The appointment, effective Aug. 1, will see Kuok filling a leadership vacancy that began when Lim Beng Chee resigned in December 2022 following nearly six years as CEO.
Here is a closer look at the professional and personal life of the businesswoman leading one of Asia’s most prominent hotel groups.
She is Asia’s 40th most powerful woman
Kuok was ranked 40th on Fortune magazine’s list of the 100 most powerful women in Asia last year.
She has a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Harvard University and had previously served as managing director and CEO of SCMP Group, the publisher of the South China Morning Post, and a director of the Bangkok Post, according to Shangri-La’s website.
Prior to stepping into the CEO role, Kuok had been an executive director at Shangri-La Asia since June 2016 and its chairman since January 2017. Under her current contract, she receives a base salary of HK$576,000 (US$73,376) per month, along with a discretionary bonus and pension, Malay Mail reported.
She holds major stake in Shangri-La Asia
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Kuok Hui Kwong, executive director and chairman of Shangri-La Group. Photo courtesy of Shangri-La Group |
Kuok directly and indirectly holds a combined 95.57 million shares in Shangri-La Asia, accounting for roughly 2.7% of the group. She also owns more than 5% of one of its major shareholders, Kerry Group, according to the New Straits Times.
As outlined in its 2024 annual report, Shangri-La Asia owns 81 of the 100-plus hotels it operates across four key brands: Shangri-La, Kerry, Hotel Jen, and Traders. The group’s hotel assets carry a total net asset value of US$10.83 billion.
Last year, the company generated US$2.19 billion in revenue, a 2% year-on-year increase. However, net profit declined by 12.3% to US$161.4 million.
It employed approximately 25,500 people as of the end of 2024, down 2.3% from the previous year. In an interview cited by SCMP, Kuok said the company had laid off “the least number of people in the industry” during the Covid-19 pandemic as part of its effort to support staff through the crisis.
She is environmentally conscious
Kuok tends to keep a low profile, but she has been active for several years and recently become popular on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu.
She shared details of her personal life on the app, including habits she adopted to protect the environment, according to The Straits Times.
She says she brings a glass lunch box to restaurants to pack leftover food and reduce waste, uses reusable tableware and carries a reusable water bottle when hiking or going to the cinema to avoid single-use plastic.
“The rate of our product consumption keeps increasing… At this rate, we might need to find a new planet to live on,” she wrote in a post.
She is family-oriented
Kuok is the sixth of eight children of billionaire tycoon Robert Kuok, who founded Shangri-La in 1971.
Robert currently reigns as Malaysia’s wealthiest individual with an estimated net worth of US$11.4 billion, as ranked by Forbes in April.
Despite her demanding career, Kuok, who is married with three children to Bryan Gaw, places great value on spending time with her family, including her father. She believes quality time is the most meaningful gift a parent can give to children.
“What they need is your company and the time you spend with them,” she said on Xiaohongshu. “Whenever I recall my childhood, my best memories growing up were the times I spent with my parents.”
She has also shared fond memories with her father, including a trip to New York where he struck up such a warm conversation with a cab driver that the man refused to accept payment, saying he felt like they had become old friends by the end of the ride.
“One of the best traits of my father is how sincere he is to others,” she said.
