Kenneth Chen

Kenneth Chen Wei-on, is an academic administrator and former civil servant serving as Vice President of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was previously Secretary General of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 2012 to 2024, and Undersecretary for Education from 2008 to 2012.

Education

Chen attended Diocesan Boys' School from 1977 to 1982, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University, a Master of Science degree in applied mathematics from Harvard University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Career

He joined the Hong Kong Jockey Club in 2000 and was its director of Racecourse Business when he left. He served as a part-time member of the Central Policy Unit between 1998 and 2000 and a Member of the Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications between 2002 and 2008.

Undersecretary

In 2008, he was nominated Undersecretary for the Education Bureau under the Political Appointments System. He chaired a working group to study the development of e-learning resources in Hong Kong. A report was published in October 2009.

Secretary General

In 2019, he was criticised by the pan-democrats for exceeding his powers. On behalf of the Secretariat, he issued a circular to members of the bills committee on Saturday requesting them to vote on whether to replace James To with Abraham Razack as the presiding officer of the committee in question. The pan-democrats believed that he did not follow the convention of allowing members to discuss the matter first. An online petition gathered over 20,000 signatures calling for his resignation.