Born in London to parents from Hong Kong and Indonesia, James Chau is President of the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF). Appointed to this role in 2023, he leads a global platform for people-to-people exchange that uses dialogue, education, and culture to build understanding between nations. The nonprofit was established in 2008 by the Honorable Tung Chee-hwa, First Chief Executive of Hong Kong.
Since 2016, Mr. Chau has served as the World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador, having previously been the inaugural UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador in China. Across both appointments, he has spent nearly two decades working for the United Nations — advocating for social justice, advancing the human condition, and translating the world’s hardest problems into stories that move people to action.
A long-time television news anchor, he has interviewed presidents, Nobel laureates, and cultural leaders who shape their times, including Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, Muhammad Yunus, Christine Lagarde, Ray Dalio, Paul Kagame, Ban Ki-moon, Winnie Mandela, Diane von Furstenberg, Elton John, Annie Lennox, and Madam Peng Liyuan.
He wrote and directed End of the Earth, a documentary following 18,000 Jewish refugees who fled the Holocaust in Europe and found sanctuary in wartime Shanghai. His on-screen work also includes Crazy About Tiffany’s, which examines the legacy and cultural imprint of Tiffany & Co. In 2019, he was appointed the brand’s first Cultural Ambassador, helping to shape its landmark global exhibition, Vision and Virtuosity.
He is a recipient of a U.S. National Press Foundation Fellowship and a member of the World Economic Forum Global Futures Council, focusing on how trade and investment can serve a more stable and connected world.
Mr. Chau studied at the Royal Academy of Music, King’s College London, and the University of Cambridge, later completing executive education at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Mr. Chau has been a One Young World counsellor since 2011.