Ma Huateng: Tencent Holdings Chairman & CEO

Ma Huateng was born on October 29, 1971, in Chaoyang District, Shantou, Guangdong, China. He graduated from Shenzhen University. 

In 1998, Ma co-founded Tencent. Its first offering Tencent QQ, an instant messaging tool became very popular in China. The company soon expanded and is now one of the top three Chinese internet companies along with Alibaba and Baidu. 

Tencent’s QQ instant messaging reached a total of 784 million active users by end of September 2012. This was an increase of 10 percent over the previous year. The company’s mobile messaging application, WeChat, has surpassed 200 million by the end of 2012. Tencent’s diverse services include web portals, e-commerce, and multiplayer online games. Online game like Legend of Yulong and Legend of Xuanyuan increased revenue by over one half up to $5.1 billion, with a $1.5 billion profit margin. 

Ma is also known as Pony Ma and in 2007 and 2014 was named by Time magazine as one of the world’s most influential people. With a net worth of $18.8 billion as of January 2016, Ma is one of the top 100 richest people in the world. 

Fan Dazhi: Hua Xia Bank President

Fan Dazhi holds a PhD degree and is a senior accountant. He is the President and Deputy Party Secretary as well as a Director of Hua Xia Bank. Before reaching the position of president Fan was the General Manager of Investment Banking Department at the headquarters of Beijing International Trust Co., Ltd.

He was also Deputy Director and party member of Beijing Offshore Financing and Investment Center. Fan was Director, General Manager and party member of Beijing State-Owned Assets Management Co., Ltd. He was Director, General Manager and Deputy Party Secretary of Beijing Securities. He was also Chairman of Supervisory Board of UBS Securities Co, Ltd, and Director, Executive Vice President and Deputy Party Secretary of Hua Xia Bank. 

Fan leads a bank with 25,200 employees and has annual sales of over $16 billion. Hua Xia Bank is a national  commercial bank, which engages in the provision of commercial banking and lending services. The company through its subsidiaries provides various services, which include public deposit-taking, granting of short, medium and long-term loans, domestic and international settlement, bill acceptance and discount, issuance of financial bonds, issuance, encashment and underwriting of government bonds as an agent, trading of government bonds and financial bonds, inter-bank lending and borrowing, trading of foreign exchange on its own behalf and as an agent, bank card service, provision of letter of credit and letter of guarantee, collection and payment service as an agent, safety box service, foreign exchange settlement and sales, sideline insurance agency, and other services. 

The bank operates through various nationwide branches and offices which are divided into four geographical segments: Northern and Northeastern China, Eastern China, Southern and Central China, and Western China. 

In October 1992, the bank began operations in Beijing, China. It became a nationwide joint stock commercial bank after restructuring in March 1995. The bank went public in September 2003, as the fifth Chinese bank listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The bank entered into an agreement in October 2005 with an international strategic investor, Deutsche Bank, and completed two rounds of private placement of new shares in October 2008 and April 2011 respectively. 

Daniel Zhang: Alibaba Group CEO

Daniel Zhang is a member of the Chinese Institute of Certified Accountants. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

For seven years he worked at Arthur Anderson’s Shanghai office. Then Daniel joined the Audit and Business Advisory Division of PricewaterhouseCoopers based in Shanghai holding the position of Senior Manager from 2002 until 2005.  He then moved over to NASDAQ-listed online game developer and operator, Shanda Interactive Limited and was the Chief Financial Officer from 2005 until 2007. 

Daniel joined the Alibaba Group and served as the Chief Financial Officer of Taobao from August 2007 to June 2011. Then became the President of Tmall.com starting June 2011 and served as its General Manager for three years. He was appointed Senior Vice President of Alibaba Group from January 2013 until September 2013. He then became the Chief Operating Officer of Alibaba Group Holding from September 2013 until May 10, 2015. 

As Chief Operating Officer Daniel led the operations of all Alibaba Group businesses in China and globally. He oversaw the firm’s ongoing transition to mobile; built China Smart Logistics, Alibaba Group’s Comprehensive global logistics network; and launched Tmall Global, Alibaba Group’s platform that enables Chinese consumers to buy international branded products from all over the world. As part of the transition to mobile, Taobao’s mobile app has become the world’s largest mobile shopping platform. Daniel also led several of Alibaba Group’s strategic investments, including Alibaba Health, Haier, Intime Retail and Singapore Post. 

