Dr Joseph Chow is a civil and structural engineer by profession and graduated from The University of Hong Kong (HKU) with a B.Sc.(Eng.) degree in 1964. He received his initial training from Scott & Wilson, Kirkpatrick & Partners in London and Glasgow and has spent almost 50 years in the design, construction and management of many major infrastructural and building projects in the UK, Hong Kong, Middle East and the Mainland. He founded his own practice, JMK Consulting Engineers, in 1992. Although he has retired from JMK, he remains its Independent Non-Executive Chairman. He now also sits on the boards of several listed companies as INED.

Dr Chow has demonstrated his leadership qualities even when he was just a student. He was elected Chairman of the HKU Engineering Society and organized the Golden Anniversary Celebrations for the Faculty of Engineering in 1962. Interestingly, exactly 50 years later, he chaired the Faculty’s Centenary Celebrations Organising Committee in 2012. In 1975, he started the HKU Engineering Alumni Association and became its Founding President.

As a professional engineer, Dr Chow served as the Chairman of the HK Engineers Registration Board, the President of the HK Institution of Engineers and the Chairman of the HK Construction Workers Registration Authority. He also served as the Deputy Chairman of Council and was instrumental in the upgrading of the Polytechnic to the present day HK Polytechnic University. For services rendered, the PolyU awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Engineering degree.

Outside engineering, Dr Chow served in many different capacities including being Chairman of the HK Examinations and Assessment Authority, Chairman of the Governing Committee of the Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital as well as Chairman of the HK Country Club. He also served as a member of the Housing Authority, Hospital Authority, Chinese Medicine Council, Education Commission and other statutory boards and committees.

Few people would have guessed that Dr Chow also served as an auxiliary police officer for many years and rose from the rank of a Police Constable to Senior Superintendent. He was Hon Aide-de-camp to a former Governor, Lord David Wilson of Tillyorn.

For his contributions to the community as a whole, Dr Chow was made an Unofficial Justice of the Peace in 1992 and awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), which he received from HRH Prince Charles in 1997.

In 2013, Dr Chow was made an Honorary University Fellow of HKU. He is also a proud alumnus of Hornell Hall and the inaugural President of the Hornell Hall Alumni Association Charitable Fund Limited.