Hong Kong lesbian who shunned $65m man tops our LGBT ranking
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
On a weekday morning in the third tallest building in Hong Kong, the phone is ringing relentlessly in Gigi Chao’s office. “Boss is looking for you,” says one of her staff. Ms Chao dashes out to give a quick answer.
Ms Chao is the executive vice-chairman of Cheuk Nang Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed property developer run by her father, the billionaire Cecil Chao. The 37-year old has also been, since a 2012 media imbroglio, one of Asia’s most visibly out lesbians.
After Ms Chao announced her civil union with her female partner, Sean Eav, her father publicly offered a $65m bounty to any man who could woo and marry Ms Chao. Mr Chao doubled the offer in 2014 but it only prompted his daughter to write an open letter to the South China Morning Post declaring that men “are just not for me”.
“In Europe, one can say being gay is cool. In Asia, we are far from that,” says Ms Chao. She once explained that in Chinese culture, coming out as homosexual is seen as “blatant disrespect to your parents”.
Ms Chao has revealed her identity while many Asian countries have yet to recognise LGBT rights. This year, a Chinese court rejected the nation’s first same-sex marriage case after a one-day hearing, while the Singaporean government warned foreign companies not to back gay pride events.
With her business focused on China and Malaysia, both still conservative about homosexuality, her marital status is usually a “conversation-stopper”, Ms Chao says. “People keep asking me if I have a boyfriend. It’s quite a leap to go from that mentality to say ‘actually, I am gay’.” Searching for ways to “land it softly on them” and “not to seem rude”, Ms Chao usually responds that she has a partner and uses the pronoun “she”.
The embarrassment of her father’s bounty did not stop Ms Chao from becoming one of the most outspoken gay rights advocates in Hong Kong. She is a founding member of the Big Love Alliance, a charity that campaigns for LGBT rights and organises the largest pride event, Pink Dot HK, in the Chinese territory.
She likes to quote the late Harvey Milk, the first openly gay government official in the US, on the “conspiracy of silence”.
“I think it’s important to break through the fear and self-censorship,” she says of confronting one’s LGBT identity, adding that people in Asia disproportionately worry about how difficult it is to come out in the professional world.
Ms Chao started in her father’s business but says she was fired because she was paying too much attention to her public relations company side project. This she went on to run full time and succeeded in acquiring clients that included Rolex and Montblanc.
She returned to Cheuk Nang in 2011 and works alongside her 80-year-old father, overseeing various projects in Asia.
The multi-million-dollar marriage offer is no longer on the table, yet her father still believes his daughter was just too young to decide on the right man. Ms Chao describes this as “an interesting attitude”.
She respects her father, she says, adding that “we will always have things we have different opinions on.”
That is “something I came to terms with,” Ms Chao concludes.
Top 100 LGBT Executives
1 Gigi Chao executive vice-chairman, Cheuk Nang Holdings Limited
2 Inga Beale chief executive, Lloyd's of London
3 Alan Joyce chief executive, Qantas
4 Martine Rothblatt chief executive, United Therapeutics Corporation
5 Stacey Friedman general counsel, JPMorgan
6 David Furnish chief executive, Rocket Entertainment Group
7 Jonathan Mildenhall chief marketing officer, Airbnb
8 Liz Bingham partner, EY
9 Mary Portas executive creative director, Portas Agency
10 Louis Vega chief of staff, office of the chairman and chief executive, Dow Chemical Company
11 Peter Arvai chief executive, Prezi
12 Christopher Bailey chief creative officer and chief executive, Burberry
13 Alex Schultz vice-president, growth, Facebook
14 Vivienne Ming managing partner, Socos
15 Paul Wood chief risk and compliance officer, Bloomberg
16 Angela Darlington chief risk officer, Aviva
17 Brian Bickell chief executive, Shaftesbury
18 David Palumbo partner, Baker & McKenzie
19 David Isaac head of advanced manufacturing and technology, Pinsent Masons
20 Sally Susman executive vice-president, corporate affairs, Pfizer
21 Jon Miller partner, Brunswick Group
22 Arjan Dijk vice-president of marketing, Google
23 Cindy Armine-Klein executive vice-president and chief control officer, First Data Corporation
24 Gerry Stone managing director, Bank of America
25 Robert Hanson chief executive, John Hardy
26 Jan Gooding group brand director, Aviva
27 Justin D’Agostino global head of disputes and joint managing partner Asia and Australia, Herbert Smith Freehills
28 Jim Fitterling president and chief operating officer, Dow Chemical Company
29 Sander van ’t Noordende group chief executive products, Accenture
