Gary Coull is chairman and chief executive of Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia, one of the region's leading investment banks. He came to Hong Kong by chance in 1977 and stayed, working for six years as a business journalist for the South China Morning Post and later for the Far Eastern Economic Review. He first visited China in 1978 and reported regularly on the country's early years of modernisation. From 1993-96 he started and managed an investment and China trading company before joining Hong Kong brokerage Winfull Liang & Cruickshank in 1987.
French bank Credit Lyonnais subsequently bought Liang and the Hong Kong business was reorganised in 1989 for a major regional expansion. Mr Coull is also executive chairman of a direct investment joint venture between CLSA and General Electric Pension Trust and is a director of New World Infrastructure. A keen racehorse owner in Hong Kong and Britain, Mr Coull is a member of the HK Racehorse Owners Association Council.