China's Haier Group Founder & CEO Earns Leadership Award at Yale University CEO Summit

  NEW YORK, NY - 06/15/2016 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

Zhang Ruimin, Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Haier Group, was awarded the Legend In Leadership Award at the prestigious Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute CEO Summit taking place in New York City. The invitation-only meeting featuring chairman, CEO and president-level executives from iconic global businesses and leading scholars from Yale, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia and Emory, addressed diverse topics from global strategy to succession planning and is titled The Future Ain’t What it Used to Be: Delight & Despair Over Disruption.

The Legend in Leadership Award was presented to Mr. Zhang by William Donaldson, 27^th Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission and by Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman & CEO of Blackstone.

Summit organizer Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies at the Yale School of Management, commented:

Zhang Ruimin is a genuine global business giant who inspires mythic awe from his competitors, his peers, and his fellow Chinese business leaders.  Recently the Financial Times has appropriately anointed Zhang as one of the 50 most admired business leaders in the world and he has been widely celebrated in the media, by the Academy of Management’s scholars, as well as profiled in business school case studies. While building the world’s largest white goods appliance maker, he has been more than just a hugely successful turnaround leader and global entrepreneur moving the business to all the continents in the world. He has also been a champion of product quality and smart appliances, IoT technologies, and innovation in progressive management practices. As a transformational leader, he has captured the best of Western and Chinese business practices to create his own unique model.”

In 1984, Zhang took the post as director of Qingdao Refrigerator Factory --- predecessor of Haier --- thus starting the prologue of Haier’s entrepreneurship. Through 32 years of development, with the innovative entrepreneurial spirit and advanced strategic decision-making in conformity with the trend of the time, he turned a small nearly collapsed factory into a global innovative enterprise in the consumer electronics and home appliances sectors. 

About Haier Group

Haier is the world's leading home appliance provider, with global revenues amounting to US $30.3billion and profits of US $2.89 billion in 2015. Its mission is to create innovative home appliances that anticipate the fast-changing needs of consumers all around the world. Haier has been named the number one global home appliance brand every year for the last six years by Euromonitor International, a world leader in strategy research for consumer markets, and in 2012 the Boston Consulting Group named Haier one of the ten most innovative companies in the world as well as the most innovative company in the consumer and retail category. Its global headquarters are based in the Chinese city of Qingdao and it also has regional headquarters in both Paris and New York to serve its clients in Europe and America. Haier also has five R&D centers, 66 trading companies and 21 industrial parks worldwide.

Haier Electronics Group Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Haier Group, is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKG: 1169). By drawing on its competitive strengths in marketing, the internet, logistics and services, Haier Electronics Group aims to provide an integrated and unrivalled consumer experience. Qingdao Haier Co., also a subsidiary of Haier Group, is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SHA: 600690) and focuses on driving innovation in smart home technologies.