Leading today’s roundup of people moves, a formerly troubled Chinese developer has lured an investment banking veteran to take the reins as CFO, and a mid-sized Hong Kong property firm has welcomed a new MD for its commercial division. Wanda Group’s former top exec in Hollywood has debuted a new app that aims to revolutionise the movie business in China, and a property leader at GE is stepping into an asset management role in Shanghai. Read on for all these job changes and more.
Edward Lau has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer of Kaisa Group Holdings, the Shenzhen-based developer, succeeding Habibullah Abdul Rahman effective this month. Lau brings over 15 years of experience in investment banking, consulting and accounting across a broad array of financial products to his new role, according to a statement by the Hong Kong-listed firm. Lau joins Kaisa from Deutsche Bank, where he was a Director of the Loans and Structured Credit team in the Global Trading Group in Hong Kong. He previously headed Equity Capital Markets, Greater China at Barclays Capital after stints at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Enst & Young.
Anthony Chu has joined Hong Kong-listed real estate investment and development firm CSI Properties as Managing Director of the Commercial Department. Chu takes the new role in Hong Kong after serving as General Manager of the Property Development Department at regional real estate conglomerate Far East Consortium International. The University of Manchester graduate has previously worked for Henderson Land, Sino Land Group and Aedas.
Jack Gao is back in the news after stepping down as senior vice president at Dalian Wanda and interim head of Wanda-owned film studio Legendary Entertainment last October. Gao is now founding partner and CEO of Smart Cinema, an app that streams new-release films to mobile devices in China. The pay-per-view service aims to reach hundreds of millions of users, who will add to box office earnings by paying full ticket prices for the movies. Launched in Shenzhen, the app “is actually like an officially recognized online cinema chain,” Gao notes on his LinkedIn profile. The former News Corp and Microsoft executive had joined Chinese commercial developer Wanda in 2015.
Ying Lee is now Asset Manager – Process Leader at General Electric based in Shanghai, in which role she drives data analytics, process design and transformation, and portfolio strategies for the US conglomerate’s occupied real estate portfolio. Lee previously held a series of real estate roles at GE, most recently as Global Property Leader – GE Digital. Her prior titles have included Real Estate Services, Region Leader for Asia Pacific and Senior Portfolio Manager, Greater China. Before joining the company in 2009, Lee worked in the Industrial division of property brokerage Colliers International.
Stanley D’britto has joined Good Host Spaces, a privately owned student housing venture with over 15,000 beds, as President, based in Mumbai. Good Host describes itself as “India’s largest independent purpose-built student housing company.” D’britto previously worked at ISS Facility Services for nearly two decades in the Mumbai area, holding the role of Chief Operating Officer at the leading global provider of cleaning, security and related services since 2010.
Brian Fu has joined Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba, as an Overseas Business Development Specialist, based in Hangzhou. Fu previously worked for Dalian Wanda Group as Senior Manager in the Acquisitions Department of the company’s International Real Estate Center, where he was involved in overseas projects of the commercial developer including the purchase and sale of the Nine Elms Square mega-project site in London. Before his four-year stint at Wang Jianlin’s property group, Fu worked at China Carrie Funds Management and CBRE.
Ronnie Yin has been promoted to Head of Solutions Development, China at JLL, based in Shanghai, after serving as Solutions Development Director since 2015. Yin was previously Business Development Director at rival brokerage Cushman & Wakefield, after an initial stint at JLL and a sales role at Compass Group China. She received a bachelor’s in Catering & Hotel Management at International Management Institute Switzerland.
If you know of other Asia real estate professionals changing their jobs, getting promoted or just doing something exciting, please contact us here at Mingtiandi.
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