Alex Cho is vice president of development-design in the Asia Pacific region for Jumeirah Group. He oversees the group's design direction, ensuring that its luxury brands focus on design innovation, as well as technology and sustainability issues.

He leads the design direction of Jumeirah's recently launched contemporary lifestyle brand VENU and weaves art, technology, and "local soul" into the enterprise. He had worked for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group for eight years, helping to lead its growth as a global luxury brand that employs design innovation.

He spent two years helping Union Enterprise, a Taiwanese bank, diversify its portfolio into the hospitality sector and 10 years with WAT&G (Wimberly, Allison, Tong & Goo), one of the world's leading hospitality design firms.

He holds a master of architecture degree from UCLA and a bachelor of architecture degree from Iowa State University.