Zhang Ruimin, the founder of Haier resigns as chairman of the board and is invited to be honorary chairman, while Zhou Yunjie is elected as the new chairman of the board and appointed as CEO. At the general election of the 8th Haier Staff Assembly on November 5, 2021, Zhang Ruimin volunteered not to participate in the nomination of new directors, originating a new succession mechanism enabling sustainable evolution of an ecosystem enterprise.
In order to avoid fluctuations during leadership succession, which are not uncommon under bureaucratic management models, Zhang Ruimin has successfully transformed Haier into a self-organizing, self-driven, and self-evolving ecosystem enterprise through 16 years exploring the Rendanheyi model.
According to the company, staff representatives expressed tremendous confidence in the future and highly appraised Zhang Ruimin’s outstanding contributions over the past 37 years. Under the leadership of Zhang Ruimin, Haier developed from Qingdao Refrigerator General Factory with a turnover of 3.48 million RMB and a deficit of 1.47 million in 1984 into a global giant with a turnover over 300 billion and profit and tax over 40 billion. Haier Smart Home, one of the group’s listed companies, ranks among the Fortune Global 500.
The 8th Haier Staff Assembly also elected the new management committee and board of directors: Zhang Ruimin was invited to be the honorary chairman of the board; Zhou Yunjie was elected as the new chairman of the board and appointed as the CEO; Liang Haishan was appointed as the president. Zhou and. Liang both joined Haier after graduating from college in 1988. They started from grass-roots work and grew up practicing at multiple positions in the group.
