changes in the senior management of pharmaceutical companies Novartis and GSK in China; OpenAI's Chief Scientist Leaves | Executive Updates: May 5-17, 2024

Sany Group, Shanghai Jahwa, Xiaomi Group, Meizu, Swiss Re, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Petrobras, Pioneer Pilot, OpenAI, Amazon, ABC, Sony, Tesla, BMW, UPS, Singapore Airlines, Accor, Bühler Group, Umicore, Richemont Group and other company executives.

China

Sany Group announced on May 15 that according to the rotating chairman system of the group, the board of directors decided that Xiang Wenbo will serve as the chairman of the group from May 16, 2024 to May 15, 2025.

The Board of Directors of Shanghai Jahwa has decided to appoint Lin Xiaohai as the Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of the Company, effective from June 1, 2024. Pan Qiusheng resigned from the company's chairman, chief executive officer and other related positions for personal reasons. Lin Xiaohai was previously the CEO of Sun Art Retail for 4 years. Until June 1, before Lin Xiaohai officially joins the company, the position of CEO will be represented by Cheng Jianxin, chairman of Shanghai Jahwa. Lin Xiaohai is the fourth "airborne" CEO after Ping An became the owner of Jiahua. Previously, the three CEOs, including the first Xie Wenjian, the second Zhang Dongfang, and the third Pan Qiusheng, had never worked in Jahwa, and were from Johnson & Johnson, Vinda International, and L'Oreal.

Xiaomi Group has decided to make organizational adjustments and cadre appointments: Xu Fei has been appointed as Group Vice President and Group CMO, Zhang Jianhui has been appointed as Group Vice President and Chairman of the Group Procurement Committee, and will continue to serve as General Manager of the Group's Assets and Engineering Management Department.

According to the official website of Xingji Meizu Group, the former CEO Shen Ziyu stepped down and was replaced by Su Jing, and the legal person of Hubei Xingji Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. was also changed from Shen Ziyu to Su Jing. After this adjustment, Shen Ziyu is no longer in the list of six main managers disclosed by Xingji Meizu.

Swiss Re is pleased to announce the appointment of Ivan Gonzalez, Chief Executive Officer of Swiss Re China Re, as Chief Executive Officer of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. He will take up his role on 1 July 2024 and will join the Group Executive Committee, succeeding Andreas Berger, who will become CEO of Swiss Re. Following his departure from Swiss Re China, Beat Strebel will take over as President of Swiss Re China and Chief Executive Officer of China Re on 1 July 2024, with overall responsibility for Swiss Re China's reinsurance business. The appointment is subject to regulatory approval.

Effective June 1, Ingrid Zhang, President of Novartis China, has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Novartis International Business Unit, leading Novartis' Go-to-Market Strategy (CLS) team, based in Basel. Leo Lee, President of Novartis Japan, has been appointed President of China, and Keizo Miyazawa will be appointed Interim President of Japan during the transition period, responsible for Japan. From 2017 to September 2023, Zhang Ying successively served as the president of Novartis Pharmaceuticals China and Novartis Innovative Drugs China. Since October 2023, she has served as President and Managing Director of Novartis China.

Cecilia Qi, the current Vice President and General Manager of GSK China, has been appointed as GSK's Regional Vice President for Greater China and Intercontinental and Head of Vaccines, with Sherman Yu, the current Vice President and General Manager of GSK Taiwan, taking over from her role as Vice President and General Manager of GSK China, which will take place on 1 June and take up her new role on 1 July. Qi Xin joined the company in 2004 and took the helm of GSK's China business in January 2020.

Accor announced on May 17 that Mr. Li Li has been appointed Chief Development Officer for premium, mid-range and economy brands in Greater China, effective February 2024. Prior to joining Accor in May 2021, Mr. Li served as Senior Vice President, Development & Strategic Partnerships, Greater China, where he was responsible for driving the rapid growth and strategic cooperation of Accor's brands in the Chinese market. The promotion will strengthen Accor's brand portfolio with its partners and strengthen its position as the preferred franchisor of diversified hotel brands for owners in the Chinese market.

