Zhang Ruimin

Zhang Ruimin (; born 5 January 1949) is the founder of Haier Group. He was also the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Haier Group until his resignation in 2021. He was succeeded in these roles by Liang Haishan.

Zhang was appointed the director of Qingdao Refrigerator Factory, predecessor of Haier Group, in December 1984. In 1988, under his leadership, Haier won the first national gold medal for quality in China's refrigerator industry history.

Zhang Ruimin transformed Haier from a small, failing collective factory, to an Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem brand.

In 1998, Zhang Ruimin spoke at Harvard University, becoming the first Chinese business leader to appear on the Harvard podium. He has received management attention and praise at home and abroad for his continuous management model innovations. He created the Rendanheyi model – which encompasses management thinking and models with Chinese characteristics for universal application. Gary Hamel described him as "a CEO representative of the Internet era". Provided by Wikipedia