The ACC Hong Kong (formerly HKCCA) is managed by the Board of Directors, which comprise voluntary representatives from the corporate counsel community, who are elected for three year terms at the ACC Hong Kong's annual general meeting. The Board meets regularly to plan and organise ongoing events, seminars and conferences for its members and to further the ACC Hong Kong’s objectives.
Kat Kukreja, President
Kat is engaged as a Legal Consultant through Lawyers on Demand, providing legal support to organizations with the financial services and fintech sectors. She also is a Consultant (Policy & Regulatory Affairs) to the Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA), contributing to the policy agenda and various advocacy initiatives of EPAA. In addition to her role with ACC Hong Kong, Kat sits on the Board of the Fintech Association of Hong Kong, where she is active in policy and advocacy initiatives within the Hong Kong FinTech sector, and acts as Board Sponsor to the Blockchain & Web3 Committee, as well as the Big Data & AI Committee.
Kat has worked in-house at both buy-side and sell-side institutions, including Wellington Management and JP Morgan, as well as with a number of start-up and early-growth companies. Her experience covers a broad spectrum of capital markets work (debt and equity), litigation, and regulatory and policy matters from her time at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Kat holds an LLB from the University of East Anglia, a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Skills from the City University of London and is a qualified English and Hong Kong barrister. She also has an Executive MBA from INSEAD.
Ann Leung, General Secretary
Ann Leung is the APAC Head of Corporate & Commercial Legal for BGC Partners, one of the world’s largest money brokerage houses in the wholesale/institutional client space. She oversees the commercial legal department for all the brands and divisions of the BGC group in the APAC region (including GFI, Sunrise, RP Martin and Ginga), covering HK, China, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Philippines and Australia. Her role spans a broad spectrum of corporate work including regulatory and internal investigations, restructuring and M&A, corporate governance, and commercial contracts.
Prior to going in-house, Ann was a private practice lawyer at internationally renowned firms including DLA Piper in Hong Kong and Eversheds LLP in London. She trained as a junior lawyer at Ebsworth & Ebsworth in Sydney and obtained her Combined Arts/Law degree from the University of Sydney. She is admitted to practice in New South Wales, England & Wales and Hong Kong, and has over 20 years of post-qualification experience. She speaks English, Cantonese and some Mandarin.
Ann is Co-Chair of the Financial Services Committee of the Association of Corporate Counsel HK. Ann is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, and is a keen supporter of The Women’s Foundation, having been a mentor for the 2017-18 TWF cohort and an advisory council member. Ann is also an enthusiastic proponent of Community outreach and involvement and is a member of the Fundraising Committee of Feeding HK, Hong Kong’s largest food bank.
Eddie Bao, Treasurer
Eddie Bao is Senior Legal Counsel & Director at SS&C Technologies, a software and consulting services company focused primarily on the financial services industry. As Head of Legal APAC, Eddie has responsibility for all legal matters across Asia Pacific. This includes being an integral member of the senior management team in the region, negotiating customer contracts across SS&C’s many software clients and fund administration clients, Human Resources matters, compliance matters, data privacy, and anything and everything that can come across his desk.
Prior to working at SS&C Technologies, Eddie worked at Ciena as Corporate Counsel, APAC (based in Hong Kong), a telecommunications network hardware and software provider. He also has private practice experience working in the Technology Media Telecommunications team at Gilbert + Tobin in Melbourne and the Mergers and Acquisitions team at King & Wood Mallesons in Melbourne.
Eddie maintains a strong interest in the technology space sharing knowledge and experience between in house counsel across the industry. He is admitted to practice in Victoria, Australia and holds a Bachelor of Law (Hon) and Bachelor of Commerce from Monash University in Melbourne.
Candy Au
Candy Au is an Assistant Vice President in the Listing Department of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX). Prior to joining HKEX, Ms. Au was a legal counsel at the Securities and Futures Commission advising on regulatory matters and handling civil and criminal proceedings. Before becoming an in-house counsel, Ms. Au was in private practice in Hong Kong with Linklaters and King & Wood Mallesons focusing on regulatory litigation and investigation and was appointed as a Judicial Assistant at the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal and the High Court.
Ms. Au has over 15 years of experience in international and local pro bono and community work. She is currently a committee member of the pro bono committees of ACC HK and the Law Society of Hong Kong. During the period at private practice, she managed pro bono projects including training UN interns and local human rights lawyers on case management skills at the United Nations Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia. Ms. Au has also led a global team for a legal research project on the rights of ethnic minority children with special education needs, prepared refugee status applications and conducted mock interviews, as well as leading a research group for an amicus brief in support of a petition to the Supreme Court of the United States for a person being subjected to the death penalty and providing monthly advice for the Duty Lawyer Service Free Legal Advice Scheme. Ms. Au also sits on other charitable boards and committees, supporting diversity and inclusion, women’s empowerment and environmental protection.
