Clement C J Chen

Dr Clement C J Chen

Doctor of Business Administration, honoris causa (2025)

Dr Clement C J Chen has devoted himself to a worthy life of service to our community, to the Chinese nation, and to our beloved alma mater, Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU). The narrative arc of his professional life tells a remarkably consistent story: of love for the under-served students in both vocational and tertiary sectors, of his commitment to the broadening of their life opportunities and that of their families, and of his pride and leadership as one of the pioneering stewards of the regional integration with the Greater Bay Area, Guangdong, which has quickened pace by virtue of specific and impactful initiatives in which Dr Chen has played a central role over the years.

Dr Chen first apprenticed, then rose, under his father, Chen Yuan Chu, in the family business, a textile production plant, Tai Hing Cotton Mill Limited, which was originally founded in 1957. Based in Castle Peak, New Territories, the Tai Hing cotton mill prospered under the Chen family, reaching its peak capacity in the early 1990s. As textile factories moved offshore to regional markets elsewhere in China and Asia, full automation of Tai Hing was achieved by the late 1980s. The company’s manufacturing base has been replaced by a property leasing and financial investment portfolio in more recent years.

This shift Dr Chen has overseen in Tai Hing, evolving from the hard, manufacturing skillsets of mill employees toward the more portable soft-skills in the knowledge and creative industries economy, tracks the transformation of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (HKSAR) since the 1990s. Noting this transformation matters, because it illustrates how Dr Chen has sought, similarly, to build safe landings and onward life opportunities for students entering the workforce for the first time, as well as re-entry workers in need of upskilling and retraining to sustain their livelihoods. Always a supporter of the skilled trades, Dr Chen has remained steadfast when championing the innate talents and creativity of workers and students from all backgrounds, cultivating their intellect for whole-person development, and fostering their imaginative potentials as key stakeholders in society.  This mission has remained constant, even as the demands of industry have grown with supply chain, logistics and value-capture having increased in orders of magnitude and complexity. Advocating student training for skills advancement, but also ensuring the creation-of-value pathways for student learning beyond skills, is a hallmark and unique aspect of Dr Chen’s leadership.

The story of Tai Hing, and Dr Chen’s family association with it, modelled Dr Chen’s own career-long commitment to building those many institutions he has served. Early on, Dr Chen recognized the unharnessed value in working families and has always believed that more can be done to scaffold educational opportunities for them and their children. After being educated abroad (Bachelor of Engineering, McMaster University, and Master of Science, Columbia University), Dr Chen took the best practices he had learned in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and in New York City and sought to apply them effectively locally. Starting off at the helm of the Vocational Training Council’s (VTC’s) Textile and Clothing Training Board, Dr Chen first began to advise upon tailor-made curricula designed for effective student learning and teaching, and rapidly rising to become Member, Deputy Council Chairman, then Council Chairman—which honourable service led, in turn, to his appointment in other industry and government-facing roles: Member of the Textiles Advisory Board, Chairman of the Hong Kong Cotton Spinners Association, Member of the Labour Advisory Board, Chairman of the Hong Kong Productivity Council, and Chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries to name only a few of the many.

Having earned the trust of working students and their families, Dr Chen’s steady hand and thoughtful mien was called upon increasingly by the Government of the HKSAR to serve or chair select committees addressing some of the most intractable and sensitive issues including: the Standing Committee on Judicial Salaries and Conditions of Service; Manpower Development Committee; Steering Committee on Innovation and Technology; Economic Development Commission; and the Youth Education, Employment and Training Task Force. Always pleased to serve his community, Dr Chen particularly enjoyed his tenure as Chairman of the Standing Committee on Youth Skills Competition of Hong Kong, where his curation of this “Olympics” of global skills competitions showcased the very best of the HKSAR’s youth poised to launch their careers toward post-industrial value chains, including fostering the HKSAR’s world-leading talent in robotics and the culinary arts. Across the diversity of these roles, one common theme stands out: Dr Chen recognized early, and came to champion as an exemplar, that aligning with Chinese Mainland markets remained the best opportunity for the betterment and long-term sustainability of the HKSAR industry. Dr Chen’s forward vision has ensured that the HKSAR’s own uniqueness as a space and place for the incubation of student talent would be better leveraged on the national stage.

Dedicated to serving the University community at HKBU, Dr Chen held the position of Chairman of the Council and the Court for six years, from January 2019 to December 2024. His stewardship was instrumental in shaping the University’s strategic growth and achievements during this period, including oversight over the planning of the Jockey Club Campus of Creativity and HKBU’s successful bid, in 2021, as the contractor for the service deed of the HKSAR’s first Chinese medicine hospital. During his tenure, Dr Chen also took a particular interest in deepening and strengthening the ties of “one university, two campuses” between HKBU in Kowloon Tong and our sister campus in Zhuhai (recently renamed as Beijing Normal–Hong Kong Baptist University (BNBU)).

Consistent throughout, Dr Chen’s life story of service speaks for itself: his love for his community, his country, and most especially for those most humble and under-served working families among us. Serving them—serving us most recently at HKBU—has been where he has put his heart. Buoyed by such career-long purpose, Dr Chen has made his task institution-building and nurturing forward-thinking capacity—not only for their own sake, but for those persons and their families who are the beating heart of any institution. One student, one colleague, one worker, one family, at a time—Dr Chen has always dutifully answered the calls of those students, colleagues, and citizens around him. He has always strived to make any institution he ever served not only a more productive, but perhaps even more important, a more caring place.