Auctions in Asia Guest Speaker – Kevin Ching

The Executive Committee is pleased to present Kevin Ching, Chief Executive Officer of Sotheby’s Asia as the guest speaker for this year’s AGM. A collector of Chinese jade, Kevin is a charismatic speaker who pens poems while flying and leaves them on the plane for others to discover. Never short on humour, he has taken comical pictures of himself in his hotel room, pretending to jump over Taiwan’s tallest building.

Speaking on Auctions in Asia, he will share with us what makes art valuable, and whether art is a form of investment. If so, how does it differ from the more conventional stock and real estate markets? As CEO for Sotheby’s in Asia for the past 9 years, Kevin has witnessed the phenomenal rise of Greater China to become one of the biggest markets in the art and auction world. He will share with us many of his interesting experiences, observations and world records.

Speaker
Kevin Ching was educated in Hong Kong and England, and holds a Master’s degree in Law from University of London. He studied English law, Soviet law, Air and Space law as well as Customary and Modern Chinese law. During his legal practice, he was a partner at Johnson Stokes & Master and Chief Representative of its Beijing office. He specialised in the areas of banking, international shipping, commercial law, investments in China as well as Sino-foreign joint ventures and arbitration.

Prior to joining Sotheby’s Asia, he was Board Executive Director and Legal Counsel for Dickson Concepts (International) Limited (1994–2006), in charge of the company’s legal and general business affairs, with special responsibilities in China. As Chief Executive Officer of Sotheby’s Asia since 2006, he is responsible for developing the strategic expansion in the region, particularly into mainland China.