30 Sara Geater chief operating officer, All3Media
31 Mark Anderson managing director, Virgin Holidays
32 Alison McFadyen group head, internal audit, Standard Chartered Bank
33 Antonia Belcher founding member and senior partner, MHBC
34 Andrew Wilson chief information officer, Accenture
35 Cynthia Fortlage vice-president IT and social business, GHY International
36 Dan Crisp chief information risk officer, BNY Mellon
37 Dennis Layton partner, McKinsey & Company
38 Denny Tu head of strategy and planning, Sky
39 Josh Graff UK country manager and vice-president, Emea, LinkedIn
40 Lawrence Spicer vice-president, personal and commercial banking, internal audit service, RBC
41 Mark Gossington partner, financial services, PwC
42 Michael Sosso vice-president, ethics and compliance, BP
43 Rob Hudson group finance director, St Modwen Properties
44 Andy Woodfield partner, PwC
45 Misa von Tunzelman UK lead director, marketing and communications, JLL
46 Steve Wardlaw chair and co-founder, Emerald Life
47 Susan Silbermann president and general manager, vaccines, Pfizer
48 Kevin Jenkins managing director, UK and Ireland, Visa
49 Adam Rowse managing director, Barclays Business Coverage, Barclays
50 Daniel Gerring partner, Travers Smith
51 Deian Rhys partner, Simmons & Simmons
52 Jeffrey Krogh managing director, BNP Paribas
53 Marianne Roling general manager small medium solutions and partners, central and eastern Europe, Microsoft
54 Crawford Prentice head of service recovery UK, HSBC
55 Bob Annibale global director of community development and inclusive finance, Citi
56 JR Badian vice-president, digital marketing and social media, MasterCard
57 David Levine vice-president, programming, production and strategic development for Disney Channels Emea and general manager of Disney Channels UK and Ireland, Walt Disney Company
58 Deborah Sherry general manager and chief commercial officer, GE Digital Europe, GE
59 Iain Anderson executive chairman, Cicero Group
60 Kayton Bhatia senior director, HP
61 Margot Slattery president, Sodexo Ireland
62 Tim Hely-Hutchinson group chief executive, Hachette UK
63 Shamina Singh president, MasterCard center for inclusive growth
64 Suresh Raj global chief business development officer, Ogilvy Public Relations
65 Masa Yanagisawa director, co-head of Japan equity sales, Deutsche Bank
66 Daisy Reeves partner, Berwin Leighton Paisner
67 Dan Fitz group general counsel and company secretary, BT Group
68 Daniel Winterfeldt partner, Reed Smith
69 Geoff Godwin chief operating officer, AIG
70 Pippa Dale head of global market roadshows, BNP Paribas
71 Siobhan Martin executive director, HR UK and Ireland, Mercer
72 Brian Casebolt vice-president, merchandising and ancillary revenue, Hertz Global Holdings
73 Chris Stening transformation delivery director, Telefónica O2
74 Darren Styles managing director, Stream Publishing
75 Elliot Vaughn partner and managing director, Boston Consulting Group
76 Elyse Cherry chief executive officer, Boston Community Capital
77 Gary Stewart director of Wayra UK, Telefónica
78 John Kerslake operations director, Costa
79 Mark McLane global head of diversity and inclusion, Barclays
80 Tim Millward chief executive, Extrastaff
81 Matthew Hubbard people director, commercial banking, Lloyds Banking Group
82 Orlan Boston senior partner, EY
83 Richard Beaven distribution director, Swinton Insurance
84 Jan Siegmund chief financial officer, ADP
85 Steven Chan managing director and regional head of regulatory, industry and government affairs, Asia Pacific, State Street
86 Steven Cox vice-president, head of public sector and transport, Fujitsu UK and Ireland
87 Bethmara Kessler senior vice-president, integrated global services, Campbell Soup Company
88 Dario Parente managing director, Emea strategic programmes, corporate programme management office, BNY Mellon
89 Mark Baker director, international trade and regulatory affairs, Diageo
90 Kimberley Bird head of group risk systems, Lloyds Banking Group
91 Emma Cusdin people director, Aviva Investors
92 James Murphy , owner and partner, ModMansions
93 Jo Rzymowska managing director UK and Ireland and Asia-Pacific region, Celebrity Cruises
94 Torrence Boone vice-president, global agency sales and services, Google
95 Nir Efrat senior vice-president head of franchises, King
96 James Frost strategy director, Millivres Prowler Group
97 Narind Singh partner, Clifford Chance
98 Roja Dove perfumer and managing director, Roja Parfums
99 Nick Major chief underwriting officer, global corporate UK, Zurich Insurance
100 Saleem Fazal partner, head of real estate disputes, Taylor Wessing
Hall of Fame
1 Antonio Simoes chief executive, HSBC Bank plc
2 Beth Brooke-Marciniak global vice-chair, public policy, EY
3 Paul Reed chief executive, integrated supply trading, BP
4 Claudia Brind-Woody vice-president and managing director, intellectual property licensing, IBM
5 Anthony Watson president and chief executive, Uphold
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