Board of Directors & Committees

Managing Director, Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C.

Ron is the head of private wealth management in Asia Pacific at Goldman Sachs. He is co-chair and member of multiple management and market operating committees, and has extensive experience in Investment Banking and Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities. He was named managing director in 2003 and partner in 2006. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs in 1998, Ron earned a BA in History and Literature from Harvard College in 1990, and worked in the Corporate Finance and Capital Markets Departments at J.P. Morgan in New York, Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Senior Pastor, The Vine Church

Andrew leads the executive management team at The Vine Church, managing the strategic direction of the church and implementation of activities and services offered to the local community. Andrew began his career in recruitment, working as Head of Human Resources for Morgan Stanley Fixed Income division in Asia. Passionate about social justice issues, Andrew is the co-founder and director of The Justice Conference Asia, oversees governance of Branches of Hope, and sits on the international supervisory board of International China Concern.

Andrew's family has been shaped and built by Mother's Choice. His parents adopted his younger brother James from Mother's Choice in 1999, and he met his wife while they were both volunteers at our Child Care Home. Years later, they adopted their daughter from Mother's Choice in 2012. Andrew joined the Board of Directors in 2016.

Co-founder, Adoptive Families of Hong Kong

Born and raised in Taiwan, Gretchen earned a degree in Social Work from Azusa Pacific University. Gretchen was one of the first Social Workers at Mother’s Choice. Working closely with the founders, she helped establish core services and served as Managing Director for five years following Co-Founder, Gary Stephens. She has been a Board Director since 2003 and is also a member of the Adoption and Services Committees of Mother’s Choice.

She is a founding member of Adoptive Families of Hong Kong, a non-profit, all volunteer run, charitable organisation supporting adopting parents, adopted children and others whose lives have been touched by adoption. She also sits on the Boards of Morrison Academy, Home of Loving Faithfulness and Shepherds College.

Gretchen is married to Jeff and they have five children and two grandchildren.

Jason is the founder and CIO of Arkkan Capital Management, a Hong Kong based investment manager that invests in special situation credit opportunities around the Asia Pacific region through the Arkkan Opportunities Fund. The Fund was launched in 2014, has built a strong track record of investment returns and a reputation as one of the most skilled credit investors around the region.

Jason worked in the Goldman Sachs Special Situations Group from 1999 to September 2013, when he retired from Goldman Sachs to set up Arkkan Capital. He became Asia co-head of Goldman Sachs Special Situations Group in 2007 and sole global head in 2011. In these roles, Mr. Brown led teams of 30 to 100 investment professionals. His responsibilities at Goldman Sachs grew from managing individual investments, to the oversight of the regional Special Situations Group, and then eventually to the leadership of the global business from 2011.

Jason was made a partner at Goldman Sachs in 2006 and served on numerous internal committees, including the APAC Management Committee, the Securities Division Executive Committee and the Asia Risk Committee.

Jason holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Princeton University. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in History (Modern) and Economics (First Class) from the University of Oxford.

Joseph Wan was until recently a Senior Advisor with Cinven HK. He joined Cinven in 2008 as a Partner with the Portfolio team and the Head of the Hong Kong office. In addition, Joseph is part of the Investor Relations team looking after investors in Asia Pacific.

Prior to Cinven, Joseph was Partner and Managing Director of The Boston Consulting Group in Hong Kong, where he was Head of Office. His primary sector focus was in consumer goods, retail and telecoms in Greater China/Asia. In addition, he has served many clients in banking, industrial goods and healthcare. He started his career as an electrical engineer in Silicon Valley.

Joseph has a BSc in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

On the personal side, Joseph is married to Lily for over 20 years and they have two children.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Millie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Human Resource Management and Psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Millie worked in her family toy business as Vice President of Human Resources and Administration. She was responsible for designing human resources strategy and policy, recruiting, training and employee relationship for the company.

Millie has two children with her husband. She had her first volunteering experience with Mother’s Choice during her high school years which left her with a heartfelt impression with it, she was impressed by the impact the organization is making in the young mothers, the children, and the adopting families.

Chairperson, Consortium of Institutes on Family in the Asian Region

Previously the Deputy Director of the Social Welfare Department, Patricia is the Chairperson of the Consortium of Institutes on Family in the Asian Region (CIFA). She is also Chairman of the Executive Committee of Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society and Council member of the Asian Academy of Family Therapy. She had served as an non-official member of Family Council, HKSAR Government for 6 years and currently a member of the Working Group on Further Study on the Phenomenon of Divorce of the Family Council. Along with her experience as Associate Director of the HKU Family Institute (2003-2013), Chairperson of the Social Workers Registration Board (1997-2002) and Chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission (2003), Patricia has a wealth of experience and expertise in the family services and policy development. She was awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star by the HKSAR Government in 2000 for her contribution to the social welfare field.

Patricia joined Mother’s Choice as a Board Director in 2011, and has since been an insightful advisor in building relationships with government officials and related NGOs.

