Chairman’s Note
2026 Chairman David Butts
Chairman’s Inaugural Priorities Speech
February 2, 2026
1. Introduction
Good afternoon American Chamber members, fellow Board of Governors, business associates, friends of the Chamber, and distinguished guests.
Thank you for the warm welcome. I am extremely honored to be the 2026 Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in HK. It is a duty I plan to fulfill with dedication, integrity, and energy. But as this is my second year as Chairman, I have a lot more wisdom, a more demanding President, and a more outstanding Board, which raises both expectations and accountability.
Bright minds have said that “leadership is about serving and helping people reach their potential”. The Chamber has a way of bringing the best out of people. And I love the leadership challenge!
Today, it is my utmost pleasure to welcome you to our Chairman Luncheon where we lay out the strategic priorities for the Chamber in 2026.
We are on journey with a bold vision for the future of AmCham … and Hong Kong!
Founded in 1969, AmCham is the oldest and largest international chamber in Hong Kong. It reflects the very special relationship between business and government to ensure a thriving and prosperous Hong Kong. A relationship which has stood the test of time and continues as a cornerstone of our mission.
In today’s unpredictable and rapidly changing world, it is important that we continue to enhance Hong Kong's status as an international business center.
We are competing on all levels with other cities and countries, for resources, capital, talent, knowledge, innovation, and technology — a competition that extends even within many of our members’ own multinational businesses.
So, it is my honor to welcome and thank our distinguished guests for their presence: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Acting Commissioner Li Yongsheng and the Convenor the HKSAR Executive Council Regina Ip. I would like to personally thank you both for the numerous opportunities we have had to exchange ideas and share events over the last year. I would also like to welcome the newly appointed United States Consul general, Julie Eadeh. From our conversations, I know she brings a wealth of experience, understanding of business, and real Hong Kong knowledge. She is accompanied by several key members of the US Consulate. Let us give a big hand to ALL our distinguished guests.
And of course, we thank RGA our sponsor, for today.
2. 2025 Review
Looking back, we accomplished a lot in 2025. It was certainly a very exciting year for our members.
AmCham launched 3 key initiatives to strengthen its foundation for a broader, deeper, and more engaged Chamber. This brought immense value to our business stakeholders and government partners during the turbulent transition of a new US President and the global supply chain rebalancing that followed.
I am proud to report that the scorecard on these initiatives is filled with successes.
- The first initiative, massively ramp-up the engagement with CEO and senior management of leading US and multinational businesses operating in Hong Kong.
We created many programs to connect business leaders. A Chairman Lunch series brings together member and non-member CEOs in a small private setting to discuss relevant topics like tariffs and supply chains. We also ran a popular new series of Executive Roundtables, brought in more CEOs onto our Board of Governors, and continued adding new corporate members. We now have close to 500 corporate members with 76% being multinationals. We intensified our effort to recruit more American companies, adding AirBnB, Tumi, and Blackstone among some of the household names that joined. Now 60% of our members have US headquarters. We hit the highest membership renewal rate in recent memory at around 90%!
- The second initiative, accelerate the disciplined forging of strong and honest relationships with HKSAR, China, and US Governments.
President Eden and his team are extraordinary in this area.
The AmCham team have been able to maintain our relationships and remain connected as volatility in geopolitics and trade policy greatly affected our members. About a third of our programs were devoted to keeping our members up to date on the ever-changing policies, helping them navigate challenges and make business decisions. We met many HKSAR Government officials, US officials, and Beijing officials, playing our role of advocacy and ensuring that our members’ needs and wishes are well understood and communicated.
Our flagship was the China Conference that drew a lot of attention with keynote speaker former Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. We had 300 attendees and the panel discussions were of exceptional quality. We also organized a Beijing Doorknock, delegations to Chinese provinces and cities, and the always interesting Washington DC Doorknock.
- Thirdly, double-down on improving our service to members and enhancing the effectiveness of our committees – we do this through high-quality relevant content, constructive idea sharing, and expanding the reach of business.
Committees are what deeply connects us to industry issues – whether facing opportunities, embracing new technology, changing regulations, or other challenges. They are the primary engagement channel for members. We operate 17 committees across nearly every sector of business and professional functions.
Last year we reworked the leadership process of our committees to keep them fresh and provide future Board of Governors possibilities. Links to the Board were strengthened with each Board member working closer with a designated committee and regular reporting at Board meetings. These connections streamline the communication flow of relevant topics and challenges our membership face.
We had over 200 events last year. The committees ran programs in sustainability, finance, human resources, health care, and arts and sports business. The highly regarded “Women of Influence” (WOI) committee expanded their programs over the whole year, including a very popular “SheLeads” luncheon with its flagship Awards Gala in March.
The “Future of Hong Kong” series featured several seminars that help provide context and insight to our members as they look ahead for opportunities. Talent development is a core need of our members, so we successfully tested more offerings in lifelong learning, with the “Future Leaders Program” for young executives, now in its 6th year, added more professional skills development workshops, and even a Summer Minicamp for junior high kids.
Throughout the year, we hosted corporate-sponsored thought leadership programs within various business sectors for our members. And last November, we kicked our shoes off and “Waltzed in Wanchai” at our Annual Ball, benefiting wonderful local charities. A word of thanks to all the sponsors throughout the year.
