by Julie Ovenell-Carter
Photograpy by John Sinal

Imagine a filing cabinet stuffed to bursting with important correspondence from some of the world's most influential individuals and organizations. Now conjure up a bookcase spilling over with academic journals and mainstream journalism, books by classical philosophers, and works by modern political theorists. Then dump the contents of both onto every flat surface in a modest office on the 11th floor of the HSBC building in downtown Vancouver, and you have a pretty good idea of what things look like inside Milton Wong's corporate sanctum.

There are secret synergies in a great mind's great mess, and Wong - Order of Canada recipient, chair of HSBC Asset Management Canada, and chancellor of SFU since 1999 - is, by all accounts, one of Canada's great minds. This past summer, the Globe and Mail heralded him as one of a handful of "Nation Builders," citing his business ethics, his commitments to volunteerism and cultural diversity, his advancement of women in business, and his infectious enthusiasm for dragon-boat racing. Last spring, he was one of five Canadians honoured for their contribution to the quality of government and public policy in this country. In July, he was invited to Japan to address the international conference on world peace and security. Included in his speech (themed around Robert Frost's apparently contradictory notion that "good fences make good neighbours") was a reference to the Inuit definition of a great man: "one who creates the environment where good things happenÐhe makes good things possible." And though he was decidedly not referring to himself (he would, in fact, be irritated by the suggestion), he might as well have been. Milton Wong definitely has a way of making good things happen.

Born in Vancouver to Chinese immigrants in 1939, Wong was the eighth of nine children. He graduated from UBC with a degree in political science and economics in 1963. His leadership abilities appeared early: "I tended to boss people around. I was a real know-it-all, telling everyone you should do this, you should that, until someone said, Hey, cool it." But he was well into his thirties before he reluctantly accepted the mantle of leadership that was being thrust upon him constantly by professional peers. "One day you wake up and somebody says, You're a leader, do something about it! And you say: Me, a leader? I'm not a leader! And they say, Yes, you are! And that goes on for a few years, and finally you realize society wants you to be a leader, so you better behave like a leader."

Friends and colleagues consistently describe him as a catalyst - a man whose passion and energy (at 63, he is training for a half-marathon) sparks others to undertake, and succeed at, great challenges. He "leads by making other people leaders," says Sarah Morgan-Silvester, HSBC's executive vice-president of personal financial services, who worked with Wong to create a directory of women who are qualified to sit on corporate boards. "Milt does not need to be in the limelight himself. Rather, he creates the environment that showcases the strengths and talents of the people around him. He is, above all, a people person. He gets real joy from interacting with people at a meaningful level."

Wong, who is responsible for assets of $4 billion at HSBC, dismisses as shallow the people who would engage with him merely because he is a man of wealth. "You don't worry about people like that. Money is just a creative tool. What you really want to do is to find people with whom you can enter into intellectual discussion to really make a difference."

He is a man driven by intellectual pursuits in all aspects of his life: "I don't go into things with a targeted purpose. I dwell on things that interest me. I like the process of inquiry." It was, for example, an acute need to understand his wife Fei's diagnosis of breast cancer in 1982 (she has since recovered) that spurred him to become an "angel investor" to ALI Technologies, which at the time was developing new technologies in breast screening, and which was recently acquired by McKesson Corp. for $530 million. Likewise, it was the news that gene therapy had cured a baby born without an immune system that was the motivating factor in Wong's recent efforts to raise $100 million for the B.C. Cancer Agency.

"I heard about that research at a seminar and thought 'wow!' and for the next three years, the Biology 101 book was my bedtime reading. Through that process of inquiry, I met people like [Nobel prize-winning scientist] Michael Smith, and I learned even more, and then I started a company called Genyous Life Sciences that's dedicated to finding a cancer solution. So it goes on and on and on ... it's really quite selfish. I do what I do for my own personal development." Currently, his "personal development" includes appointments to the boards of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation and the Aga Khan Foundation, as well as a major financial commitment to a "very speculative, very creative" real time online payment solution company called Paystone.

Wong is indeed a poster boy for lifelong learning, a cause that, not coincidentally, he champions in his role as chancellor of SFU. He calls lifelong, community-based learning "the biggest revolution facing Canadian universities," and believes that SFU's Wosk Centre for Dialogue is a model for the evolution of universities in this and other countries.

"The Centre for Dialogue has really caught my imagination. It lets the community come together to look for solutions, to learn to trust, to have conversations. Because of my background with the Laurier Institute [the non-profit society he founded to study Canadian multiculturalism], I always knew the Centre would succeed. It follows the same basic principles: disseminating evidence-based research in a manner that stimulates dialogue in the broader community. And that will become an important responsibility of universities in the future."

Now in his second and final term as chancellor, Wong steadfastly refuses to reflect on what mark he will leave on SFU. "It's really completely the reverse," he demurs. "It's actually a question of what mark the university has left on me." And though his modesty is real, so is his legacy.

SFU president Michael Stevenson observes: "Milt Wong's great gifts to SFU have been his driving intellectual energy and curiosity, his deep social conscience, and his acute eye and ear for social and behavioural changes that affect the ways we live and think. Coupled to his entrepreneurial and business expertise, these have resulted in a seemingly endless stream of ideas and proposals to move SFU forward. He has helped us set in motion significant initiatives and cutting-edge programs in diverse areas including business administration, First Nations capacity-building, environmental sustainability, biotechnology, and contemporary arts. The range of his influence on SFU is nothing short of astonishing."

Wong rankles at such kudos. "Don't be deluded. There are a lot of other people doing the same things I'm doing. I just happen to have profile. It's an honour, yes, but I'm not the only one. There are a lot of leaders in this country: every individual who wants this country to grow and thrive is a nation-builder."

"You can put the spotlight on Milt's causes, but don't even try to put the light on Milt himself," laughs Paul Lee, the 37-year-old senior vice president and chief operating officer of Worldwide Studios at Electronic Arts in Vancouver. Wong is his friend and mentor; while studying commerce at UBC, he was given a rare opportunity to work alongside Wong. Today, they share season's tickets to Canucks games and hang out with one another on a regular basis. "Milt is a very integrated, balanced guy," says Lee. "He's happy with his life. He's close to his family. He loves his work; most of his investments are linked to one social cause or another. It's not about money for Milt; it's never been about money. He does all the things he does because he genuinely cares about making the community a better place, not about making publicity for himself."

Still, the telling details of Wong's life have not escaped the media's notice. This is a man who raffles off his home-baked apple pies for charity; a man who invites the entire board (his wife is chair) of the Goh Ballet to his home for a dinner he has cooked himself. This is a man whose office is decorated with artworks by his sister, Anna; a man who reads Canadian House and Home because he "likes to see how other people live." His office is so cluttered he can't immediately find the document he is looking for. He makes his own photocopies. He asks after other people's children - even the ones he's never met. He believes in prayer.

In his 1999 book, The Mavericks, author Paul Grescoe observed that Milton Wong represented an "astonishingly high level of humanity in the business world." In 2002, there are many who would argue Wong's humanity is remarkable in any world, by any standard. aq

print this story
top of page