Sun Yafang

Not to be confused with Sun Yefang.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Sun.

Sun Yafang (Chinese: 孙亚芳; born 1955)^[1] is a Chinese engineer and business executive. She is the longest serving Chairwoman of Huawei, a position she held from 1999 to 2018.^[2] As of 2016, she is listed as the 38th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.^[3]

Sun Yafang
孙亚芳
Sun in 2012
Born	1955 (age 68–69) Guizhou, China
Alma mater	University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC)
Occupation(s)	Engineer, business executive
Employer(s)	Huawei Ministry of State Security
Political party	Chinese Communist Party

Sun Yafang
Simplified Chinese	孙亚芳
Traditional Chinese	孫亞芳
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sūn Yàfāng

Sun in 2016

Background

She earned her bachelor's degree at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in 1982.^[4] Then, Sun started working as a technician at Xin Fei TV Manufactory.^[4] In 1985, she became an engineer at the Beijing Research Institution of Communication Technology.^[4] Prior to joining Huawei in 1989, Sun worked for the Ministry of State Security's Communications Department.^[5][6][7][8]

She began her career with Huawei in 1989 and became chairwoman of the corporation in 1999.^[4]

In March 2018, Huawei switched to a rotating chairman to run the company, continuing Huawei's collective leadership system.^[9] Sun Yafang stepped down as Chairwoman of Huawei after nineteen years and was replaced by Liang Hua.^[10][11]

Awards

In May 2012, she received the World Telecommunication and Information Society Award from the International Telecommunication Union.^[2] In 2014, she was listed as the 81st most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.^[3]

See also

• Meng Wanzhou, Deputy Chairwoman & CFO of Huawei

References

1. "China's Huawei seeks out a global role". Taipei Times. 29 March 2012. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
2. "Sun Yafang". World's Most Powerful Women. Forbes. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
3. "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women". Forbes. Archived from the original on 22 June 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
4. "Company Overview of Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.: Executive Profile: Yafang Sun" Bloomberg Businessweek accessed 8-23-2012
5. "Huawei Annual Report Details Directors, Supervisory Board for First Time" (PDF). Federation of American Scientists. Open Source Enterprise. 5 October 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022. Xinjing Bao reported that Huawei Chairwoman Sun Yafang worked for the Communications Department of the Ministry of State Security for an unspecified period of time before joining Huawei (28 October 2010).
6. Barrett, Devlin; Stein, Perry; Nakashima, Ellen (2022-10-24). "DOJ accuses 10 Chinese spies and government officials of 'malign schemes'". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2023-03-30. Retrieved 2023-10-18. Huawei's former chairwoman, Sun Yafang, who retired in 2018, had previously worked for the Ministry of State Security, China's main foreign intelligence service, according to an essay published under her name in a Chinese magazine in 2017.
7. Gollom, Mark (December 7, 2018). "Huawei is 'growing astronomically' despite allegations it spies for China". CBC News. Archived from the original on October 12, 2023. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
8. Vaswani, Karishma (2019-02-18). "Ren Zhengfei: 'When the mask fell'". BBC News. Retrieved 2023-10-19.
9. "华为董事会换届延续集体领导：改用轮值董事长制，孙亚芳退出". 澎湃新闻 (in Chinese). 2018-03-23. Retrieved 2024-08-25.
10. "华为新一届董事会：梁华接替孙亚芳出任董事长". 观察者网 (in Chinese). 2018-03-23. Retrieved 2024-08-25.
11. "华为告别女皇 任正非背后的"虎妈"卸任了". 孙亚芳_新浪科技_新浪网 (in Chinese). 2018-03-24. Retrieved 2024-08-25.