Additionally, I would like to thank all the members for their generosity for Tai Po’s victims of the fire.
3. 2026 Outlook
We have entered 2026 with momentum. Our members are optimistic. The Board sees opportunities.
The difficult US-China relationship looks to be in a temporary trade truce, we will once again provide timely and insightful advice to our members on geopolitics and trade issues.
There may even be four Summits between Presidents Xi and Trump this year, which means there will be plenty of policy movements one way or the other, and our members need to be on top of that.
One of the Summits may be at the Shenzhen APEC meeting late this year. Hong Kong will be involved and we will work with the HKSAR Government, the MFA, and the US Consulate to see how we can play a role.
After several years, we will finally see some senior USG officials coming this way, and we will capitalize on that.
Similarly, we expect many global CEOs to come through Hong Kong this year, especially during APEC, and our “Distinguished Speakers Series” is designed to take advantage of their presence here.
And I must mention the 250th anniversary of the US, which the Consulate will be celebrating throughout the year.
All these visits and dialogue create better understanding in the US of today’s Hong Kong.
What does this mean for the Chamber, in 2026 we will be going even bigger on the journey to build the AmCham of the future... and ignite our members’ success!
We are continuing to activate the 3 initiatives of 2025 – we want more American Companies, more senior executive engagement, more access to business and governments, more high-caliber events, and more committee involvement. This means drilling down deeper, fine-tuning our content and expanding key programs.
First, building on the success of member-demanded programs with a tighter focus on current information, business engagement, and professional development.
Our members will see a full slate of programs that are aimed at keeping our members informed and providing professional development workshops on topics of interest to members, from leadership to AI to wealth management. We are introducing a new program to help Chinese and Hong Kong companies do business with America. The landmark China Conference in April is lined up again with exciting speakers and panelist.
Second, the Chamber will leverage its relationships to support its members and strengthen its profile.
The Chamber has established rock-solid credibility. We plan to slowly rise from our low profile of the past three years to be a more proactive commercial bridge between the parties. We will continue to champion Hong Kong as a place to live and do business. Not only will we communicate with the three governments, but we want to help them communicate with each other on issues which affect business here.
I was once told by another International Chamber Board Member, “only the American Chamber can bring everyone together.”
4. People and Culture
Our successes and bold vision are only the starting point. The Chamber must be agile and evolve in the world we operate in.
As an accomplished business leader, I know that success of an organization is because of its people and culture. Here AmCham excels. We benefit from the amazing people that are involved, giving their time, ideas, connections, and with abilities needed to be successful in today’s climate. We benefit from the depth of our membership and their places in the business community.
In 2026, our core leadership team is staying together. I am pleased that Sally Peng of FTI, continues as Vice Chairman, and Greg de Ferriere of Logitech brings leadership as our Treasurer. These two will form a strong core of the 9-person Executive Committee of the Board.
We continue to fill our Board of Governors with highly successful business leaders. This year we are pleased to have 4 new members who have been selected from of a pool of top business leaders in Hong Kong:
- Wayne Chang, managing director of National Basketball Association (NBA) Asia, the world’s largest sports league
- Stacey Chow, partner, Brunswick Group, a global advisory firm
- Kam Shing Kwang, chief executive officer, Hong Kong and chair, North Asia, J.P. Morgan Chase, the storied American investment bank
- Scott Price, group chief executive of Dairy Farms International Retail Group, a subsidiary of Jardine Matheson and a classic Hong Kong firm with a 10,000-strong retail network across China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.
I am thrilled to have each of you on the Board. You bring fresh ideas, deep business knowledge, experience, and connections. You will be important leaders in setting the strategic direction of the Chamber and overseeing governance in the future.
To do all the things I mention, the AmCham members, the Board, and I can count on the very active committee leaders, and on our loyal, hard-working staff, led by our exceptional President Eden Woon. I am sad that this will be the last year for Eden at AmCham, something to do with him not wishing to continue working when he turns 80! But not to worry, we plan to get the most out of him on these priorities! On a personal note, Eden continues to be mentor to me, which has been one of the best rewards from my AmCham experience.
5. Survey
Finally, the results of the recent “AmCham HK Business Sentiment Survey” will now be unveiled by our Director of Corporate Affairs Queenie, and you will find the results interesting. Let me just give you a hint: The most surprising thing about them is that they were little changed from a year ago, despite all the tariffs turmoil!
6. Closing
Wrapping up, it is our goal to provide members with timely advocacy, knowledge, ideas, networking, profile, and fun.
I hope you will find value in your membership as I have.
But the purpose of AmCham is not only to provide superb and relevant service to members, but to play a key role in the local economy, and with a changing Hong Kong, we are working hard and arguing passionately to keep Hong Kong international.
I am very excited about the potential of AmCham, our working relationships with government, and our awesome members ranging from multinational companies, US companies, HK companies, China companies, and a flourishing start-up community.
We have a culture that embraces all businesses.
Ladies and Gentlemen, our future is very bright, but it is up to all of us to be involved in making it happen.
Together, we make the American Chamber a great Hong Kong success story!
Thank you very much!
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