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Show Notes:
In this Mission Matters episode, Adam Torres interviews Hang Kei Simon Wong, Member of the Board of Advisors at Apis Cor Inc, live from the Milken Global Conference 2025. Simon discusses his role in the Milken Institute’s Young Leaders Circle, his sabbatical filled with Arctic expeditions, and how extreme exploration informs his approach to corporate transformation.
About Apis Cor Inc
Apis Cor is an American technology corporation headquartered in Melbourne, Florida that develops advanced technologies and materials for construction 3D printing. The Company holds the Guinness Book World Record for the World’s Largest 3D Printed Building on Earth. This project was printed in collaboration with the Dubai Government for use as their municipality office.
Apis Cor is proud to be a resident of the Autodesk Technology Centers Outsight Network. While holding their residency in an Autodesk Technology Center located in Boston, MA, Apis Cor successfully participated in NASA’s “3D Printed Habitat Challenge” and was awarded top honours in several categories.
Apis Cor is backed by Alchemist Accelerator, the premier accelerator for Enterprise startups and At One Ventures, a VC and private equity firm which backs early-stage, deep tech ventures that encourage and support a world where humanity is a net positive to nature and that focus on reducing their footprint on the planet.
Apis Cor exists to empower homebuilders with tools that increase productivity and thus increase inventory on the market.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. All right, today I have Hang Key, Simon Wong on the Line, and he is a member of the board Advisors at APIs Core Inc.
And this particular interview is also part of our Milken Global Conference series where each year we highlight. The best of attendees, guests speakers, VIPs attendees and panelists, all of the above and more that went to the Milken Global Conference in Beverly Hills. And uh, first thing, first, Simon, welcome to the show.
Thank you. For your time. It’s been a while since I saw you, so always to connect. Time, time flies, but all good stuff there. So, I, I understand that you attended the Milken Global Conference this year in Beverly Hills. Have you been to the conference before?
Is this the first time? Like, give us a little bit of background on your history with the organization. Yeah, so I’ve been repeating attendees actually I’ve been attending all the Global conference since 2018. Um, Wow. So I’m part of the the Institute Young Leader Circle. Mm-hmm. So ever since I’m member, I have been pretty involved, you know, with a lot of the conference, not only.
Just the not only just the global conference, but also for the regional, whether it’s Abu Dhabi, whether it is in the health conference in Washington DC or Asia Pacific in Singapore. So I’ve been a pretty much a, I will call it religious attendee in a sense. And it’s also great, you know, to interact with other member from the Milken Young Leader Circle because there’s a lot of, you know, good people over there from very diverse background.
Yeah. They’re also very interesting, you know, folks, it’s not a traditional finance, you know? Mm-hmm. Folks, you know, that you will interact with. So I love going to the global conference and for me, going to the global conference is like number one. There’s always you, like some of the brightest, you and the most influe influential folks.
Right. Obviously in the conference, , that’s one right. It’s a place, it’s a form to be. And then obviously they are also there to also share the idea, you know, and creating new opportunities and for potential collaboration. But for me, on top of those, it’s. Really just, you know, like it’s an opportunity to catch up old friends, because after being attending for this global conference for so many years, there are definitely friendships, you know, and network is being built and it’s, you know, sometime I don’t necessarily able to see them, you know, like after the last conference.
So it’s also a great way for me to be on that and mm-hmm. And to ruin that friendship over time and uh, in, in, go ahead. Talk a little bit about the young leaders circle, I believe you called it. Like what, what’s that all about? Not, I’m not familiar. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, Milken Institute uh, obviously they have many different social objective.
Mm-hmm. That like, number one, they have the faster cure, on the medical side it has the, the Milken score program, which is, you know, like really helping out the high school students, you know, like to become, Upcoming leaders, like on their own right. and then there’s a lot of other things from Mike.
from the first floor medicine, and all the other financial credit and accessibility. But then one key thing that the Milken Institute also has create is. Called the Young Leaders Circle, which is they recruit 300 of the brightest mine in their own specific field, but they also have a lot of social and philanthropic contributions.
Mm-hmm. Into it. And it is across, around the world. Whether if we have a chapter in Mil. Los Angeles in Singapore, in Abu Dhabi, in London. So it’s all over different geographical locations. And one thing that ties us in common is I believe, you know, like not only that we’re good at what we do professionally, but we are.
Love to be able to help out and collaborate. I would call everybody in the lab great labwork, you know, because everyone understand that, it’s great to be great in your own field, but it’s also very important to expand Verizon to outside of your field and expand that language. Hmm.
And now you also mentioned that you you’ve traveled and you go to many of the many of the different conferences and or events worldwide. Talk a little bit more about that. ’cause I’ve only been to, like, I I call it an the main event of this, the, the Beverly Hills Conference. I believe that’s the biggest one, the main global conference.
