Island 1998–2000 Served alongside: Martin Lee, Yeung Sum, Gary Cheng	Succeeded by Cyd Ho
Government offices
Preceded by Kitty Poon	Under Secretary for the Environment 2012–present	Incumbent
Party political offices
New political party	Leader of the Citizens Party 1997–2000	Succeeded by Alex Chan
Order of precedence
Preceded by Florence Hui Under Secretary for Home Affairs	Hong Kong order of precedence Under Secretary for the Environment	Succeeded by Yau Shing-mu Under Secretary for Transport and Housing