Intan Chen
UChicago Center in Hong Kong
Chief Operating Officer, UChicago Yuen Campus in Hong Kong and Booth Asia
Intan spent 15 years as part of the startup team at the Chicago Booth Asia Campus in Singapore before heading to the Chicago Booth Europe campus in London for a four-year stint. In 2019, she joined the UChicago Hong Kong Campus, where she is now the Chief Operating Officer of the Yuen Campus and Booth Asia. In her current role, Intan is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day administrative and operational functions to support various programs and events, developing efficient operations strategies, processes, and standards to ensure a cohesive growth and expansion strategy.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your work?
I have been blessed with a variety of roles and responsibilities throughout my career at the school in the past 24 years. I love the abundance of opportunity to collaborate, innovate, help others, and challenge myself. I particularly enjoyed working in a team environment and learned a lot from my wonderful colleagues, across the global campuses.
Q: What is your favorite lunch spot when you’re at work?
There is a great Japanese Restaurant, Shin Shu, at Kennedy Town near our campus. I love the Beef Sukiyaki that they serve. This is also our Operations team favorite lunch place.
Q: What is your commute like?
I spend 2.5 hours on my commute to work/home, using various public transportation. From minibuses to MTR subway train to big buses. My home is in New Territories, the rural area of Hong Kong, as I enjoy large spaces and nature which is not common in central part of Hong Kong.
Q: What is one thing about Hong Kong that the average tourist/visitor wouldn’t know?
Though there are 263 islands in Hong Kong—it is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. This is because only some of the islands, like Lantau, Cheng Chau and Lamma, are accessible by ferry while others are totally uninhabited and virtually unreachable. Another interesting fact is that Hong Kong has only developed 20% of its available land for housing.
Q: What is one thing – cultural, social, economic, or political–that everyone is talking about in Hong Kong?
Hong Kong may have one of the world’s most formidable housing crises. The city of 7.3 million leads the world in housing prices and inequality. The newly elected Hong Kong Government has pledge to prioritize solving Hong Kong’s deep-rooted housing crisis. There are hopes that Hong Kong will bid farewell to subdivided housing and cage homes by 2049.
Q: What surprises visitors to the Hong Kong campus the most?
The elegant architectural design and size of our Hong Kong Campus building, as well as the fact that the campus is built on the historically important site at Mount Davis, which includes the Heritage Courtyard and Interpretation Center that present permanent and rotating exhibits highlighting the history of the site and Hong Kong to the public. Currently, we have a lovely rotating exhibit on Hong Kong Memories: Miniatures & Photographs of Old Hong Kong Streetscapes 香港回憶：香港舊街景縮影及照片