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.