A leadership succession at a Hong Kong-listed logistics trust, the passing of one of mainland China’s most prominent female real estate entrepreneurs leads Mingtiandi’s look at personnel moves from across Asia Pacific’s property industry this week. Also making our list is a promotion at one of the Middle East’s largest sovereign funds and a new chairman at a Singapore-listed REIT.
SF REIT Asset Management announced this past week that its chief executive officer and executive director Hubert Chak, who has led the REIT since it was established in 2020, will be retiring at the conclusion of the trust’s annual general meeting on 12 May 2026. The company has named Alan Lam Chung Chi to succeed Chak in both roles. Now 46, Lam joined the REIT manager in May 2025 as chief strategy officer before being promoted to deputy chief executive officer in December. He previously served as chief financial officer at China Logistics Property Holdings and VX Logistics Development, and was earlier an audit partner at KPMG, according to an announcement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Chen Lihua, honorary chairwoman of Beijing-based developer Fu Wah International Group, passed away on 5 April 2026 at the age of 85. Chen founded Fuwah in Hong Kong in 1988 before returning to the mainland in the 1990s to develop high-end hotels, clubs, apartments, shopping centres and offices. Her best-known project was the transformation of Jinbao Street in Beijing’s Dongcheng district from dilapidated housing into an integrated commercial district including the Regent Beijing hotel and the Jinbao Place mall. She regularly featured among China’s wealthiest individuals, according to an obituary released by Fu Wah International Group.
Shaun Chong has been promoted to principal with the real assets team at Abu Dhabi Investment Council, the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi. Chong, who is based in the UAE, focuses on real assets investments across Asia Pacific with an emphasis on platforms, joint ventures and co-investments. He previously held the title of associate principal, APAC real estate at the same institution, a role he took on after relocating from Singapore to Abu Dhabi, according to a LinkedIn update.
Keppel Infrastructure Trust has appointed Khor Poh Hwa as non-executive chairman, with Daniel Cuthbert Ee Hock Huat retiring from the board upon conclusion of the Singapore-listed trust’s annual general meeting on 29 April 2026. Khor, aged 76, has served as an independent director on the trust’s board and brings prior experience at several SGX-listed companies including Keppel Land and Hock Lian Seng Holdings. He will also take over as chairman of the nominating and remuneration committee. Daniel Ee, who joined the board in May 2015, is stepping down to facilitate succession planning, according to announcements to the Singapore Exchange.
James Cheo has joined UBS Global Wealth Management as chief investment officer for Southern Asia and Australia, effective from 30 March 2026. Based in Singapore and reporting to Min Lan Tan, head of the chief investment office for Asia Pacific at UBS Global Management, Cheo will focus on investment content and client coverage across Southeast Asia, Australia and India. He joins from HSBC Global Private Banking and Wealth, where he served as regional chief investment officer for Southeast Asia and India, and has more than 20 years of experience in multi-asset strategy, including five years as a senior economist at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, according to his LinkedIn profile.
LaSalle Investment Management has elevated Wayne (Wei) Qin to senior vice president on its Asia Pacific research and strategy team, based in Singapore. Qin works with LaSalle’s transaction and fund management teams to provide research and strategy insights on the South Korean, Japanese and Australian markets, with additional responsibility for retail sector coverage across Asia. He joined LaSalle, a real estate investment management subsidiary of JLL, in 2021 after working at CBRE providing investment advisory services to institutional investors in China, according to a LinkedIn update.
Hugh Thomson has rejoined CBRE this month as a director in the company’s capital advisors team in Australia, after three and a half years at Melbourne-based commercial real estate debt specialist MaxCap Group. At MaxCap, Thomson progressed from associate director to director, capital, focusing on cross-border capital flows into Australia and building capital partnerships across the firm’s product suite. Before MaxCap he spent several years at CBRE in Singapore and Hong Kong working on capital raising and asset disposition mandates across Asia, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Global professional services firm Aon has appointed Winnie Loh as real estate and data centre leader for Southeast Asia, effective 7 April 2026. Based in Singapore, Loh will lead the strategic direction and client delivery of Aon’s real estate and data centre practice across the region, alongside her existing role as director in Aon’s Commercial Risk team. Loh joined Aon in 2021 and brings more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry. The appointment is designed to address the increasingly complex risk profiles of data centre investment across development, financing and long-term operations, the company said.
If you know of other Asia real estate professionals changing their jobs, getting promoted or just doing something exciting, please contact us here at Mingtiandi.
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