Patrick sits as a Deputy High Court judge in Hong Kong and has sat as an arbitrator and regularly as a mediator. He is named as a leading individual in the field of commercial litigation in Chambers and in the Legal 500 directories. Previously, Patrick worked as the Regional Managing Partner of Hogan Lovells, Asia Pacific and Middle East. He was a Board member of CEDR, the largest conflict management and dispute resolution consultancy in the world, from 2004 to 2017, and also Chairman of the Pacific Rim Advisory Council - a network of 32 major law firms from 2008 to 2010.

He is particularly interested in girls education and is currently Chairman of Wycombe Abbey International, a subsidiary of Wycombe Abbey School in England , a preeminent girls' boarding school of which he was Chairman for 10 years until March 2020 which is involved in the expansion of its franchise in China and South East Asia. He is also a governor of Sutton Valence School in England and Chairman of the Board of Barefoot College International a social enterprise based in Rajasthan, India.

Patrick lives in Hong Kong, London and Kent and is married with 3 adult children.

Co-founder, Mother's Choice

Phyllis grew up in Taos, New Mexico, and studied education at the University of Washington and at Grace College, the University of Hawaii, which she now serves on the Board of Trustees. She has lived in Hong Kong since 1974, and is a mother to seven children and grandmother to 14 grandchildren. Phyllis’ children live in Hong Kong, London, New York and Los Angeles, and have been inspired by her work with women and children in Asia. Phyllis was the winner of the 2012 Women of Influence Award by the American Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong. She is also the recipient of the 2016 Alumni of the Year Award for Grace College & Seminary.

Co-founder of Mother’s Choice, Phyllis has helped to grow Mother's Choice from a small group of concerned friends to an organization that has impacted thousands in Hong Kong and inspired like-minded organizations in India, China and Cambodia. She has been a Board Director of Mother’s Choice since 2000.

Ms. Ronna Chao is Chief Executive Officer of Novel Investment Partners Limited, Chairman of Novetex Textiles Limited, and a Director of Novelpark Investments Limited. Her responsibilities in these various capacities cover investment and portfolio management, property redevelopment, and textile manufacturing. She is also the CEO of Bai Xian Asia Institute, a foundation committed to the development of Asia’s future leaders through education. Ronna has a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Brown University, and earned her M.B.A. from Stanford University. She also spent a year as an undergraduate at Keio University.

Prior to joining the Novel Group, she worked as a Mergers & Acquisitions financial analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York, and as an associate in the Licensing Department of the lifestyle and apparel company Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. Ronna has been a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Zhejiang Provincial Committee since 2013. She served as Supervisor and Board Trustee at the International Christian School of Hong Kong. In addition, Ronna was a Court Member of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from 2010 to 2016.

Ronna is a long-time supporter of Mother’s Choice and is the proud mother of three children.

Director, Platinum Heart

Mrs. Sunita Makhija started her jewellery business in 1983 and is currently the Director of Platinum Heart, an exclusive jewellery brand she launched with her older son 12 years ago. Apart from her experience in the jewellery industry, she has also started other businesses including a restaurant. She is also actively involved in charities serving women and children in India, including building a safe home for girls rescued from trafficking with her father and brothers. She works closely with Savera in Delhi with the programmes for girls and families in the slums. Three years ago, she and her husband have started a Palliative Care Program for cancer patients in the rural areas of North India. Sunita was born and raised in India, graduated from Delhi University, and moved to Hong Kong in 1981.

Sunita has been a Board Director of Mother's Choice since 1998. Second to co-founder Gary Stephens, she has served the longest term on the Board of Mother's Choice, and is devoted to helping vulnerable babies and girls in Hong Kong.

Tim is Managing Director, Head of Global Financing and Co-Head of Distribution, Global Markets APAC at UBS AG Hong Kong. Tim has spent the last 20 years in Asia working in the Finance Industry. He was Head of Prime Services Asia at Lehman Brothers based in Tokyo and Hong Kong and later Global Head of Prime Services and Delta One at Nomura before joining UBS in 2011.

Tim is married to Jennifer, who has been supporting Mother’s Choice since inception, and they have 3 children and 2 adopted dogs. They are an approved Project Bridge family and have welcomed several children into their home.

Vinit Bhatia is a partner in Bain & Company's Hong Kong office. He co-leads Bain's APAC Performance Improvement practice.

Vinit has more than 20 years of management consulting experience and delivers strategies that work for leading businesses. He has developed a breadth of global expertise, working for clients in Asia, Canada, the United States and Europe.

Vinit advises global clients on range of performance improvement topics, including sustained cost transformations, G&A optimization, productivity improvement and working capital improvement.

In addition to his performance improvement experience, Vinit has extensive experience serving clients in Bain's Private Equity practice, having led numerous due diligence assignments across multiple industries. He has also worked with a variety of portfolio companies, primarily in the areas of business unit strategy and performance improvement. In addition, Vinit has supported a number of funds with their fund strategy and operations.

Prior to joining Bain in 1993, Vinit was based in New York where he worked for an investment bank specializing in project finance.

Vinit completed his MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College. He holds a B. Comm. from Queen's University where he graduated First Class with Honors.