Ms. Au received her LL.B (Hons) from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong, and speaks English, Cantonese, and Mandarin.
Giselle Bates
Giselle Bates is Group General Counsel – APAC for Allegis Group. Allegis Group is headquartered in Baltimore and is one of the world’s largest consulting services, contract and permanent recruitment businesses.
At Allegis, Ms. Bates leads a legal and company secretarial team spread across, Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, Australia and India.
Before joining Allegis Group in 2019, Ms. Bates had broad experience leading multi-jurisdictional and multi-cultural legal and compliance teams, with a particular focus on Asia having spent 14 years living in Hong Kong and Japan.
Most of Ms. Bates career has been spent in-house and her practice has focused on commercial contracts, mergers and acquisitions, employment, litigation, and compliance including investigations and regulatory matters. But her passion is developing people and helping her team members succeed in their roles, including by using technology to help them be more efficient and better serve the businesses they support.
In the past, Ms. Bates has been a mentor through AustCham Hong Kong’s mentorship program and in Japan through Women in Law. She volunteers in Hong Kong at the legal clinic run by HELP for Domestic Workers.
Before moving in house, Ms. Bates practiced predominantly in commercial and industrial real estate at Minter Ellison in Melbourne and Ashurst in Sydney and Melbourne. She is admitted to practice in the Supreme Courts of Victoria and New South Wales. Giselle has a BA (Japanese) and LLB (hons) from Monash University.
Fiona Chiu
Fiona Chiu is currently the General Counsel and Company Secretary of First Pacific Company Limited, a Hong Kong-based investment holding company with investments located in the Asia Pacific, with a focus on consumer food products, telecommunications, infrastructure, and natural resources sectors. Prior to joining First Pacific in May 2022, Fiona was an Executive Director in the Hong Kong office of Goldmans Sachs, leading a team in the Compliance Department covering the Investment Banking Division (mergers & acquisitions, and equity/debt capital markets businesses) in Asia, ex-Japan.
Prior to that Fiona has also held senior leadership roles in investment banking and corporate banking compliance at both JP Morgan and HSBC. Fiona was a seasoned corporate finance lawyer in private practice before becoming a financial services compliance professional. She has spent 18 years undertaking roles across legal, governance, and compliance in Hong Kong.
Fiona holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B (Hons)) from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Laws from the City University of Hong Kong. She is admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong. Fiona speaks English, Mandarin, and Cantonese, and reads and writes English and Chinese.
Susan Lai
Susan Lai is currently the Legal Counsel at Alibaba Group, responsible for overseeing the legal compliance matters in APAC and European regions.
During her private practice career, Ms. Lai worked at Miao & Co. (In Association with Han Kun Law Offices) and Fairbairn Catley Low & Kong, advised on numerous equity and debt capital market transactions, including global offerings and listings and bond offerings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, rights issues and share placements, mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations and takeovers. Prior to her legal practice, Ms. Lai worked in a top-tier leading multinational company secretarial firm providing services to over 40% of the global fortune 500 companies where she has built up her solid experience in advising corporate clients on company secretarial matters.
Outside of ACC, Ms. Lai is currently the National Secretary General of Junior Chamber International Hong Kong, a mentor of The Law Society of Hong Kong, and a member of Hong Kong Federation of Women Lawyers Limited. She was the 2021 President for Junior Chamber International Bauhinia, which is a female organization targeting members from 18 to 40 years old to participate as an active citizen to contribute to the society. During her year of presidency, leading 100+ members, Ms. Lai successfully lined up 73 strategic partners (including various government departments, business sectors, and NGOs like Rotary and Lions Club), 17 overseas chapters and raised significant revenue for chapter operations. It is Ms. Lai’s desire to lead ACC to achieve the same.
Ms. Lai obtained her Bachelor of Laws (LLB) Degree and Postgraduate Certificate in Laws from the University of Hong Kong.
Jacqueline Ng
Jacqueline Ng is a Managing Director and APAC Head of Legal for Investment Management at BNY Mellon. Based in Hong Kong, Jacqueline manages a team of lawyers in Hong Kong and Tokyo supporting BNYM’s funds and distribution business in locations across the APAC region.
Prior to joining BNY Mellon, Jacqueline was part of the in-house legal team at EY Hong Kong, covering legal affairs for Hong Kong and Greater China. In private practice, she was an M&A and Corporate Finance lawyer with Norton Rose Fulbright. Jacqueline is a qualified solicitor of New South Wales, Australia.
