HK11: Jim Beighley – American Expat came to Asia as a young man, built a home and never left

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:

“𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝐻𝐾 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙, 𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡-𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒.”

“𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑎, 𝑜𝑟 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝐻𝐾 𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑. 𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑.”

“𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑠. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝐻𝐾 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑘𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑑.”

“𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ.”

“𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐻𝐾’𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑦.”

“𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐻𝐾.”

𝐆𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞:

Jim is presently CEO of Citadel Pacific Ltd, a diversified private holding company.  He leads company’s Pacific islands businesses.  He was on the board of Citadel for nearly nine years before joining as CEO in 2019.

Prior to Citadel, Jim worked at DFS group, a luxury travel retailer, as EVP Strategy & Business Development.  He worked at DFS for 21 years in many different roles.  Previously, Jim worked as President of Bluebells, a HK based distribution company for nearly 5 years.

Originally from USA, Jim studied at the National Chengchi University in Taiwan and graduated from the University of California in Santa Barbara with a bachelor’s degree in economics and Chinese.