Alice Au co-leads Spencer Stuart’s Board and CEO Practice in Asia Pacific. She was a member of the Spencer Stuart global board from 2014 to 2023. Based out of Hong Kong, she ran the Firm’s global Financial Services Practice from 2015-2021, and its Private Equity Practice in Asia Pacific from 2011 to 2019. A global citizen with deep relationships across industries, she brings more than 20 years of executive search and leadership counsel experience to her clients. She helps multinationals, principal investors, Asian and Chinese businesses, as well as family businesses, strengthen their governance practices and succession planning, and build and renew their boards and leadership to meet their strategic goals.
A global citizen, with deep insight into Asia businesses
- Prior to joining Spencer Stuart, Alice was a senior partner with another leading international executive search firm. She led the firm’s CEO and board services practice, as well as the private equity practice in Asia Pacific; guided the rebuilding and expansion of the Hong Kong office; and helped numerous Asian and multinational companies and private equity firms meet their senior leadership needs across Asia.
- Alice began her career as a semiconductor engineer at Digital Equipment Corporation in the U.S. She then joined McKinsey & Company as a management consultant in New York, where she advised Fortune 100 clients on strategic, organizational and technology issues. She later joined International Paper Company as an executive in corporate development, leading cross- functional teams in negotiating acquisitions in North America, Europe and Asia.
- Alice returned to Hong Kong in 1993 to establish a China fund and advise midsize international companies on their China entry strategies, then joined the executive search industry in 1995. She took a one-year leave from the business in 1999 to lead strategic planning and e-commerce at AsiaContent.com, which successfully listed on NASDAQ in 2000.
Alice has a bachelor‘s degree in chemical engineering from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Alice speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin.