HONG KONG.- As a further commitment to expansion into the important Asian market, Phillips announced the appointment of Lilly Chan as Managing Director of Asia, based in the company’s growing Hong Kong office. Ms. Chan joins Phillips from Christie’s, where she was the Global Managing Director for Asian Art in Hong Kong. She starts in her new role in May 2017.

Phillips recently held its first successful sales in Hong Kong of 20th Century & Contemporary art, design and jewellery, representing the latest stage of the company’s strategic growth in the region following two extraordinary sales of watches in Hong Kong in the last two years.

Ms. Chan will join an expanding office in Hong Kong. She will work alongside Jonathan Crockett, who was appointed Head of 20th Century & Contemporary Art and Deputy Chairman for Asia in May 2016. She will also work closely with Terry Chu, recently named to lead the company’s Jewellery Department in Asia, Phillips’ Watches Department and the entire Asian team. In her new role, Ms. Chan will play a key leadership role responsible for implementing and managing all strategic, procedural and operational aspects of the company in Asia with a focus on realizing Phillips’ vision and strategic plan along with building the brand across Asia.

“The importance of Asia to our overall international growth strategy cannot be overstated,” said Edward Dolman, Chief Executive Officer of Phillips. “The collecting of contemporary art, design objects, photographs and jewellery in Asia has been growing at an exponential rate and we are seeing more Asian collectors at our New York and London auctions. A foremost priority for us has been to strengthen our presence in Asia and build relationships with collectors across the region – and a critical component in this ambitious plan is the appointment of an experienced managing director such as Lilly. I look forward to working with her and our entire Asian team to build our reputation as the most innovative auction house in the region.”

In her position as Global Managing Director for Asian Art at Christie’s, Ms. Chan led a global team to create multichannel revenue sources and improved the department’s client coverage and business-getting models. She also led the team to bring private sales revenue to new heights and expanded department sales to Shanghai and Mumbai. Before joining Christie’s in 2011, Ms. Chan worked at JP Morgan Treasury Services, where she was the Head of New Product Marketing for the Asia-Pacific market. Ms. Chan comes to Phillips with significant experience across consumer and financial industries in driving growth strategies and innovation across the region.

Along with growing the Hong Kong office, Phillips has made a series of key appointments to boost its presence in Asia. In the past year, the company named Jane Yoon as the regional representative in Korea, Cindy Yen in Taiwan and Kyoko Hattori in Japan.