Catherine Ng has spent two decades advising multinationals on regional headquarters location decisions, first at a Big Four consultancy and later as an independent adviser to sovereign wealth funds and family offices weighing Asia-Pacific positioning. Her work has taken her through the decision matrices of firms choosing between Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, and Shanghai—and taught her which factors actually drive the choice.

She has contributed to competitiveness studies for InvestHK and the HKGCC, analyzing talent flows, regulatory environments, and the infrastructure investments that determine whether a city retains headquarters functions or watches them migrate. Her network spans relocation consultants, immigration lawyers, and the HR directors who see the data before it becomes a trend.

Colleagues describe her analytical style as 'sharp comparative assessment'—neither boosterism nor defeatism. 'Cities compete on what firms actually value,' she has observed, 'not what chambers of commerce advertise. My job is to track the revealed preferences—where the treasury functions go, where the regional talent pools form, where the decision-makers choose to live.'