Meet Jo Wong, SKYCITY’s General Counsel, Company Secretary and Chief Privacy Officer. Based at SKYCITY Auckland, Jo heads our legal function across Australia and New Zealand and originally joined us in 2009 as Senior Legal Counsel.
Born and raised in Masterton, Jo took a year out after finishing secondary school to teach English in Japan before returning home to begin a conjoint law and arts degree at Victoria University in Wellington. Jo didn’t aspire to become a lawyer when she was young - she wanted to be a photographer or chef instead. But after becoming hooked on the TV series ‘L.A Law’, she set her sights on becoming a corporate lawyer… although she says law school was unfortunately nothing like TV!
After graduating with an LLB and BA (majoring in criminology and Japanese) in 1999, she took up a Law Graduate role at Russell McVeagh in Auckland where she stayed for the next 4 ½ years before joining SKYCITY.
Over the years, Jo says she’s learned a lot about being a leader, especially recognising that there are many leadership styles... “some effective and some not so much!” Two key attributes that every leader should have in Jo’s view are humility and being prepared to fail. “Recognising that you can’t do everything is important”, she says.
With SKYCITY’s casino, hospitality and hotel operations across Australasia, no two days are the same in the Legal Team. “It’s so rewarding to be a part of a project and to see the outcome of it knowing you had a part to play”, she says. When asked about why she loves her role, Jo says, “I value the diversity of the role and the people I work with. I love the people”.
Recently, Jo was accepted to participate in the NZ Global Women’s Breakthrough Leaders Programme 2017. The Programme takes inspiring women in leadership on a journey of development and self discovery so they’re inspired and become prepared to lead some of the world’s top organisations. She’s looking forward to meeting the inspiring women involved and how she can develop herself to become a better leader at SKYCITY.
Jo’s advice to job-seekers and aspiring leaders is to “do something you love”, but she says “... you don’t have to love it on day one. Give it a go and take from it what you need”.
Jo enjoys being a lawyer at SKYCITY and the opportunity to develop her career has kept her here. “It’s a really great place to work”, she says.
