Business
Ho Kwon Ping
Founder of Banyan Tree Holdings
Born 1952
Photo: Smuconlaw. · CC BY-SA 3.0
Ho Kwon Ping founded Banyan Tree, a hotel group that pioneered the pool villa resort and now operates across Asia, including several properties in Phuket. He worked as a journalist before going into business.
Key achievements
- Founded Banyan Tree and pioneered the pool villa resort
- Founding chairman of Singapore Management University
- Chairman of the NTU board of trustees
Universities
- Nanyang Technological UniversityProfessor
Singapore, Jurong West
Chairman of the NTU board of trustees, and a long-standing figure in Singapore higher education governance.
Facts
- Banyan Tree's first resort was built in Phuket on a former tin mining site that had been declared unusable.
- He was detained in Singapore as a young journalist over his political writing before turning to business.
- He was founding chairman of the Singapore Management University and later chaired NTU's board.