By George, Huawei Australia has a new chief executive, Huang Ji, whose anglicised name is George Huang, and whose appointment follows recent anti-Huawei moves by the US and Australian governments.
Huawei Australia's outgoing chief executive, James Zhao, has held that position since February 2014, but has now been replaced.
The company says the move is in line with its "global practice of rotating senior executives across different countries to enable innovation and drive performance in the local market".
Huang joined Huawei in 1996, with the company stating that he brings "a wealth of commercial acumen and resource management to the role".
{loadposition alex08}Before coming to Australia, he headed Huawei’s global human resources division.
In other roles, Huang has served as "chief of Huawei’s Nanjing and Indian R&D centres, president of the consumer software product line, president of the global device cloud business unit and Human Resources vice-president of the Middle East region".
He studied computer science at Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
Huawei Australia chairman John Lord said the local board of directors looked forward to working with Huang to drive performance in the competitive and dynamic Australian market.
Lord said: “With extensive experience across a range of diverse markets, the board is confident George will drive further success in Australia.
“George will be focused on highlighting Huawei’s global 5G and IoT leadership in the local marketplace, growing the enterprise business in the mining, transport and other industry sectors and elevating the Huawei consumer device brand.”
Huang said he was "delighted to take over the growing Huawei Australia business".
“The Australian market provides strong opportunities for us in the carrier and enterprise sectors. We will persist on our 4.5G and 5G journey and keep delivering innovative ICT solutions," he said
“We will continue to share our global knowledge and experience to build a better connected Australia.”
Huang starts his role immediately, but whether he will be able to change the Australian federal government's views on Huawei's potential role in future local and regional telco projects is to be seen.