Kenneth Jee

HKU Business School

“Analytical thought leader with a passion for developing data-driven strategies to create meaningful change.”

Hometown: New York City, NY USA

Fun Fact About Yourself: As a major trivia enthusiast, I once tried out for the American game show Jeopardy!

Undergraduate School and Major:  

New York City, USA – B.S. in Financial Economics

Columbia University – Master of Health Administration (MHA)

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Senior Manager, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield – Horizon Casualty Services, Inc (Newark, USA)

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of the MBA curriculum or activities that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? The key aspect of the HKU MBA program that led me to choose HKU Business School was the China Immersion Program. With the Asia-Pacific region being at the center of many international business ventures, the program’s focus on China’s vibrant and evolving business environment is particularly relevant. By participating in regular company visits and business field trips to China, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of international business while learning more about the necessary cultural dynamics and sensitivities needed to succeed in business in the region.

What quality best describes your MBA classmates and why? Driven. Whether it is participating in spirited class discussions, collaborating on group projects, or seeking to further develop individual hard and soft skills, my classmates are all equally driven. As we seek to grow and learn together through the MBA program, I am constantly inspired by this passionate drive consistently shown by my MBA cohort.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: In business, sometimes the best deals are ones where you are acquired in order to maintain the future of your business. The biggest accomplishment in my career involved working with a steering committee to comb through multiple M&A proposals to find the right partner for our hospital. In the end, we found a partner that not only could provide solid financials to ensure the future viability of our hospital but one that added clinical and technological synergies. Most importantly, it was an agreement that preserved the hospital’s industry-leading culture allowing them to continue pursuing their long-standing mission of healthcare delivery to the most vulnerable populations.

What has been the biggest surprise in your first three months of business school? The biggest surprise has been the level of closeness and camaraderie of the HKU MBA cohort. Since day one of orientation, the cohort has been joined at the hip and everyone knows each other’s life journey and previous experiences. A truly overlooked benefit of HKU MBA’s program has been the small class size. It has allowed all of us to invariably get a chance to work on a class project or group presentation with every single member of the cohort at some point during the first three months of business school. Before the HKU MBA program, I had never truly experienced learning in such a tight-knit community.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? Having worked in the US healthcare industry, I have been exposed to some of the leading healthcare organizations and investigated what financial, operational, and leadership best practices they have employed to be successful.  However, my business acumen has been confined to only healthcare finance and operations.  What I lacked in my career was a well-rounded business sense across multiple industries as well as a truly global business perspective. Pursuing an MBA at this point in my career has allowed me to network with classmates and professors who have worked in a variety of worldwide industries and to learn how they view business and leadership from their respective world lenses. Studying in Hong Kong has the added advantage of studying in a major international financial hub that happens to be one of the most open business environments and freest economies in the world.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? None. The HKU MBA program provided all the elements I was looking for in an MBA program and was the right program at the right time in my career.

What do you see yourself doing ten years from now? Whether it’s in the healthcare industry or in another sector, I hope to be inspiring organizational leaders to re-look at how they manage and lead high-performing teams to drive growth and innovation.

DON’T MISS: MEET HKU BUSINESS SCHOOL’S MBA CLASS OF 2021