Automotive, electric vehicles, smart cities and related businesses
Hong Wai is a global executive with over 35 years of working experience in 6 countries: China, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States. He is presently a board member of China Yuchai International Limited (NYSE: CYD), an Innovation Advisor with IPI Singapore (a subsidiary of Enterprise Singapore), and an Associate Faculty member at the Singapore Institute of Technology.
He was with General Motors (GM) for 29 years and has extensive experience in areas such as M&A, new business development, strategic alliance management, sales/marketing, strategic risk management, business strategy, portfolio planning, global procurement and business process re-engineering.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Wai drove many of GM’s strategy development efforts that resulted in major investments in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. Apart from expanding GM’s core passenger vehicle businesses in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Wai led growth initiatives in areas such as electrification, go-to-market business models incorporating the rapidly developing digital ecosystem, telematics, independent aftermarket parts and commercial vehicles to expand the scope and capabilities of GM’s existing business. He also piloted a personal urban mobility solution with Shanghai Jiaotong University using GM’s electric-networked vehicle that was first showcased at the 2010 World Expo. In 2021, Hong Wai was appointed Expert Committee Member by the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC).
Hong Wai has extensive experience in M&A in China, including the formation and dissolution of joint ventures, and raising GM’s equity stakes in key joint ventures. In Japan, he worked on strategic partnership management activities involving Isuzu Motors, Suzuki Motor and Subaru Corporation (Fuji Heavy Industries). He also had global procurement responsibilities for GM and the Japanese alliance partners. During his stint in Europe and the U.S., he was responsible for the coordinated development and integration of GM’s business plans across the Asia-Pacific, European and Latin American regions, as well as business process re-engineering efforts to optimize efficiency. He was also an integral member of a global team that successfully led GM’s acquisition of Daewoo Motors.
Besides operational roles, Hong Wai had governance responsibilities as Board Member of GM (China) Investment Co. Ltd, General Motors Taiwan, GM Warehousing and Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd and GM Asia Pacific Holdings LLC. He was also the Shareholder Representative of GM’s joint venture investment holding company in Hong Kong that oversees the joint venture’s investments outside China. Additionally, he was the Risk Officer for GM China and a member of GM’s Global Risk Advisory Council that has strategic risk management oversight for all of GM’s global businesses.
Prior to GM, he was with the Singapore Economic Development Board, where he was responsible for investment marketing and development of several industry clusters such as aerospace, marine and offshore engineering, oilfield equipment, process engineering and automotive component manufacturing.
Hong Wai holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Production and Industrial Engineering) degree from the Ulm University of Applied Sciences in Germany and a Master of Business Administration from the National University of Singapore. He has also completed an Executive Program at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, U.S.A.
Hong Wai is an Associate Faculty of the Singapore Institute of Technology, a member of the Singapore Institute of Directors and a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators. He is tri-lingual in English, Mandarin and German, and conversant in several major Chinese dialects.
Gain some insights from Hong Wai:
- Innovation insight - Giving small businesses a big boost