Ren Zhengfei

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.

Biography

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...
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