Dr. Lo was born in Hong Kong on February 19, 1947. He graduated in 1970 from McGill University in Canada, with B.Sc. in Biophysics, and in 1974 graduated from Cornell University with M.D. in medicine. Dr. Lo was trained and specialized in Internal Medicine and Cardiology, and did research in Nuclear Cardiology during his fellowship at the University of Michigan Hospital in USA until 1979. Dr. Lo is married and has four children.
On his return to Hong Kong, Dr. Lo joined the Board of Great Eagle Group (1980 - now) and is now the Chairman and Managing Director, and he is the Executive Chairman of the Langham Hospitality Group (2003 – now). He is also the Chairman and non-executive Director of Eagle Asset Management (CP) Limited (Manager of the publicly listed Champion Real Estate Investment Trust) (2006 – now).
Among his other public and civic positions, he acts as a Vice President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong, a Trustee of the Hong Kong Centre for Economic Research, and a Board Member of the Hong Kong Airport Authority. He was formerly a Director of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (1992-2006) and was Chairman of the Listing Committees of both the Main Board (1992-1996) and Growth Enterprise Market (1999-2003). Dr Lo was also Chairman of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority from 2000 to 2002.
He is a non-executive Director of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Shanghai Industrial Holdings Limited, Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings Limited and China Mobile (Hong Kong) Limited, besides other well-known Hong Kong corporate entities.
Dr Lo has received a number of awards in recognition of his varied contributions to Hong Kong’s business and civic sectors: in 2003, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region conferred on him one of its highest honours, the Gold Bauhinia Star. In 2005, Dr Lo was named “Hotelier of the Year” at the Asia-Pacific Hotel Industry Conference, and received the “Hong Kong Business Person of the Year” award from DHL/SCMP. The following year, he was cited as “Travel Entrepreneur of the Year” by Travel Trade Gazette.
Mr Butcher's international hospitality management experience spans 30 years, covering various leadership roles across Asia-Pacific and the USA. With a reputation for expertise in sales and marketing, hotel start-up operations and Total Quality Management, he is responsible for the overall strategic direction and development of Langham Hotels International.
Leveraging the distinguished heritage of Langham with the needs and preferences of today’s discerning travellers, he leads over 4,500 colleagues on four continents, focusing on quality, innovation and sustainable growth.
Mr Butcher joined Langham Hotels International in 2002 as Managing Director of Eaton Hotel Hong Kong and the 665-room Mongkok district development later known as Langham Place Hotel. Under his leadership, Langham Place, Mongkok, Hong Kong won the gold champion award from The Hong Kong Management Association for its Total Quality Management deployment.
He then moved into Vice President roles for Sales & Marketing, Branding as well as Langham Place Worldwide Operations, serving as an integral part of the team that launched Langham Hotels International on the world stage in 2005.
Mr Butcher started his career in 1980, after graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality Management from QAC (now known as the University of Queensland, Gatton College) in his native Australia. His first role in the business was as a trainee manager for a well-known hotel chain in Boston, Massachusetts. He remained with the company for 18 years, rising through its ranks from various hotel executive positions to Asia-Pacific regional roles, eventually becoming a Hotel Managing Director and Area Manager.
In April 2009 he became the CEO of Langham Hotels International.
Ms Cheng has over 15 years of experience in hospitality-sector human resources management.
Her professional background includes a wide range of projects related to organisational changes, human resources development, implementation and execution.
Ms Cheng directs the alignment of human resources practices and policies between existing and new LHI properties.
Mr. Jessop has over 28 years of hospitality experience working for luxury hotel groups in Thailand, Australia and China. He has participated in five property openings, three of which were in the upscale branch of The Luxury Collection. He has also led other two 5-star hotels' Brand Steering Committee. Mr. Jessop was formally Regional Vice President– Asia who spearheaded the group's drive to secure new properties globally.
As Vice President Development (Worldwide), Mr. Jessop will lead the Development teams of International, North America, China and Asia & Middle East regions, spearheading the business expansion worldwide.
Mr Luk is a finance specialist with more than 20 years of experience in group and regional financial control as well as hotel acquisitions.
His areas of expertise include financial planning, management and control, as well as business management.
Mr Luk is in charge of the hotel project analysis, researches, legal and finance function and works closely with the Holding Company, Great Eagle Holding, on hotel investment opportunities. He works on the alignment of financial strategy, planning, business management, and controls across the growing number of hotels and assets in the Langham Hospitality Group portfolio.
Simon is a seasoned hotel professional with more than 22 years of sales and marketing experience in luxury hotel groups. His experience includes assignments in North America, Middle East and Europe and for the last 16 years in Asia Pacific.
Before joining us, Simon was the Regional Vice President of Marriott International, responsible for operating revenues of 75 hotels worldwide. Under his leadership, Ritz Carlton had been successfully expanded from 3 to 18 hotels in Asia Pacific region while also launching different sub brands such as BVLGARI Resorts, Ritz Carlton Residences and Ritz Carlton Reserve.
With his extensive experience in sales and marketing, Simon will lead the team to deliver promising revenues and market share growth for Langham Hospitality Group.
Ms. Benson has more than 30 years of hospitality experience and has held executive positions at luxury hotels in Middle East, China, Australia, United Kingdom and USA.
As Regional Vice President – The Americas and Caribbean, Ms. Benson oversees the existing properties in North America and spearheads the group's future development strategically in North America, South America and Caribbean. Previously she was the Regional Vice President of North America and Europe and Managing Director of The Langham, London, where she had successfully relaunched and repositioned Langham's flagship hotel to be one of Europe's premier hotels.
Ms Benson has been Australian Hotelier of the Year, holds an MBA degree and is a member of The Institute of Company Directors U.K and Australia.
Mr. Palmer joined Langham Hospitality Group in 2004 when The Langham London was rebranded. He had led the most important and complex refurbishment in the group at that heritage hotel, which is now truly on brand and is undoubtedly one of the premier properties in London. Mr. Palmer then moved to The Langham Hong Kong as Managing Director and was also appointed Vice President of Design of The Langham Hotels & Resorts as well as Regional Director of Operation for Indonesia. In his previous role at The Langham Hong Kong, the hotel achieved one of the best guest and colleague satisfaction scores in the group.
As Regional Vice President – Europe, Mr. Palmer helps the company strategically grow the group's brands in Europe with the right opportunities as they present themselves. At the same time, he serves as Managing Director of The Langham, London.
Mr. van den Oord brings more than 20 years of measurable success leading organizations and strategic initiatives for building hospitality brands in North America, Europe and Asia. In his current role, he has brought innovation and creativity in developing the Group's brands direction. In addition, he oversees The Langham Hong Kong as Managing Director. Mr. van den Oord has served Langham Hospitality Group in various leadership capacities for a decade, including Managing Director of Eaton Hong Kong and Vice President - Sales & Marketing.
Mr. Young has over 28 years of hospitality experience spanning from food & beverage, rooms and operations gained from well-known international hotels group in various major cities like Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, Singapore, Guangzhou and Tianjin.
His former regional responsibilities included supporting over 50 hotels under a number of brands covering China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. He also served as Regional VP - South China where he oversaw more than 30 hotels operations in China, supporting hotel openings, re-branding, and managing owner relationships.
He returned to Hong Kong in 2009 after more than 5 years in Shanghai. His most recent role was VP – Operations for a Hong-Kong based hotel management group.
As Regional Vice President – China, Mr. Young will leverage his extensive China experience to lead the rapidly growing hotels operations for all Langham Hospitality Group brands in China.