ChinaTravelNews - China Lodging Group (CLG) CEO Qi Ji announced in an internal email the appointment of CFO Jenny Zhang as President who will oversee daily operations and reporting directly to him. Mr Ji will remain the company's president/CEO focusing on areas like corporate strategy, recruitment and corporate philosophy. He will also continue to take an active role in key business areas like direct project investment, development of new brands and products, acquisitions and investments.
Ms Zhang became China Lodging Group's CFO in March 2008. A Harvard MBA graduate,[1] Ms Zhang has over 10 years of experience in financial management and consulting with multinational firms like Eli Lily Asia, ASIMCO Casting and McKinsey and Co before joining CLG.
Ms Zhang is seen as the key person to spearhead CLG's new strategy after forming a strategic partnership with Accor Hotels. The strategy focuses on expanding its hotel network while maintaining its direct-sales-oriented distribution structure and setting up a distribution platform for independent and small hotels. Ms. Zhang told ChinaTravelNews in a previous interview that CLG was not "only developing a distribution platform for hotel partners but also helping them achieve globalization in sales and customer bases".(Translation by David)
