Biz Scene: BIZ MOVES

Skyworth CEO retires

Chinese electronics company Skyworth Digital announced yesterday that its chairman Wang Dianfu (right) has resigned.

Skyworth president Zhang Xuebin will take Wang's place on April 1. Wang was named Skyworth Digital's chairman on January 14, 2005 after Skyworth Group founder and former chairman Huang Hongsheng and his brother were arrested over misappropriation of company funds. Huang was sentenced to six years in prison on July 7, 2006.

Citibank appointment

Citigroup Inc has appointed Eugene Qian as managing director of its China investment banking team.

Qian, who joins from Deutsche Bank AG, where he was managing director and led the European bank's natural resources investment banking team in Asia, will assume the post in mid-April.

Qian was at Deutsche Bank for four years. Before that, he worked at Union Bank of Switzerland and N M Rothschild for 10 years, after graduating from Fudan University, and got his master's degree and doctorate at Cambridge.

STAR gets new COO

STAR, a leading media and entertainment company wholly owned by News Corporation, yesterday announced the appointment of Laureen Ong as its Chief Operating Officer.

Ong will succeed Steve Askew, who has resigned from the company for personal reasons. Reporting to Paul Aiello, chief executive officer of STAR, she will join STAR officially in June. Ong joins STAR from National Geographic Channel, where she was the founding president of the network.

Ong engineered the 2001 launch of NGC, which became one of the fastest growing networks in US cable television history.

(China Daily 03/29/2007 page15)