Banyan Tree Holdings' executive chairman Ho Kwon Ping is the other half of the dynamic duo behind the international hospitality brand; his wife, Claire Chiang, is senior vice-president of Banyan Tree Holdings and co-founder of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts.

Among various awards, Mr Ho has received the London Business School Entrepreneurship Award; CEO of the Year at the Singapore Corporate Awards; CNBC Travel Business Leader Award; Distinguished Alumnus Award from the National University of Singapore; and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Creativity Association, China Hotel Investment Summit and Australia Hotel Investment Summit. Honoured for his contributions and accomplishments in the hotel industry in the Asia-Pacific region and globally, Mr Ho is the only two-time recipient of Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific's (HICAP) Innovation Award (2003) and Lifetime Achievement Award (2019) in its 30-year establishment.

For his services to the country, he has been decorated with the Meritorious Service Medal and Distinguished Service Order by the Singapore Government. Ho has also been conferred honorary doctorates by Johnson & Wales University and from Hong Kong Poly University.

Ho was educated at Tunghai University in Taiwan, Stanford University in California and the University of Singapore. He worked as the economics editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review in Hong Kong before joining the Thai Wah family business after his father suffered a stroke. In 1994, after turning an abandoned tin mine into Laguna Phuket, Asia’s first integrated resort, he launched the Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts brand with Chiang.

Today, Banyan Tree manages more than 48 resorts and hotels, 64 spas, 74 retail galleries and three championship golf courses in 28 countries worldwide. The group recently launched new properties in Cambodia, Indonesia and China, as well as its first establishments in the Middle East (Qatar), Europe (Greece) and Africa (Mozambique). Closer to home, it is also planning an eco-friendly, nature-inspired resort in Singapore, which is slated to open in Mandai by 2023.