Originally from Hong Kong, Joey studied economics at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. She speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. Now back home, she leads a team within Transfer Agency shareholder services, combining her love of problem-solving with a belief that good ideas can come from anyone.
Joey reflects on how she found her voice early in her career and how she encourages her team to challenge the way things get done.
BBH was your first job after graduation. What surprised you when you arrived?
Honestly, the openness. Coming out of university, I had an idea in my head of what a large corporate environment might be like. I expected more hierarchy and assumed I’d spend a lot of time listening before anyone wanted me to contribute.
That wasn’t my experience. People listened to me right from the start. I could ask questions and offer a view, even when I was still learning. I also received constructive feedback in return. I’ve always believed honest feedback helps you improve, so I liked knowing I could put an idea forward without pretending I had every answer.
That experience gave me confidence early on. It also taught me that having an open mind works both ways. You need to hear other perspectives, but you also need to share your own to get the best outcomes.
Has that experience influenced the way you lead your team today?
Definitely. I remember what it felt like to realize that my ideas were worth hearing. I want people on my team to have that same confidence.
I want people to feel comfortable speaking up. If something doesn’t seem right, I want to know. And if someone sees an easier way to do something, I want them to say so. Nobody should struggle in silence because they feel uncomfortable raising a concern or sharing their view.
As a leader, I also need to listen. Leading the team doesn’t mean I automatically have the best answer. The person closest to the work may see something I’ve missed. When people feel comfortable saying so, we learn from one another instead of always looking to one person for direction.
What does your role involve?
I think the simplest way to describe Transfer Agency shareholder services is that we help connect our fund clients with their shareholders. That can mean supporting shareholders with their accounts, resolving an issue, or simplifying a process for our fund clients. At the end of the day, we want things to feel clear and straightforward for everyone involved.
As a team leader, it’s my responsibility to make sure we do that well. Accuracy matters, but so does how we collaborate with people. I want the team to stop and ask: “Is this clear? Are we simplifying the experience or adding unnecessary complexity?”
Good service means getting the details right while making it straightforward for people to work with us.
What has shaped the way you approach challenges?
I’ve always enjoyed a challenge. Maybe some of that comes from studying economics. It taught me to look closely at information and keep asking questions until I understood what was really driving an outcome.
As I’ve progressed in my career, I’ve also learned that people make better decisions when they understand why their work matters.
I never want someone on my team to feel they’re completing a task simply because someone told them to. If you know who relies on your work and what you’re trying to achieve, you can use your judgment when something changes.
And things do change. We can’t have a rule for every situation. I’d much rather give people enough context to think something through than have them wait for someone else to give them the answer.
Can you give an example of when questioning the usual approach led to a better result?
One phrase I never find very convincing is “This is how we have always done it.” Sometimes there is a good reason for a process to work a certain way. Other times, it has simply become more complicated over time.
We had a shareholder mailing process like that. It was highly customized and needed a lot of manual coordination from our team and the client. We could have kept managing around it, but eventually we had to ask: Is all this effort actually adding value?
We talked through the pain points with the client and found a simpler approach. That made the process easier to manage on both sides. More importantly, removing unnecessary effort and risk gave the team more room to focus on what our client needed and how we could support their future growth.
For me, it’s about making the shift from asking “Have I done my part?” to asking “Did we get the right outcome?”
It sounds like a small difference, but it changes how you work. You ask more questions and bring people in earlier. The focus moves from passing work along to solving something together. When people are willing to look beyond their own part of the process, they’re not just delivering work. They’re finding better ways to do things.
What do you enjoy most about working at BBH?
I think it’s the people and the variety of the work. I like working with people to figure something out, especially when none of us has the answer straight away. BBH has also given me opportunities to grow throughout my career. I’m still learning, and I now have the chance to help other people build their confidence and develop their own approach. That combination keeps me motivated.