With this kind of talent, drive and accomplishments Daniel’s star has shone bright and hard not to notice. The top brass at Alibaba have certainly noticed him and he was given the top post of Chief Executive Officer of the Alibaba Group in May 2015. Daniel serves on Alibaba Group’s board of directors and is a founding member of the Alibaba Partnership. 

He is chairman of Intime Retail and serves on several other boards of Alibaba-related companies. 

Ning Ye: Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties CEO

Ning Ye based on Forbes magazine is the CEO of Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties CEO. His name doesn’t ring a bell in the Western media but considering he heads a company that can register annual sales of $17.66 billion, Ning is someone of above average executive skills. 

He earned a masters degree in economics and management from Chongqing University of Architecture and is also a Registered Cost Engineer. Since he joined Wanda in 2001, Ning has been assigned in positions of General Manger of the Development Department in Dalian Wanda Commercial Development Co. and General Manager of Wanda Cinema Company. Prior to that Ning served at Shenzhen Nanyou Real Estate Company since 1998. 

He has extensive  experience with corporate operations and management market insights and industry judgement. He has served as director of AMC Entertainment Holdings since August 2012. 

Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Co., Ltd, engages in the investment and development of real estate properties. The company was founded in 1988 and based in Beijing, China. 

Chang Xiaobing: China Unicom Head

Chang Xiaobing was born on March 27, 1957, in China. He earned a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications engineering in 1982 from the Nanjing Institute of Posts and Telecommunications. Chang obtained a master’s degree in business administration from Tsinghua University in 2001. He earned a doctor’s degree in business administration from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2005. He is a senior engineer. 

Chang was a Deputy Director of the Nanjing Municipal Posts and Telecommunications Bureau of Jiangsu Province and a Deputy Director General of the Directorate General of Telecommunications of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and a Deputy Director General and Director General of the Department of Telecommunications Administration of the former Ministry of Information Industry, as well as Vice President of China Telecommunications Corporation. 

He later joined China United Telecommunications Corporation and became Chairman in November 2004. Chang was appointed as Executive Director, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited in December 2004. 

In December 2008, China United Telecommunications Corporation changed its company name to China United Network Communications Group Limited (“Unicom Group”). Chang serves as Chairman of the Unicom Group.

Yuchen Zhu: SPDBC Vice Chairman & President

Yuchen Zhu holds postgraduate degree and Doctor of Economics degree. Yuchen is a Senior Economist and Adjunct Professor at China Agricultural University. He previously served as Management Office Director of China Grain Trading Company. 

Yuchen is the Vice Chairman and President of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co., Ltd (SPDB). While classified as a regional bank it is huge with 38,976 employees and revenue in excess of $30 billion. While huge in size it is relatively a young bank compared to others its size.

It gained approval of the People’s Bank of China in August 28, 1992 and was incorporated in January 9, 1993. It is a joint-stock commercial bank headquartered in Shanghai, China.  Shanghai Pudong Development Bank issued a 400 million A-share offer on September 23, 1993 on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. In doing so it became the first shareholding commercial bank to list with both Central Bank and China Securities Regulatory Commission’s approval since the enactment of “Commercial Bank Law” and “Securities Law”. Thus the registered capital reached RMB 2.41 billion. In November 10, 1999 320 million shares of the issue was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (stock code 600000).

SPDB was founded to provide financial services for the development of Pudong, building Shanghai into one of the great international financial hubs, and to contribute to the national economic development and social progress.

Thus Yuchen has a very important role to play not just for the bank’s growth and profitability but also in achieving the goals and purpose for which the bank was established.  Aside from his leadership role in SPDB Yuchen has been serving in other leadership positions such as being President of Shenzhen mid-Futures Brokerage Co., Chairman of Shanghai mid-Futures Brokerage Co., The President of China International Futures Brokerage Co., Ltd, party secretary and General Manager of Dilian Commodity Exchange, Vice Party Secretary and General Manager of China Financial Futures Exchange Corporation and other senior positions in various companies.

Yuchen also serves as Member of the 12^th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. 

Dong Wenbiao: Chinese Financial Executive

Dong Wenbiao was born in Henan province in 1957. Dong is a senior economist and earned a master’s degree in economics from Xiamen University in 1993.  He was a former teacher at Henan Financial Institute. Dong then served as the manager of the Zhengzhou branch at the Construction Bank of China. The branch was called a “miracle” in the Chinese banking system, as a result of his leadership.

