Alumni Profile: Lawrence T. Wong

Perhaps no organization in Hong Kong outside the government is as important as the Jockey Club. With a monopoly on horse racing, it boasts a yearly turnover of $12 billion, of which $1.5 billion is contributed in taxes-nearly 11 percent of Hong Kong's annual tax revenue. In addition, the club donates about $130 million a year to worthy projects. For example, it funded construction of the $300 million Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, one of Asia's most prestigious universities.

In 1996, for the first time in its 114-year history, the Hong Kong Jockey Club select-ed an ethnic Chinese as its CEO- Lawrence T. Wong, MSU Ph. D. '70, who had worked 32 years with Ford Motor Co. as an executive and research engineer. In his 11 years as president of Ford in Taiwan, Wong gained complete market dominance and was elected Taiwan Businessman of the Year in 1994.

Why would someone with that track record in the automotive industry shift to a horse racing operation? "Well, you can say I'm still in the transportation business," says Wong with a chuckle. "That's a very good question. When I was first approached, I thought, 'This is a joke.'"

But Wong reconsidered when he found out that the Jockey Club, with 20,000 employees and its $12 billion income, was a Leviathan-six times bigger than Ford Taiwan, and bigger than all the U.S. tracks combined. "What really made a difference for me was the charity side," he says. He grew up in Happy Valley, where the club's first race track was built in 1846 by the British, and actually used some parks and facilities built by Jockey Club donations.

When Wong took over the Jockey Club, Hong Kong was suffering an economic crisis, and horse racing was losing popularity. Wong went to work to boost productivity, raising the work week from 38 to 44 hours and increasing productivity by 14 percent. He also worked to enhance revenues via a "total customer satisfaction" campaign.

A tremendous success by any measure, Wong looks back on his MSU days in the late 1960s as "the best years of my life." He was at Ford in Detroit when recruited to MSU by "Mr. Ziggy," one of the top experts on fluid dynamics.

"Back then, MSU had a tremendous national reputation in aerospace studies," recalls Wong, who majored in mechanical engineering, specializing in gas dynamics. "For a fellow who grew up in a huge metropolitan area, the MSU campus was a great environment. When I arrived, I said 'Wow.'

"MSU had a bunch of good engineering professors in aerospace," he remembers. "One was Mr. Ziggy. He was an expert in fluid dynamics. His name popped up in everything I read. He recruited me to MSU and offered me a research scholarship. Another professor, Mahlon Smith (now retired), was quite an inspiration. He was quiet, but smart and effective. He had a background in the real world and in the academic world and was quite a philosopher. We talked a lot about philosophy, and many of things he said-like 'always do more than you're asked to' and 'you control your own destiny'-are things I've remembered and applied all these years."

-Adapted from an MSU Alumni Magazine story by Bob Bao

MSU Alumni Receive Ambassadorial Appointments

U.S. President Bill Clinton named three Michigan State University alumni for the rank of ambassador in February 2000. Donna Jean Hrinak, serving as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, has been named U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Venezuela. Hrinak, who holds a B.A. from Michigan State University, is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, and entered the Foreign Service in 1974. In addition to serving in the U.S. embassies in Mexico City, Warsaw, Bogotá, Caracas, and Tegucigalpa, Ambassador Hrinak has worked in the State Department's Office of Central American Affairs and as deputy assistant secretary of state (1991-94). From 1994 to 1997, she served as ambassador to the Dominican Republic, and since January 1998, as ambassador to Bolivia.

Roger A. Meece, serving as director of the Office of Central African Affairs at the State Department, has been named U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Malawi. Meece, who holds a B.S. in mathematics from Michigan State University, is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Counselor. He joined the Foreign Service in 1979, having previously served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone and staff member in several African countries, culminating as country director in Gabon. Meece's foreign service assignments have included tours as deputy chief of Mission in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

Thomas G. Weston, serving as special coordinator for Cyprus, has been elevated to the rank of ambassador. Weston, who holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from Michigan State University, is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, and has been a member of the U.S. Foreign Service since 1969. Most recently, he served as special coordinator for summits in the Bureau of European Affairs. In addition to many postings abroad, he has also held the position of director of studies at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

MSU Hosts Canadian Journalists
The MSU Canadian Studies Centre hosted 11 Canadian journalists in March 2000. Their mission: to learn of MSU activities supported by the government of Canada.

The journalists attended a media reception for the recent publication of Great Lakes Fisheries Policy and Management: A Binational Perspective (MSU Press)-the first book to address comprehensively ecological, sociological, and policy issues affecting Great Lakes fisheries.

William Taylor, senior editor of the book, and Michael Jones, a major contributor, spoke on the challenges of allocation and management of shared Canadian-U.S. fisheries resources detailed in the book. Taylor is acting dean of the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Jones is associate professor of fisheries and wildlife in the college.

Other reception speakers included Fred Bohm, director of MSU Press, who described the many publications on Canada produced by the press; Joe Donohoe, professor of romance languages, who spoke about his books on the Quebec cinema; and Michael Unsworth, who detailed the MSU Libraries' support of student and faculty research on Canadian issues.

Historically, the Canadian government has supported a wide range of MSU activities, including the development of new courses, research projects, conferences, outreach activities in schools, festivals, and travel to conferences. The MSU Libraries are an official depository for Canadian documents.

For more information about Great Lakes Fisheries Policy and Management: A Binational Perspective, including order information, visit the MSU Press Website at http://www.msu.edu/unit/msupress/canada/ fisheries.html (http://www.msu.edu/unit/msupress/canada/%20fisheries.html)