Huawei appoints new local boss

New Huawei Australia boss James Zhao

The Australian subsidiary of Chinese networking giant Huawei has appointed James Zhao as its new CEO, replacing Guo Fulin who has been promoted to a regional role with the company.

He was recently global account director for Bharti Airtel, a role which spanned 20 countries across Africa as well as India.

Zhao first joined Huawei in 2000 as a radio engineer, later working as a sales manager in China. In 2004, he was promoted to managing director and COO of Huawei Indonesia, overseeing sales growth from US$30 million to US$1.5 billion between 2004 and 2011.

Huawei has a global practice of rotating senior executives through different marks to help them gain a breadth of management experience.

Huawei Australia chairman John Lord said in a statement: “Huawei’s corporate structure is a great example of ‘Western governance with Chinese characteristics’ and one of Huawei’s great strengths it the practice of rotating CEOs on fixed terms.”

Outgoing CEO Fulin arrived in Australia in 2009 when Huawei had less than 200 staff and revenue of $132 million. The company now employs 700 staff and in 2012 reported revenue of $368 million.