Mr William Au Weng Hei was brought up in Macau and he moved to Hong Kong at 17 to embark on a career in a small leather materials trading company. A few years later, in 1979, he established his own company and became the major shareholder of the business. With his innovative and pioneering spirit, together with his determination and perseverance, within only 10 years his company became one of the largest suppliers of leather materials in HK. In 1992, his company was listed on the HK Stock Exchange and he became one of the youngest chairmen of a listed company. Understanding the importance of lifelong education, while he was heavily engaged in his own business, he managed to further study Management at the Chinese University of HK and the Graduate School of Business at the Central Connecticut State University in the USA. He has also studied with HKU SPACE.

Mr William Au is a committee member of the  Chinese  People’s  Political Consultative Conference in China and, since 1996, he has been serving as an elector of the election committee for the election of HKSAR Chief Executive. In 1995, he was awarded the Honorary Life Fellow from the Institute of Commercial Management of UK, the most distinguished culture exchange contribution Award in 2000 and Honorary Fellow from The Academy of Chinese Studies in 2005. In 2000 he was awarded a BBS from HKSAR Government, followed by a SBS in 2014. In 2002 Mr Au was appointed as a Justice of Peace.

Since the late 1980s, he has played an active role in supporting many social activities primarily in the area of Education, Arts & Culture. In 1999, Mr Au and his friends organized the first HK Culture and Arts Community to celebrate China’s National Day. Since then, he has been the chairman of the organizing committee and later its director. Hence, now it is one of the most important activities in the culture and arts secto of HK.

Correspondingly, he was the Council member of Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, the Council member of Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and a member of fund granting committee of Performing Arts of the HKSAR Home Affairs Bureau. Presently he is the Chairman of China Culture and Art Foundation, President of the Federation of Dance of HK, just to name a few.

Mr Au is a staunch supporter of HKU SPACE. He has continuously supported the Annual School Concert by being the title sponsor for over 6 years. He was a member of the Organising Committee of the 60th Anniversary Gala Dinner. He has been a life member of HKU SPACE ALUMNI since 2008 and was nominated as member of ALUMNI Council since 2010. Currently he is the Vice President of the ALUMNI. In gauging his valuable network, he was invited to join the HKU SPACE Foundation Committee since 2012 and is currently the Vice- Chairman of the Committee and Chairman of the Fundraising Sub Committee.