2020
WELLINGTON
CHEN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
CHINATOWN BID AND CHINATOWN PARTNERSHIP LDC
Wellington Chen is Executive Director of the Chinatown BID and the Chinatown Partnership
LDC. He has been the guiding force for the overall direction of both organizations including
strategic repositioning for the future.
Chen began as a young volunteer, while still in school of architecture and environmental
studies, at a time when Main Street and many downtowns were in decline leading to his
lifelong pursuit of solutions for community resuscitation and rejuvenation.
He was the first Asian American to serve on a community board in Queens and local LDC.
Which eventually led him to eventually be recruited to the NYC Board of Standards and
Appeals, Queens Economic Development Corporation, and many others.
He has been serving on the Bowne House Historical Society, the Coro Leadership NY,
Governor’s Island Advisory Council, GrowNYC, the YMCA, the Lower Manhattan Historical
Association, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and others.
Chen’s design and build work included the structure which now houses the Permanent
Mission of the Kingdom of Tonga to the United Nations at East 51 st St. He worked for I.M.
Pei & Partners for 5 years before creating his own firm.
He has been honored with many awards including the Business Person of the Year from
Queens Chamber, the Downtown DOTTY Award and the Liberty Freedom Medal. He was
born in Taiwan and grew up in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Brazil before coming to the United
States to obtain his architectural degree and he is also a graduate of the Coro Neighborhood
Leadership Program.
KINGS OF NEW YORK