Neville Lai is an Independent International Affairs Strategist focusing on East Asia. His thought leadership was featured in the World Economic Forum, The South China Morning Post (SCMP), The Hong Kong Economic Journal, among others. He is recognised as an Asia 21 Fellow at Asia Society and a Fellow at the Salzburg Global Seminar (the KFAS-Salzburg Global Leadership Initiative), amongst others. He was also invited to join as an Advisor for CogitoPraxis, providing advice and support for companies striving for competitiveness amidst geopolitical fragmentation.

He was educated in Hong Kong, the UK, and France. After a stint in Geneva, Switzerland, he was posted to the smallest state of Myanmar - Kayah State - promoting community-based development for the United Nations / World Trade Organisation. He also had experience advising public sector clients as a policy consultant and was one of the key writers for the Hong Kong SAR Government’s Action Plan on Maritime and Port Development Strategy.

Through the Global Shapers Initiative, he founded the ‘Future City Dialogue Series to distil youth-led actions to improve the future readiness of Hong Kong. He saw the need to galvanise civic engagement and is growing an audience of young professionals to actively future-proof together. He was selected as a Davos50 Delegate (2024). He was the Curator (23-24) and the Vice Curator (22-23) for the Hong Kong hub and published the first advocacy paper on Improving the Future Readiness for Hong Kong - Youth insights.

He is a frequent public speaker who advocates the role of youth in geopolitics and future city development. He is currently based in Hong Kong and speaks four languages.