Dong was Chairman and President of Haitong Securities Co. Ltd., and then joined China Minsheng Banking Corporation (CMBC) in 1996 as Vice President. He was widely praised in the Chinese media for his work and was recognized for his adherence to international commercial rules. Dong was an executive director and President of CMBC from 2000 to 2006. He led the bank through its listing as the first non-public financial institution and the first joint stock non-public bank.

He became the Chairman of the Board of Directors of CMBC in 2006. In August 2014, Dong made headlines in the financial press as he resigned from his post as Chairman of CMBC, one of China’s top private lenders and the country’s first majority privately owned bank. It was reported by Chinese media that he had set up a private investment company while holding his position at Minsheng.

After the resignation was announced it was also reported by media in August 2014 that he had launched China’s largest private investment fund. The private fund, China Minsheng Investment Co. Ltd has a registered capital of 50 billion yuan or $8.13 billion after raising funds from 59 domestic private enterprises.

Shareholders of the fund, which received State Council approval in April, are all large private firms and include Suning Commerce Group, one of China’s largest electronic appliance retailers, and Baota Petrochemical Group, a leading chemical manufacturer.  The fund will invest in photovoltaic power generation projects, steel and vessels, and will also engage in stock management and consultancy services.

There is no legal relationship between Minsheng Bank and the fund and it’s not clear why Minsheng Investment is using the Minsheng name. One thing is clear though Dong is a heavyweight in the Chinese financial world. 

Cheng Hong: SAIC Motor Chairman

Cheng Hong was born in March 1961 in Jianshan, Zhejiang Province, China. He is of Han nationality. Cheng holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and is a senior engineer (professor) and also a senior economist and a Party member of CPC. He has served in various positions such as: HR executive management assistant, dean of the policy research office, manager of Leadership Management Section, deputy manager and then the manager of the engine plant of Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd., deputy general manager of Shanghai Automotive Industry Pudong Sedan Project Team, deputy general manager and then general manager of Shanghai General Motors Co., Ltd., vice president of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (Group).

As can be noted Cheng had roles of increasing responsibility and has experienced positions in different areas of the automotive organization.  He then became vice chairman and vice-secretary of the Party committee of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (Group); vice chairman, president, vice-secretary of the Party committee of SAIC Motor Corporation Limited.  Cheng eventually got the top post and is now the Party secretary and chairman of SAIC Motor.

Cheng leads a huge corporation even by global standards; SAIC Motor is the largest auto group on the Chinese A-share stock market. The company offers research, production, sales and logistics services of vehicles (passenger cars and commercial vehicles) and components (engines, gearboxes, powertrains, chassis, interior and exterior and electronic components). SAIC Motor also provides vehicle telemetrics, secondhand vehicle transactions and auto finance services.

The firm has kept its leading position in the domestic Chinese auto industry. It sold 5.11 million vehicles in 2013, a 13.7 percent increase over the past 12 months. It also produced $92.02 billion in revenue.

SAIC Motor’s affiliated vehicle companies include Morris Garages, SAIC Commercial Vehicle Co, Shanghai Volkswagen Co, Shanghai General Motors Co, Shanghai General Motors Wuling (SGMW), NAVECO Ltd, SAIC-IVECO Hongyan and Shanghai Sunwin Bus Corporation (SUNWIN).

Cheng Hong’s name may not a ring a bell to the rest of the world population but he runs a company the size of which only few executives can ever experience running. 

Ma Mingzhe: Chinese Insurance Figure

Ma Mingzhe was born in 1955 and hails from China. He has been the Chairman of Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd. since April 1994 and its Chief Executive Officer since April 2001. Ma has held a number of positions in Ping An Insurance Company since its establishment in 1988.  One of the positions has been as President.

Ma has served as the Deputy Manager of China Merchants Shekou Industrial Zone Social Insurance Company.  He serves as an Executive Director at Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China, Ltd. He also serves as Member of the National Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

Ma has basically spent his entire career in the insurance industry. A hard working individual, it was he who opened the doors of Ping An to foreign investors such as HSBC, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs.  He is also pioneering since Ping An was one of the earliest companies to launch a successful float on a huge scale in Hong Kong.

Ma holds a Doctorate degree in Money and Banking from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law.

Yoshio Sato: Sumitomo Life CEO

Yoshio Sato has served among number of positions at Sumitomo Life Insurance Company among the high level positions has been as Senior Vice President of Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. He has also served as Managing Director of the firm. Now he holds the highest executive posts in the firm. Sato has been the President since March 30, 2007 and is also the Chief Executive Officer.