But I’ve only been to that, but well, like talk a little bit more about like some of the other ways to get involved in like, some of the other conferences worldwide. ’cause that’s interesting. Yeah. Yeah, so the Global Conference definitely is the SHIP program. Mm-hmm. Or the event, you know, of the Milken Institute.
But the regional are also just as interesting mm-hmm. Because it has much more of the regional focus. You know, I for example in the Middle East and North Africa global regional conference, which happened. In Abu Dhabi typically around, you know, like November or December of each year it’s a shorter format, but it has, the attendees are much more geographical base, right?
So like they are much more of the first, you know, whether they are from UAE, whether from Qatar or from Saudi Arabia, or even from other country in Africa. They’re all around there. And the topic also changed, as you may aware, of the global conference. That’s very much wide variety, right? It really truly is global.
Whereas the regional conference, if it’s meaner they will talk much more specifically about, you know, whether it’s the private market or. Or in the healthcare, et cetera. Definitely much more regional focused, but also with Global Wheels. So, so that make it unique, right? Mm-hmm. And also, like, you know, it’s an opportunity to able to see, you know, folks are specific from those areas.
Same thing for the the Asia Pacific conference, which is happening typically around September in Singapore. And, it’s also also much more of the Asia ion Asia focus. So, so it’s a great way, you know, to just diversify from a geographical focus. Mm-hmm. And also different people attending the conference.
Yeah. That’s great. and thanks for that overview. ’cause I, you, you’re definitely very. And and you’ve, you’ve seen a lot more than I, I’ve seen the main event, but now I just, I see that there’s more and more ways to get involved. So, so Simon, that being said, I mean, we’re, you know, halfway through the year heading into the final, you know, half of the year.
What kind of things on your, are on your agenda? Like what kind of things are you working on? Yeah, so I recently coming out from a one year tical, so I left my last place with GXO that was locked. July. Mm-hmm. Yeah, last July. And I really want to do a lot of, you know, like personal accomplishment and goals that I really want to do for such a long time because I’ve been pretty much, you know, like we dedicate to what I was doing, which is, you know, corporate transformation and turnaround for the good last 15 year, whether it’s for publicly traded company mm-hmm.
Or party owned back assets, you know, or, it could be anything from, you know, middle market, you know, to large cap and outside of my work, I’m also an explorer, so I’ve been doing a lot of mountaineering and. One goal that I wanted to do is called the Explore Grand Slam, which is climbing the seven summit, which is a to mountain underneath the continent.
Wow. And then also skiing to and soo by human power. So, and a big part of that is like, you know, to ski to the South Pole. I want also want to ski the toughest version, which is from the close of Anta. Oh yeah, Simon, I’ll tell you right now, I just listening to you talk. I just want to go to work, man.
That sounds more like more work. Than work. Yeah. Sometimes I call my vacation. I guess I call my vacation sometime the vacation afterwards. Go ahead, continue. I just had to say that I was getting Yeah. but you know, but it’s very hard to balance that when I was dedicate my professional role, right?
Mm-hmm. So I used this one year to really doing the things that typically last more than two weeks, you know, at the time. So, for example, I starting out with skiing across Greenland from east to West. Mm-hmm. Which is a 600 kilometer human power across country skis from all the way to Kangaroo Sec.
It took us around 32 days and we starting out literally dragging almost like 210 for me, at least for my, who slept, you know, 210 pounds in total, you know, including all our gear and food and field. Wow. And so it was a lot. It’s a big adventure. Right. You know, that’s not something that I will able to do if I’m working in a high intensity.
Full time position, especially in transformation. Mm-hmm. You know? Mm-hmm. Think a much fast pace. Right. You know? Yeah. That was one. Right. You know, like, and I know that, you know, I always want to do it for a long time. So I left GO at the right time to able to do that, and then I figured it’s like, you know, life is short.
You know, let’s making sure that, you know, I it sabbatical, you know, it will be long enough for me to do nothing. So I decide to like. Out and that, so the ski cost screen was the Q3 of last year. Then Q4 of last year, I was more focusing on the mindset and also energy management. So I went to ERC India which the OG of yoga.
And then I spent one month over there to do yoga training. As part of that, I was able to get my 200 hours. Certificates and, but the most important part is like, you know, is the spiritual side, you know, within richer cash because it’s one of the few, one of the cities, you know, in India. Not only that, you know, the gang gay refer is by the city, which is the holy refer, you know, from a Hinduism perspective, but also the entire time, little, almost the entire time is vegan.
