Nicholas Yang

Nicholas Yang Wei-hsiung
Born	(1955-04-22) April 22, 1955 Taiwan
Occupation(s)	Politician, engineer, academic administrator
Years active	1983–present
Known for	First Secretary for Innovation and Technology of Hong Kong, Executive Vice President of Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Nicholas Yang Wei-hsiung, GBS, JP (, born 22 April 1955), is a politician and engineer originally from Taiwan who has established his career in Hong Kong. He previously held the position of Non-official Member of the Executive Council and was the first Secretary for Innovation and Technology from 2015 until 2020. Additionally, he served as Executive Vice President at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Education and professional background

Raised in Jersey City, New Jersey, Yang pursued his undergraduate studies in electrical engineering at the California Institute of Technology, graduating in 1977. He then obtained a master's degree in the same discipline from Stanford University. Following this, he worked as a senior design engineer at Intel before returning to Stanford to complete an MBA. After a short period working with Bain & Company, he relocated to Asia in 1983.

Yang became a naturalized US citizen in 1977. In 1979, he married Winnie Sui-king Yung, whose father founded Shell Electric Manufacturing. Joining Shell Electric in 1983, Yang held the role of Executive Director until 2003. During this time, he managed the company’s initial public offering and oversaw the divestiture of its fibre-optic segment to JDSU, where he took up a position in 1999. Later, he engaged in venture capital and private equity activities before assuming the CEO role at Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company in 2003.

Academic and governmental roles

In 2010, Yang was appointed Executive Vice President of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. After CY Leung’s election as Chief Executive in 2012, Yang was anticipated to lead the proposed Technology and Communications Bureau. In May 2012, to adhere to the Basic Law’s stipulation that principal officials must not possess foreign residency rights, he relinquished his US citizenship.

In July 2012, the Independent Commission Against Corruption initiated an investigation concerning a 2010 government contract awarded to the eInclusion Foundation, an organization directed by Yang.

By March 2015, Yang had been named Innovation & Technology Adviser to Chief Executive CY Leung and became a non-official member of the Executive Council, playing a key role in forming Hong Kong’s Innovation and Technology Bureau (ITB). Upon the bureau’s establishment in November 2015, he was appointed its first Secretary for Innovation and Technology. He retained this position under Carrie Lam’s administration until a cabinet reshuffle led to his departure in April 2020.

In April 2016, disclosures from the Panama Papers revealed that Yang had established two offshore accounts where he transferred multiple shares of PolyU stocks for personal use. He defended these British Virgin Islands companies as being lawfully created.