Crowning Success: Hong Kong as a Home for Global Business

Jim Thompson, GBS
Chairman, Crown Worldwide Group
Past Chairman, American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

An AmCham conversation with Professor Steve DeKrey
Chairman, American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong
Senior Associate Dean, Director of Masters Programs, Adjunct Professor of Management, HKUST Business School

While many would love to succeed at building a global business from Hong Kong, few can achieve the levels of growth and scale in one generation as has Crown founder and chairman Jim Thompson.

Jim will discuss just why he has chosen to base Crown in Asia and specifically in business-friendly Hong Kong. He will share thoughts on the success factors and critical decisions underpinning Crown's decades-long success, and anecdotes of different and memorable issues he has encountered around the world. In addition, Jim will air his thoughts on how a company, and the person who represents it to the community, should relate, mentor and give back to the business community and to Hong Kong at large.

Jim Thompson graduated from San Jose State University with a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering and has lived in Japan and Hong Kong since then. In addition to heading Crown, Jim chairs the Hong Kong Trade Development Council's Logistics Services Advisory Committee and is a member of the Investment Promotion Ambassador Scheme, a Board Member of Ocean Park Corporation and a non-executive Director of the Board of Wharf (Holdings) Ltd. Jim also serves as a member of the Hong Kong Forum and Vision 2047 and as Chairman or on the board of many charitable or non-profit organizations such as the Hong Kong-America Center. He has represented Hong Kong on many of its trade missions around the world. Jim also served two terms in 2003 and 2004 as the Chairman of the AmCham Board of Governors. In 2003 he was awarded Hong Kong's Gold Bauhinia Star.