Andrew Olson
Andrew Olson is Legal Counsel of PRADA Asia Pacific Limited and is based in Hong Kong. He is responsible for the legal affairs of the PRADA group, one of the world's leading luxury brands, in the Asia Pacific region excluding Japan. This encompasses a wide range of work including both commercial and intellectual property matters.
Prior to joining PRADA, Mr. Olson was in private practice in Hong Kong for ten years, initially at Slaughter and May, and then at Wilkinson & Grist. During that period he handled a wide variety of commercial transactions including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate finance and commercial contracts.
Mr. Olson graduated from Cambridge University in UK and holds an M.A. (Hons) Law degree. He is admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and England and Wales.
Priscilla Piergoelam
Priscilla is Lead Senior Legal Counsel, Legal Content & Digitization at SAP, a market leader in enterprise cloud services and application software with customers across more than 180 countries. Her focus is leading the creation of legal content (including policies and guidelines for the global legal community), design and support digitization, and manage the legal content application for use across SAP globally.
When joining in 2015, Priscilla was leading the Legal Department in the Netherlands being responsible for all legal matters. This includes being an integral member of the senior management team in the Netherlands, negotiating customer contracts, compliance matters, data privacy topics, company secretarial matters, litigation, and everything else that can come across her desk while coaching a small team. Priscilla has a passion to share knowledge, inspire development in other people, and bring people together. To achieve this, she joined the ACC Seminars committee and ACC Member Engagement committee as a member. Priscilla hopes to create an informal community via easily accessible and informal activities where the ACC members can connect to share knowledge and create their own professional and personal network.
Before taking on a global role, she served as a Regional Counsel for the Greater China and Asia-Pacific and Japan region, based out of Hong Kong, focussed on cloud, cyber security and data privacy. Priscilla holds the CIPP/E and CIPP/M data privacy certifications. Priscilla received her Bachelor’s degree (LL.B) and Master’s degree (LL.M) from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Legal Business and Technology certification from the Santa Clara University in California and holds two post-graduate degrees from the Radboud University in Nijmegen.
Winnie Tse
Winnie Tse is Senior Legal Counsel of Sinopec Century Bright Capital Investment Limited (“Sinopec Century”). Sinopec Century is the sole overseas treasury centre of China Petrochemical Corporation (“Sinopec Group”) focused on internal and external financing and conducting derivatives trade for Sinopec Group and its related entities. Ms. Tse looks after the legal work of Sinopec Century in its Hong Kong, Shenzhen, London, Texas, Singapore and Middle East businesses.
In Ms. Tse’s spare time, she actively devotes herself to contributing to the legal profession and the local community at large. She helps to prepare and give legal talks to schools, NGOs and government organizations on areas such as internet crimes and HK employments rights and responsibilities in her role as a committee member of The Law Society of Hong Kong’s Community Relations Committee. She is a volunteer blogger and events planner at Localhood, a website focused on promoting local businesses, culture and way of life through its blog and events. She is also a seminars committee member of the Association of Corporate Counsels Hong Kong Chapter and has assisted in organizing seminars and webinars since 2022.
Ms. Tse received her LL.B (Hons) from the University of Hong Kong. Ms. Tse is also the holder of the Certificate of Global Sanctions Specialists from the Anti-Money Laundering Specialist Association and the Global Trade Certificate of the International Chamber of Commerce Academy. Ms. Tse earned the ACC Inhouse Counsel Certified (ICC) designation and this program provided her with intensive training on global best practices and core competencies essential to a successful in-house practice. She is admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and speaks English, Cantonese, Mandarin and some French.
Edward Tsim
Edward Tsim is the Legal Director of GoGoX, a fast-growing and dynamic logistics platform that connects shippers and drivers across Asia. Edward is responsible for overseeing all legal matters related to GoGoX's operations covering Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam, and India. This includes contracts, compliance, risk management, litigation, and corporate governance.
As part of his role, he works closely with the senior management, business teams, and external counsel to provide strategic and practical legal advice and support, while managing a team of legal professionals. Edward is a passionate and driven leader who strives to deliver high-quality and innovative solutions for his stakeholders. Prior to joining GoGoX, Edward worked at the Hong Kong office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where he advised clients on a range of transactional matters. Edward read law at King's College London. He holds an MBA from INSEAD, one of the world's leading business schools.
Sandra Wu
As managing director at Centrium Advisory, a consultancy firm specializing in legal, governance and regulatory compliance services, Wu applies her extensive experience across private equity and M&A. Following an extensive private practice career, she previously served as head of legal and compliance at Mercer Investments (HK) Limited. Wu is a mentor at the Women’s Foundation of Hong Kong and is admitted as a solicitor of the High Court of Hong Kong and barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia.
