Kate Kieou

The Honourable Kate Kieou Wei Han-ying GY-JM
魏汉英
6th Chief Executive of Jindao
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 January 2020
Preceded by	Kouo Tchen-ya
Chairwoman of the Jindanese Transport Authority
In office 20 June 2006 – 18 February 2014
President	Anthony Sou Kouo Tchen-ya
Preceded by	Hie Ming
Succeeded by	Hao Kie
Minister of Transport
In office 18 February 2014 – 14 October 2019
President	Anthony Sou Kouo Tchen-ya
Preceded by	Tony Wen-tai
Succeeded by	Tchouan Leang
Personal details
Born	(1966-11-20) November 20, 1966 St. Chloé's Hospital, Metropolitan, Jindao
Nationality	Xiaodongese (since 1996) Estmerish (until 1996)
Spouse	Yuan Kieou
Children	2
Alma mater	Knowleston University (PhD)

Kate Kieou Wei Han-ying GY-JM (Xiaodongese: 凯特·邱·魏汉英; born 20 November 1966) is a Jindanese politician and professor in urban planning currently serving as the 6th Chief Executive of Jindao, taking over from Kouo Tchen-ya after his resignation on January 10, 2020. Kieou previously served as the Chairwomen of the Jindanese Transport Authority between 2006 and 2014 and as Minister of Transport under Anthony Sou and Kouo Tchen-ya between 2014 and 2019. Kouo dismissed her from her position in 2019 after she openly criticised his handling of the 2019 Mathratown protests.

Kieou was born in the Metropolitan district of Jindao in 1966 to a Xiaodongese stock broker father and an Estmerish mother. She grew up bilingual and was taught both languages at home and at school. Kieou displayed a natural proficiency in geometry and architecture from an early age, and was accepted into Knowleston University to study urban planning in 1984, graduating with a PhD in 1989. Kieou was employed for an urban planning company that worked in both Estmere and Jindao, and she regularly travelled between the two countries until Jindao was ceded back to Xiaodong in 1996. Kieou was one of the leading planners for the Houfu and Yaoling City districts of Jindao, a role that earned her the Grand Yao-Jin Medal - awarded for outstanding contributions to the city.

She entered politics in 2002, working for the Jindanese Transport Authority before being elected as Chairwomen in 2006. Under her tenure as Chairwomen, subway links were expanded to include more of the South Territories, road and rail links with Xiaodong were subsidised and the infrastructure surrounding the Port of Jindao was greatly rejuvenated, including an expansion of the cargo bays at the port. She stepped down as Chairwomen in 2014 to take up the role of Minister of Transport in Anthony Sou's cabinet in 2014. She was kept as Minister in 2016 after Kouo Tchen-ya succeeded Su, during which she proposed increased funding for transport around the city to support her policies enacted as Chairwomen of the JTA, however she was continuously denied by Kouo who was adament to keep the transport systems as is. Kieou was dismissed in 2019 by Kouo after criticising in stance towards the recent protests, much to the reported dismay of the Xiaodongese government and Yuan Xiannian.

Kieou was re-appointed into the government as Chief Executive by Xiannian and the Xiaodongese government as Kouo's replace on January 11.

Early life and education

Kieou Hanying was born on November 20, 1966, in St. Chloé's Hospital in the Metropolitan district of Jindao, to father Sun Jia - a stockbroker of Xiaodongese ancestry - and mother Bella Baker, who was a stay-at-home mother and nurtured Kieou throughout most of her infancy and early childhood. Kieou grew up on Kung Hui Street in Little Verlois, a suburb on the western side of the Metropolitan district. Kieou attended Aldworth Girls' School from reception to Year 6 (aged 11-12), when she moved to the Academy of New Estmere, a prestigious secondary school around 15 minutes from Little Verlois. At ANE she flourished and displayed her natural intellect in the fields of geometry, and was particularly fascinated with the city's infrastructure. Teachers of Kieou remarked how she would "stare deeply into maps of the city on the wall" and would often read street directories "as entertainment".

Kieou was accepted into the prestigious Knowleston University in 1984, aged 18, after achieving proficient results on her high school exams. Studying urban planning and architecture in the wake of the oncoming Jindanese Housing Crisis, Kieou would write some of her university reports on the need for planned residential areas in Jindao. Kieou graduated Knowleston in 1989 with a PhD in urban planning.

Civil service career

Yaoling City

Kieou was influential in the push for the renovating of Yaoling through land reclamation. She participated in the initial design phase, and, along with architect Mong Ki-kang and urban planner Ma Kang, saw increased funding granted for the residential expansion of Yaoling City in 1996. Kieou also worked to gain the endorsements of companies to fund and sponsor various plans and projects around the city, most notably gaining funding from Xiaodongese phone and internet service provider Yuanjing, who advertise throughout the city and give their name to an apartment block in the city's northern quarter, and expanded Jindao's phone and later 4G and internet network to the city throughout the 2000s. In 2001, for her services in the expansion and planning of Yaoling City as well as similar successful endeavours in the planned district of Houfu, she was awarded the Grand Yao-Jin Medal by Chief Executive Chao Hieou-ying.

Chief Executive

Kieou was announced as the 6th Chief Executive of Jindao in the early morning of January 11, 2020. She delivered a speech in the Metropolitan district of Jindao the following morning thanking the Jindanese populace for accepting her into the position.