The firm Sato heads has been in existence for over a hundred years and is currently one of the largest corporations in the world. Sumitomo Life Insurance Company began as Hinode Life Insurance Co., and was incorporated in May 1907. The firm changed its name on May 1926 to Sumitomo Life Insurance Co., Ltd. following its acquisition by Sumitomo Goshi (joint-stock) Company.

After WWII, in 1948 all assets and liabilities were transferred to Kokumin Life Insurance Co. in line with the Allies’ dismantling of large Japanese conglomerates which included “Sumitomo”. By 1952 the name was changed to Sumitomo Life Insurance Company.

A major overseas venture took place in 2005 when the firm Sato now heads, established PICC Life Insurance Co., Ltd. in China with The People’s Insurance Co. Group of China Limited. Under Sato’s leadership Sumitomo Life established Medicare Life Insurance Co., Ltd. as a life insurance subsidiary in April 2010. Another overseas venture took place in December 2012 with a business alliance formed with Bao Viet Holdings (Vietnam).

Based in Osaka, Japan Sumitomo Life Insurance provides life insurance products mainly in Japan. It offers individual life insurance products, including whole life insurance with term riders, interest-sensitive whole life insurance with benefit riders, whole life insurance, endowment insurance, and other individual life insurance products. This includes medical insurance, cancer insurance, juvenile insurance, and term rider with survival benefits as well as other financial products and services.

Sato heads a company that has around 42,098 employees distributed with 11,228 under administrative and 30,870 under sales. Sumitomo Life has 71 branch offices and 1,516 district offices. The firm’s total assets as of March 31, 2013 stood at $281.3 billion.

While not as popularly known globally Sato heads a huge company very few CEOs would ever have a chance of running.

Xiwu Zhang: Shenhua Group Chairman

Xiwu Zhang graduated from Jixi College of Technology in 1988. Later he attended Liaoning University of Engineering and Technology and earned a masters degree in 1997. Zhang took further studies and earned a PhD from Liaoning University of Engineering and Technology in 2003.

Zhang is currently Chairman and Secretary of CPC Leadership Group of Shenhua Group Corporation Limited. He also holds the post as an Executive Director and Chairman of the Board at China Shenhua Energy Company Limited. Before that, Zhang worked as First Deputy Mine Head, Mine Head, and Assistant of Director when he was in Dayan Coal Mining Bureau.

Just how important is the company Zhang heads? For both China and the world the sheer size of this company affects a good deal of the coal industry and therefore of the energy sector in China and to some degree in the world.

The Shenhua Group Corporation Limited is a wholly state-owned company founded in October 1995 with the approval of the State Council. It is a backbone state-owned enterprise directly under the central government and a super large-scale energy enterprise which takes coal as its foundation. It is the largest and most advanced coal enterprise in China and the largest coal distributor in the world.

It takes outstanding leadership skills and interpersonal relationships to be leading this company. 

Xu Lejiang: Bao Steel Group Chairman

Bao Steel Group Corporation also known as Baosteel was born during the time of China’s reforming and opening up to the world. Only after a day of the closing of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee the construction of Baosteel began on the banks of the Yangtze River in north Shanghai on December 23, 1978. 

Today, after more than thirty years in existence, the firm has become China’s most competitive iron and steel group with the highest level of modernization. Baosteel had around 103,401 employees located all around the globe at the end of 2012. The company’s primary operation is in iron and steel, producing premium iron and steel products with high technology contents and added values which has foster three major product lines. These product lines are carbon steel, stainless steel, and special steel. Baosteel is listed by Fortune magazine as one of the largest companies in the world.

Heading this huge enterprise is Xu Lejiang who serves as Chairman.  He graduated from Jiangxi Metallurgy Institute in 1982. Xu went to Western Virginia University in the US for further studies from 1995 to 1996. He earned his MBA degree from the joint program of Fudan University and University of Hong Kong in 2000.

Xu joined Baosteel Group Corporation in 1982 and has deep managerial expertise in the steel industry.  In November 1998 he was appointed director, vice president and member CPC committee of Shanghai Baosteel Group Corporation. After various promotions Xu became chairman in 2007. 

Chang Zhenming: Chinese Financial Executive

Chang Zhenming was born in Beijing, China in 1956. He worked at the Dining Hall of the School Affairs Department at Tsinghua University from 1971 to 1977. In 1979 Chang studied Japanese Literature at the Beijing International Studies University, finishing in 1983.

