PRESIDENT, COO AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Genting Malaysia
POWER SCORE: 789
POSITION LAST YEAR: 31
CLAIMS TO FAME
- Oversees family heirloom Resorts World Genting, featuring the only casino in Malaysia
- Genting Malaysia holds global assets from Bimini to Birmingham, Cairo to Queens, NY
HEADING INTO the back end of 2020, Genting Malaysia looked to have avoided the most devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic with the domestic tourism market driving a faster than expected recovery in volumes. But then the second wave of COVID hit Malaysia in October, followed by a third in January and eventually the most devastating of all, which ultimately saw the company’s original IR, Resorts World Genting, shut its doors for four months between June and October 2021.
The timing couldn’t have been worse for Genting Malaysia and its long-time President and Chief Operating Officer, Lee Choong Yan, who was forced to delay the opening of RWG’s new theme park, SkyWorlds, until the end of the year.
Lee also ordered a 20% paycut for all Genting Malaysia executives and sent a notice to staff asking that they, too, either reduce their pay or agree not to take paid leave in order to help the company through the pandemic.
Nevertheless, analysts widely believe the future remains bright for Genting Malaysia as the nation’s vaccination rates rise and borders edge closer to reopening. It will even be enough, they say, to cover costs at loss-making Resorts World Catskills in New York, in which the company acquired a 49% stake at the behest of Chairman and CEO Lim Kok Thay in 2020.
While the Genting patriarch ultimately wields the power, Lee has now reached 24 years with the company and 15 as President and COO – earning him a place on its Board of Directors early last year. He is as much a part of the furniture as RWG is a part of the surrounding highlands.
For the full list of 2021 Asian Gaming Power 50 winners, click here.
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