So it was just a great way, you know. Have only from a spiritual standpoint, but also like putting myself into the practice to really immer, immerse myself, you know, like on being a yogi. Mm. And then still one of this year my, then I switch my focus to my expect venture which is the ski across LRE passage LRE passage, you know.
I’m not so sure if you’re familiar with the geography, you know, up in Canada. Mm-hmm. If you go to Walton Canada, there’s a lot of charco Islands. Right. You know, in the Arctic Ocean that’s part of Canada. So during the winter time, actually majority of the year, you know, probably almost like eight, nine months out the year the eyes are frozen.
So when it’s frozen, then you can literally just ski horse can just ski on top of the frozen sea ice. So as part of the adventure, you know, like we ski from Cambridge Bay all the way to Joh Joe is actually named after the Rome Amon ship when he was, became the fast first person. To sell across the Lo West passage.
So we did that for around three weeks. and in both of Lo West Passage and Greenland it’s also, it’s not just an, it’s actually also scientific expectations. So that’s part of the collaborate with university of California. San Diego, the Script Oceanography Institute, which they research a ton of different things, whether it is ocean conservations, the pollutions and one the lab and by researcher Dimitri has he has a very specific technology which use light, I think to able to sense what kind of micro pathical are they, are they microplastic, microfiber, you know, et cetera. So assume my, you might hurt my aware, you know, the area that I go to are rarely, it’s not a typical travel destination, not even for the local, right? So not many people really go into the. Side of Greenland or the frozen ci, right?
Mm-hmm. So I was able to collect the eye sample and the slow sample. You know, once it’s melt, then I can filter it. Then whatever the residual, send it back to the left. That’s really understand about the micro particle pollution out in the remote area. And so far we have found a lot of different type of microplastic and micro fiber, not for micro or for mykea.
It’s actually from the precipitation. So that’s tells that, you know, like the climate climate and the pollutions, you know, have create. Small problem, not only to our own society that we live in, but also in the most world. So we still, still trying to understand a little bit more about, you know, what kind of things are in there for the research.
Wow. Well, Simon, so I have to be upfront. This is sounds amazing, and I’m like, if I ever took a sabbatical, could I do all those things? Man, that sounds, I don’t know if I got it in me, but I love to see people like yourself, especially when I think about what you’re doing in business and for businesses.
So when I think about you going out there and, and really exploring, like just that personality that it would take too. Put these type of trips together to get it done. And it’s the kind of person I think you’d want on a turnaround of a business. So I, I love it. It’s great. That being said we’re about out of time for this particular episode, but if people wanna follow your work, follow your, I’m, I don’t know if you have pictures on Instagram or otherwise of these expeditions and things you’re going on.
I mean, how do, how do people follow you in your work in general? That’s a great question. I have not been updating my Instagram for the last half a year because it was intentional actually after my yoga training. Now I don’t, I don’t post immediately. I want to take three to six months so that I can really process it before I post it.
So I actually might start posting it very soon. Yeah, so Instagram is a great way the handle is. HK Simon Safe, so H-K-S-I-M-O-N-S-A-Y-S. Mm-hmm. So, so those are, those are the platform that I typically share my experience, but I also start sharing it, you know, through the LinkedIn, you know, up in the future.
Because as I’m saying, you know, I’m ending sub article, so big part of this that not only is a venture being citizen scientist. You know, energy management, but also like, you know, it’s to use this deals because like all those have a lot of inherent danger. Right. You know, because I have not talked about the inherent danger of those trips, whether it’s for the garage, whether it’s polar bear.
So there’s a lot of like mm-hmm. Planning and executions. So a big part of, you know what I was saying, you know, my top career. Has been on the corporate transformation and turnaround, which will be soon again after the sabbatical as well. It’s like, it’s really ingrained that mindset, you know, to train it not only in just the big medium enterprise or even in the startup world, but also, you know, at.
How we in Encount with the environment, you know, how do I personally, you know, able to maximizing this type of mindset, you know, between leaving it 24 7 because the stake is I can potentially be killed or mm-hmm. Or be, be endanger myself or to the team. So like. So there’s a lot of different types of stake.
You know, the stake is like, you know, in the business side that you might lose money, but now that you know the opposite side, like, you know, like there’s live and best situation. So it’s really fascinating for me to really put into those mindset and put into work in different perspective and able to translate across both fields.
I totally get it. And I, I think it’s interesting and I’m feeling I’m gonna throw this out there. I feel like there’s a book in the works. No, you didn’t say that. I’m putting words in your mouth. But for, for everybody listening, just so you know we’ll definitely put some leaks in the show notes so you can connect with Simon, connect with him on Instagram.
And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet. Hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show. Each and every day we’re bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well.
So again, hit that subscribe or follow button. And Simon, thanks again for coming on the show. Thank you, Adam, for being a pressure.
