Felice Lieh Mak yesterday rolled up her sleeves and started her new unpaid job, as the first Chinese chairwoman of the English Schools Foundation.
She spent much of the day at the ESF's Stubbs Road headquarters, making arrangements to visit all 16 foundation schools in the next two weeks and to call the first meeting of the new executive committee.
She expects her new job to take up much of her time in the next month.
Professor Lieh Mak, 63, brings enormous experience to the role, given the long list of committees, councils and think-tanks which she has served on.
Despite retiring as head of the University of Hong Kong's department of psychiatry three years ago, she is still active in the medical field. She chairs the Medical Council, is director of the HKU's medical unit and is an honorary clinical professor.
'I must remind everyone that I am not the chief executive,' she said. 'I don't need to be a micro-manager but will be there to give policy guidance and to make policy decisions with the executive.'