Sir John James Cowperthwaite, KBE, CMG, was a British civil servant who served as Financial Secretary of Hong Kong from 1961 to 1971. His introduction of free market economic policies are widely credited with turning postwar Hong Kong into a thriving global financial centre. During Cowperthwaite's tenure as Financial Secretary, real wages in Hong Kong rose by 50% and the portion of the population in acute poverty fell from 50% to 15%.

Sir Charles Philip Haddon-Cave, was a British colonial administrator. He was the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong from 1971 to 1981 and the Chief Secretary of Hong Kong from 1981 to 1985. During his tenure of Financial Secretary, he famously coined the term "positive non-interventionism" as its chief principle, which has long-lasting effect on Hong Kong and world's economic philosophy.