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Principal official
Profiles tagged “Principal official”.
5 profiles
Francis Tam Pak Yuen: Macao's first Secretary for Economy and Finance — fifteen years across two Chief Executives
Francis Tam Pak Yuen
Macao's first Secretary for Economy and Finance (20 December 1999 – 19 December 2014) and among the longest-serving holders of a single principal-official portfolio in the post-Handover era. Born in May 1949 in Macao, he was schooled in Macao and Hong Kong (St Francis of Assisi's College), studied business administration in the United Kingdom, and earned a Chinese-law diploma and an MBA from the University of East Asia in Macao. A businessman by background — Vice-Chairman of the Macau Manufacturers Association and a board member of the Macau Chinese Chamber of Commerce — he was named to the SAR Preparatory and Nominating Committees before the Handover and served on the 9th and 10th CPPCC National Committees. His portfolio covered finance, taxation, banking, gaming, labour, and economic development through the 2002 gaming-liberalisation, the 2005 Banco Delta Asia affair, and the boom that pushed Macao's gaming revenue past Las Vegas. He was succeeded by Lionel Leong Vai Tac in 2014 and holds the Grand Lotus / Gold Lotus honour.
Raimundo Arrais do Rosário: the Macanese engineer who bridged Portuguese and SAR rule — ten years running Transport and Public Works
Raimundo Arrais do Rosário
Secretary for Transport and Public Works of the Macao SAR (20 December 2014 – 19 December 2024), the infrastructure chief of Fernando Chui Sai On's second term and Ho Iat Seng's cabinet. Born in August 1956 in Portuguese Macau, a Macanese, he holds a civil-engineering degree from the University of Porto and completed a postgraduate programme in soil mechanics at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He joined the civil service in 1979 and served the Portuguese administration until 1990 as technician, department head, deputy secretary, and Secretary of the Secretariat for Transport and Public Works; he was a Legislative Assembly member from 1992 to 1999. From 1999 to 2014 he headed the Macao Economic and Trade Offices in Lisbon, in Brussels (EU), and in Geneva (WTO). As Secretary for Transport and Public Works from December 2014 he oversaw land, urban planning, housing, transport, public works, and public utilities for ten years. He also served on the Basic Law Drafting Committee and the SAR Preparatory Committee.
Cheong U: from first Commissioner Against Corruption to Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture — two decades of post-Handover integrity and welfare
Cheong U
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao SAR (20 December 2009 – 20 December 2014), after serving as the SAR's first Commissioner Against Corruption (20 December 1999 – 20 December 2009). Born in 1957 and a public-administration professional, he holds a bachelor's degree in administration from the University of Macau (formerly the University of East Asia) and a Master of Public Administration from Zhongshan University in Guangzhou. Before the Handover he sat on Macao's Municipal Council and the Islands Municipal Council, was deputy secretary-general of the Macau Association of Public Administration, and served on the Selection Committee for the first SAR government. He was a principal official for fifteen years across the Edmund Ho and Fernando Chui administrations — ten as integrity chief, five running the social-and-culture portfolio covering education, health, culture, sport, social welfare, and tourism.
Alexis Tam Chon Weng: from Chief Executive's Office to Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture — a 33-year bilingual welfare hand
Alexis Tam Chon Weng
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao SAR (20 December 2014 – 19 December 2019) and the welfare-portfolio head of Fernando Chui Sai On's second-term cabinet. Born in July 1962 in Myanmar, he spent 33 years in the Macao civil service. He holds a BBA from National Chengchi University, an LL.B. from the China University of Political Science and Law, a master's in international business and entrepreneurship from the University of Glasgow, and a PhD in business administration from Nankai University. He was Chief of Chief Executive Fernando Chui's Office from December 2009 to December 2014, then Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture from December 2014 — overseeing education, health, culture, sport, social welfare, and tourism. After leaving office in December 2019 he was appointed head of the Macao Economic and Trade delegations in Lisbon (from 1 January 2020), Brussels (EU) and Geneva, and retired in December 2022, ending a 33-year public-service career; Lúcia Abrantes dos Santos succeeded him as acting head of the delegations.
Lei Wai Nong: from the Printing Bureau to Secretary for Economy and Finance — the SAR's finance chief through COVID and the gaming reset
Lei Wai Nong
Secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macao SAR (20 December 2019 – 19 December 2024) and the finance chief of Ho Iat Seng's cabinet. Born in 1969 in Zhangzhou, Fujian, with ancestral roots in Taishan, Guangdong, he was educated at St Joseph's Diocesan School, took a computer-science diploma at the Macau Polytechnic Institute, and holds dual bachelor's degrees in Government and Public Administration and in Chinese Law plus a master's in social sciences from the University of Macau. He joined the civil service in 1992 and served as Director of the Printing Bureau (2009), Vice-Chair of the Civil Administration Bureau Management Committee (2009–2018), and Vice-Chair of the Municipal Affairs Bureau Management Committee (2019). As Secretary for Economy and Finance from December 2019 he oversaw finance, taxation, banking, gaming, and economic development, and concurrently chaired the Executive Committee under the Guangdong-Macao Hengqin Cooperation Zone Management Committee (from September 2021). His tenure spanned the COVID-19 economic shock and relief measures and the 2022 gaming-concession reset. He stepped down in December 2024, succeeded by Tai Kin Ip, and then became a full-time member of the Macau Foundation's Administrative Committee.