Ren Zhengfei (任正非 b. 1944 in Guizhou, China (贵州)) is the president of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd (华为技术有限公司), headquartered in Shenzhen, China. Forbes magazine listed Mr. Ren as the 190th richest person in China, with private assets of approximately $124 million USD.[1]
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Ren's grandfather was from Jiangsu (江苏) province and was a master chef who was an expert in curing ham in neighbouring Zhejiang province (浙江). His father (任摩逊) failed to complete university studies when his grandfather died a year prior to his graduation.
During the Japanese occupation, his father migrated south to Guangzhou (广州) to work in the Kuomingtang (Chinese Nationalist Party) arms factory as an accounts clerk. After 1949, his father was appointed as the president of No.1 Middle School of Duyun (都匀一中) where he met Ren Zhengfei's mother. The eldest of seven children, his mother was a senior teacher at the No.1 Middle School of Duyun.
After completing secondary school, he attended the Chongqing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, and then joined an People's Liberation Army (PLA) research institute to work as a military technologist. He was excluded from joining the Communist Party of China for most of his career in the military, due to his parent's social background and their ties to the Kuomingtang. During this time, Ren was responsible for a number of technology achievements that were recognized at various levels. For this reason, Ren was selected as a delegate from PLA to attend the National Science Conference in 1978. In 1982, Ren retired from the army due to a large PLA force reduction which impacted 500,000 active duty personnel. After becoming a civilian, Ren moved to Shenzhen and worked in electronics business.
In 1988, Ren founded Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, a company which specializes in the development, production, and sales of telecom equipment. He serves as its CEO. The company had an annual revenue of $24 billion USD, and over 96,000 employees in 2008.
Time Magazine included Ren Zhengfei in its list of 100 most influential people of 2005.[2]
Ren holds 1.42% of the shares of Huawei. Huawei is essentially independent of Ren because it is held by most of its employees, but the ownership structure remains opaque.[3]
Ren retired as a major of the People's Liberation Army in 1982. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1978. As a representative of private entrepreneurs, he was elected member of the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Among his other accomplishments, Ren is responsible for developing cooperative programs with businesses in China’s interior regions.
His ties with the Chinese military and Communist Party are being cited as a security concern in not allowing Huawei to expand in India.[4] This follows similar objections raised by the United States, which ultimately led to the collapse of Huawei's efforts to buy 3Com.