The Bühler Group announces the appointment of Connie He as the new President of Bühler Greater China, with full responsibility for the Bühler Group's business operations in Greater China as of May 1, 2024.

globe

Brazilian President Lula has fired Petrobras CEO Jean Paul Prates, and former head of the National Petroleum Administration, Magda Chambryat, will take over. Prates expressed its willingness to resign.

历峰集团(Richemont)宣布晋升梵克雅宝(Van Cleef & Arpels)首席执行管尼古拉斯·博斯(Nicolas Bos)为集团CEO。

Vanguard has appointed BlackRock veteran Salim Ramji as its next CEO. He will succeed Tim Buckley as the first outside person to take the helm of the company. Ramji will join Vanguard in July. He was responsible for exchange-traded funds and indices at BlackRock, Vanguard's biggest competitor. Vanguard was founded nearly half a century ago and had about $9.3 trillion in assets under management at the end of March. In February, Vanguard announced that Buckley, a 30-year veteran of Vanguard who has served as CEO since 2018, plans to retire by the end of the year.

OpenAI Chief Scientist and Co-Founder Ilya Sutskever is leaving the artificial intelligence (AI) company. He voted to remove CEO Sam Altman about six months ago, but said a few days later he regretted the move. Sutskever and OpenAI's current leaders praised each other when they announced the news on Tuesday, but the move suggests that Altman's brief ouster last November is still having an impact on OpenAI's leadership. Since then, OpenAI has replaced almost all of its directors and said it will strengthen governance.

Amazon AWS has announced that CEO Adam Selipsky will step down next month. Following Selipsky's departure on June 3, Matt Garman, senior vice president of sales, marketing, and global services at AWS, will take over.

Kim Godwin, the president of ABC's press department, announced her step down, and ABC was restructured a few months ago, resulting in her effectively being stripped of much of her managerial autonomy.

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), the Sony Group company and the company behind PlayStation, has announced a new leadership structure for SIE. Effective June 1, Hideaki Nishino will be appointed CEO of the SIE Platform Division, and Hermen Hulst will be appointed CEO of the SIE Studio Division. Hiroki Totoki, who has been serving as interim CEO of SIE, will serve as chairman of SIE in addition to serving as president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Sony Group Corporation.

Tesla's head of product launches is leaving the company after nearly seven years and has lashed out at the company's leadership. Rich Otto, Tesla's head of product launches, said, "Great companies are made up of great people and great products, and the latter is only possible if employees thrive." Recent layoffs have shaken the company and its morale, throwing this harmony out of balance, making it difficult to see long-term development. It's time for a change. ”

Renjie Zhu, director of manufacturing engineering at Tesla's Gigafactory in Austin, announced that he would be leaving the company. He was responsible for the launch and production of Tesla's Cybertruck project. He moved from Tesla's Shanghai factory to the Austin factory in January 2023 to launch the Cybertruck project. After several years of delays, Tesla began deliveries of the electric pickup truck in November last year.

The BMW Group has announced that Stefan Richmann, its Head of Corporate Strategy, will replace Stefanie Wurst as CEO of the MINI brand, effective August 1, 2024. Richmann joined BMW in 1997 and has held several senior positions in finance and product management at the automaker, including CFO of BMW USA and CFO of BMW Spain.

United Parcel Service (UPS) said its chief financial officer and executive vice president, Brian Newman, will leave the company on June 1. The United Parcel will evaluate internal and external candidates to replace Newman.

Singapore Airlines announced on May 16 that its Scoot CEO Tong Kang Chong has been promoted to Executive Vice President of Singapore Airlines, effective July 1. Tong Kangzhuang will continue to serve as CEO of Scoot.

Umicore's Executive Vice President of Catalysts, Bart Brown. BartSap replaces Matthias. Mathias Miedreich becomes the company's CEO, effective May 16. One of Sapp's top priorities is to evaluate the development plans for Umicore's battery materials business, including capital expenditures.