With his knowledge of Japan he received on the job training from 1984 to 1985 at Daiwa Securities in Japan.  Chang started his career at China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) in 1985. His first position was as deputy manager of the Treasury Division and held various positions such as deputy manager at CITIC Industrial Bank, in charge of foreign exchange and bond businesses.

Chang moved to New York in 1989 as the deputy representative at the CITIC Office. He held this position until 1992. During his time in New York he earned an MBA from the College of Insurance.

In October 1992 Chang was appointed vice president of CITIC Industrial Bank. He became in charge of fund raising through issuing of bonds in the international market, foreign exchange and securities.  Chang became assistant vice president, executive director and vice-president of CITIC from January 1994 to March 2002. He was in charge of establishing the securities, insurance and trust branches of CITIC and non-banking financial business.

He made a major career move in 2004, leaving CITIC to accept the position of vice chairman and president of China Construction Bank.  Two years later though in 2006 he was back at CITIC this time as vice chairman and president of CITIC Group.

CITIC Pacific a subsidiary of CITIC Group made unauthorized bets in the foreign current market in October 2008 and lost $1.9 billion causing senior officials of the subsidiary to resign. In April 2009 Chang was commissioned to replace the chairman and managing director of CITIC Pacific.

Back in 2000 Chang was put in charge to turn around CITIC Ka Wah Bank which was already on the verge of bankruptcy. By 2002 the bank was back on its feet.
  

Xu Jianyi: Leading An Important State Enterprise

Xu Jianyi is the chairman of FAW Group Corporation. While we can say all state enterprises are important this one is crucial. FAW Group Corporation is a Chinese state-owned automotive manufacturing company which is based in Changchung, Jilin, China.

Having a running car manufacturing company in any country is not only a symbol of how far a country has come but also the fact that there is a lot of technology involved in this industry.  It also belongs to the manufacturing sector and can be a proxy for the manufacturing capability of a country.

Xu Jianyi was born on December 24, 1953 in Nanjing, Fushan City in Shandong Province. As has been the practice he joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in June 1986. Xu began working in 1970. He graduated with a specialty of automobile from Jilin Industry University. Xu also earned a Master’s Degree in Holland Maastricht School of Management.

He has solid grounding when it comes to automobiles. Xu was named Designer of No. 1 designing office, chassis design section in FAW R&D center in December 1975. He also has international exposure having been a visiting scholar at the American Engineering Technology United Co., and Ford Automobile from January 1988 to September 1990.

Xu rose through the ranks. Among his positions include being Deputy General Dispatching Leader at FAW Group in June 1995. He was named Deputy General Manager of FAW VW in January 1996. In September 2000 Xu became a standing member of the CPC FAW Group Committee and Deputy General Manager of FAW Group.

What is unique about business executives in China is they also hold political positions. Xu was appointed Assistant Jilin Provincial Governor and member of the CPC Jilin Provincial Government team in November 2003. He also became a standing member of the CPC Jilin Province Committee in May 2007.

As to the company he now heads it was founded in 1953 and currently employees 133,000 individuals worldwide and sells products in 70 countries. The company has totals sales in excess of 7 million vehicles worldwide.  FAW is one of the “Big Four” Chinese automakers.  Xu heads very important company indeed.

Li Yue: Leading The World’s Largest Mobile Network

Li Yue is the CEO and Executive Director of China Mobile Limited which is listed in the New York Stock Exchange and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.  He has been Executive Director since March 2003 and CEO since August 2010. While many may not be aware of it the company is the world’s largest mobile network and has the world’s largest mobile customer base.  It is the leading mobile service provider in Mainland China.

To put it into perspective, at the end of 2012 the company and its subsidiaries had a total customer base of 710 million. That’s more than twice the population of the U.S.  Compared to 2011 there was a net increase of 60.7 million customers. That figure is just couple of millions below the entire population of Great Britain.

Li handles the company’s operations and management which is clearly a huge task. He has risen through the ranks and thus has the necessary experience to run this gigantic company. Li is also the President and director of CMCC and CMC. He was previously Deputy Director General and Chief Engineer of Tianjin Long-Distance Telecommunications Bureau.

Li took up his education mostly in the Chinese region. He has a bachelor’s degree in telephone exchange from the Correspondence College of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, a master’s degree in business administration from Tianjin University and a doctoral degree in business administration from Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Leading this enormous firm also means having a large compensation package; Li received a total of over $2 million in 2011. While Western executives are known to earn more, it’s a huge compensation nevertheless.