Opening Ceremony

Chris has 20 years of experience working on large-scale business events. Originally from the UK, Chris has lived and worked in Hong Kong since 2015. Chris moved to Hong Kong to establish a North Asia office for a London-based trade expo organiser and launch a series of digital transformation events. The challenges of living sustainably and a developing concern around the exponential threats of the global climate emergency compelled Chris to “rethink” his own personal contribution to Hong Kong and how he could best make a positive impact on a city he now proudly calls home.

Chris conceived, designed and launched the ReThink HK event during the first part of 2019 – undeterred by the challenges faced by live events at that time, due to civil unrest, the new event concept for uniting the full business and sustainability ecosystem, championing positive action and shared responsibility received excellent support. The inaugural 2020 event was, unsurprisingly, delayed due to COVID but finally ran, in-person, at the K11 Quarry Bay with 450 attendees and all delegate fees were donated to local charities.

Chris’ experience in hosting content-led expo-style healthcare events in the UK, where partnerships and collaboration were crucial to scale and success, provided the foundation for Chris to widen the supporting-network of organisations and sponsors for ReThink HK. The event was moved to the HKCEC for the 2021 edition and resulted in Hong Kong’s best attended event dedicated to the business of sustainability, with over 2,200 attendees. Chris is proud to have maintained the event’s impact pledge; with all delegate fees contributing to impact projects with local Hong Kong charities.

Working alongside the Business Environment Council, Consulates and trade promotion offices, Chambers of Commerce, specialist industry associations, NGOs and action groups the collective ambition for ReThink HK is to accelerate change in Hong Kong – the event returns for its fourth edition this September at the HKCEC, will host over 6,000 attendees and aims to be at least carbon neutral.

All proceeds from delegate fees will be redirected to the newly incorporated Rethink Foundation, a not-for-profit focussed on helping registered NGOs build capacity and operate more sustainably.

Chris received a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and Italian from the University of Plymouth (UK). Chris is a member of the British Chamber of Commerce’s Social Sustainability Committee, sits on the Executive Committee and the Sustainability sub-committee of the Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Industry Association.

My Sustainability Goals for 2024:

• Greater action from businesses to contribute towards a more sustainable HK
• Encourage other event organisers to commit to sustainable solutions
• Demonstrate that businesses can be operated profitably and with purpose

Kevin O’Brien is the Chief Executive of Gammon Construction. He has over 30 years’ extensive management experience in the construction and engineering industry covering both the private and public sectors.  He is a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors. He is the Chairman of the Business Environment Council.

My Sustainability Goals for 2023:

Personal: Taking the best examples and decisions and applying them to my own behaviors and habits.

Business: Start the race on our SBTI journey.

Society: Leading BEC to help Hong Kong accelerate towards net zero.