Meng Wenzhou, the daughter of Telecoms giant Huawei Technologies founder; Ren Zhengfei, has been appointed as the new chairwoman in a rotating role, according to the company’s website.
Meng Wanzhou, was the company’s finance chief who returned to China in 2021 after nearly three years of detention in Canada.
Meng Wenzhou will act as the company’s top leader and head of Huawei’s board of directors for six months when it is her turn. The announcement did not specify when her term would begin.
The rotating chairmen are Eric Xu and Ken Hu. Meng is also deputy chairwoman and will remain CFO, according to the company’s website.
“The company is optimizing and refining its internal governance structure to make sure the company is built to last,” a Huawei spokesperson said. “The supervisory board is responsible for the company’s survival, development, and long-term prospects.”
Meng, whose English name is Sabrina, played a central role in the company’s tussle with the United States, having been detained in Canada in 2018 over alleged attempts by Huawei-linked companies to sell equipment to Iran in breach of US sanctions.
The United States then imposed a series of trade restrictions on the company throughout 2019 and 2020, citing national security concerns. The measures impeded Huawei’s ability to design its own chips and to source components from outside vendors, crippling its smartphone businesses.
After an agreement with US prosecutors to end a bank fraud case, Meng was allowed to return to China in September 2021.