Beijing, China - January 5, 2016, Beijing, China - Qunar Cayman Islands Limited, a mobile and online travel platform, announced changes to its management and board of directors.
Article continues below
Zhenyu Chen, Qunar’s Executive Vice President and Head of Mobile Business Group, has been appointed as Qunar’s chief executive officer.
Mr. Chen joined Qunar in March 2010 as Vice President for products and mobile development. He became Executive Vice President of Qunar and Head of the Mobile Business Group in November 2014.
Prior to joining Qunar, Mr. Chen was CTO and Co-Founder of Zhuaxia.com from December 2005 to June 2009. He also worked at Baidu, Inc. from January 2001 to November 2005 first as an engineer, and was later promoted to senior manager of the search department.
Mr. Chen received his bachelor’s degree in computer software from Wuhan University of Hydraulic and Electrical Engineering in 1999.
Qiang Zhang, Qunar’s Executive Vice President and Head of Destination Services Business Group, will assume the role of its chief operating officer.
Mr. Zhang joined Qunar in January 2014 as Vice President and the Head of the then newly founded Destination Services Business Unit. He became Executive Vice President of Qunar and Head of the Destination Services Business Group in September 2015.
Mr. Zhang previously worked at Alibaba Group and Meituan.com, and as general manager of Southern region of Meituan prior to joining Qunar. He was named the national sales champion of Alibaba for multiple years.
As the general manager of the Southern region of Meituan, he was responsible for managing a 1,200 people sales team that was the sales champion in the region.
Mr. Zhang received his bachelor’s degree in computer science from the Air Force Engineering University.
Xiaolu Zhu, Qunar’s Senior Director of Strategy and Investor Relations, has been appointed as Qunar's chief financial officer.
Mr. Zhu joined Qunar in November 2014 and served as Senior Director of Strategy and Investor Relations. His responsibilities covered strategy and business analysis, investor relations, capital markets activities and international investment.
Prior to joining Qunar, Mr. Zhu was VP of Finance at Lashou Group Inc. and in charge of all financial, investor relations and legal related matters. Before that, he worked at Goldman Sachs where he helped with multiple IPOs and M&A transactions of Chinese Internet and technology companies.
Mr. Zhu received his L.L.B. from Peking University and J.D. from Duke University.
Jimmy Lai will join Qunar’s Board as an independent director and will serve as the Chairman of the audit committee.
Mr. Lai has served as the chief financial officer of China Online Education Group since June 2015 and is also an independent director of Sky-mobi Limited, a Nasdaq-listed company. Prior to joining China Online Education Group, Mr. Lai served as the chief financial officer of Chukong Technologies Corp., a leading mobile entertainment platform company in China.
Prior to that, Mr. Lai served as the chief financial officer of Gamewave Corporation, a leading webgame company in China from 2011 to 2013.
Prior to that, Mr. Lai served as the chief financial officer of Daqo New Energy Corp., an NYSE-listed company and a leading polysilicon manufacturer based in China from 2009 to 2011.
He received his MBA in accounting from the University of Texas at Dallas and his bachelor’s degree in statistics from the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. He is a certified public accountant licensed in the State of Texas.
Qunar's co-founder Mr. Chenchao “CC†Zhuang will no longer serve as Qunar’s director and chief executive officer, and Ms. Yilu Zhao will no longer serve as its chief financial officer.
Mr. Zhuang and Ms. Zhao will serve as Qunar’s senior advisors until the end of the first quarter of 2016 and play significant roles in supporting the cooperation between Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (“Ctripâ€) and Qunar.
In addition, Qunar announced changes to its Board. The new Board will consist of five members, namely James Liang, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Ctrip, Mr. Zhenyu Chen, Qunar's new chief executive officer, and three independent directors, Mr. Jimmy Lai, Mr. Jianmin Zhu and Ms. Ying Shi.
Mr. Jianmin Zhu will join Qunar’s Board as an independent director.
He currently serves as chief executive officer of FanXiang Investment Management. He founded the company in 2014. He is also one of the co-founders of Infecon Information Technology and worked as its advisor from 2012 to 2013. Mr. Zhu is well-respected for his expertise in investment and information technology.
Prior to starting his own business, Mr. Zhu worked with Ctrip as a vice president before 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Zhu worked with Compaq as senior adviser and with RPTI International as chief technology officer.
Mr. Zhu holds a bachelor’s degree from Shanghai JiaoTong University.
Ms. Ying Shi will join Qunar’s Board as an independent director. She is the founder and executive of Shiva Yoga Media since 2008.
Prior to that, Ms. Shi worked extensively in the travel industry in China. Ms. Shi is well respected for her experience in the health care, therapy and travel industry. ■