Dr. Eden Y Woon

President

Dr. Eden Woon is the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, effective from September 1, 2022.

Dr. Woon is an experienced business and academic leader who has also served many years in government and NGOs, and is no stranger to the business community in the Greater China region and beyond, having spent his career in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Thailand, and USA.

Prior to joining AmCham HK, from 2018 to 2022, Dr. Woon was the President of Asian Institute of Technology, an international graduate engineering institute in Bangkok which focuses on sustainability. In 2017-2018, he was the Vice Chairman of Alba Group Asia, an environmental engineering company headquartered in Berlin. From 2010 until November 2017, Dr. Woon was the Vice-President for Institutional Advancement of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. From 2006 to 2010, Dr. Woon was based in Shanghai, being the Managing Director of Li & Fung Group's China Corporate Office and Managing Director of Toys ”R” Us China. He has also been a Vice-President of Starbucks Coffee Company in China. In 1997-2006, Dr. Woon was the CEO of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Woon was the Executive Director of the Seattle-based Washington State China Relations Council from 1994 to 1997. Dr. Woon served in the US Air Force until 1993 when he retired as a Colonel. He once acted as China policy advisor to the US Secretary of Defense and had a stint in Beijing. He also taught Mathematics at the US Air Force Academy for six years, reaching the title of Associate Professor.

Dr. Woon spent his childhood in Hong Kong and received his BA degree from the University of Iowa and his MA, MS, and PhD degrees, all in Mathematics, from the University of Washington in Seattle. He is also a graduate of the National War College in Washington, DC.

A U.S. citizen and fluent speaker of both Mandarin and Cantonese, Dr. Woon serves as Special Advisor to the Shaw Foundation of Hong Kong and a Special Advisor to the President of HKUST.  He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.