Academic Nicholas Yang waits for his appointment as Hong Kong's new technology minister
Yang quit his university job to take up a government advisory role; he is tipped to head new bureau once funding is approved
He had been waiting three years to become the city's first innovation and technology minister. But all that Nicholas Yang Wei-hsiung got last week was the job of pro bono adviser to Leung Chun-ying after the chief executive failed yet again to sell his bureau plan to lawmakers.
All eyes are now on how Yang - a former Cyberport CEO and holder of two master's degrees from Stanford University - will portray himself as the man destined to run a bureau that remains just a proposal, even though Leung first floated the idea during his election campaign in 2012.
Back then, Yang was already tipped to become the minister. He refused to say whether his visit to the US consulate at the time was to revoke his US nationality. Principal officials are not allowed to hold a foreign passport.
While Leung failed yet again last month to secure funding for the new bureau from the Finance Committee because of a filibuster by pan-democrats, Yang nonetheless quit as Polytechnic University's vice-president to join Leung's team as his innovation and technology adviser and an Executive Council member.
He will also lead a new advisory body that will replace the current steering committee on innovation and technology.
The 59-year-old Taiwan-born Yang - whom Leung said had "extensive experience, personal networks and an international perspective" - refused to be interviewed for this profile.