Zhang Ruimin

Zhang Ruimin (Chinese: 张瑞敏; born 5 January 1949) is a Chinese business executive who founded Haier Group and served as its chairman and chief executive officer from 1984 until 2021. Under Zhang's leadership, Haier grew from an insolvent Qingdao refrigerator factory into one of the world's largest home appliance manufacturers, reporting over 300 billion yuan in revenue in 2020. 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".

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