Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Alex S. Xu is our founder and has served as our chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer since 2004. Mr. Xu is the founder of American Pacific Homes, Inc., a premier residential real estate developer in California, and has served as its chairman since 1997. He also has served as a managing director of Foothill Medical Centers since 1997. Prior to founding our company, Mr. Xu served as the chief operating officer of U.S. Uni-President Investment and Development from 1995 to 1997. From 1994 to 1996, Mr. Xu served as the director of finance with Santa Anita Realty Enterprises, Inc. From 1990 to 1994, Mr. Xu worked as the accounting and corporate data service manager for Broadway Stores Inc. Mr. Xu received a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Beijing Institute of Technology in 1984 and two master’s degrees in computer engineering and in applied mathematics from the University of Southern California in 1990.

 

General Counsel and Director

Mr. Gregory James Karns has served as a director and general counsel of our company since 2005. Mr. Karns has worked as an associate and as a partner successively with Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP since 1989. From 1985 to 1989, Mr. Karns worked as an associate with Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue. From 1983 to 1985, he worked as an associate with Kindel & Anderson. Mr. Karns received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1980 and a juris doctor degree from Loyola Law School in 1983.

 

Chief Financial Officer

Dr. Yiping Yang has served as our chief financial officer since January 2019, a director of our company in 2018, as our vice president for operations since 2017, and as our vice president for sales and marketing since 2016. Dr. Yang has worked at our company as a secretary of general managers and a group marketing director since 2016, with responsibility for sales channels, customer reservation services, online promotion, public relations, and graphic design. She initially joined our company as executive assistant to the chairman. From 2011 to 2015, Dr. Yang held various roles as a marketing director, sales manager, and assistant general manager with Jingfeng Industry Co., Ltd, Jiangxi, a chain manufacturing company. Dr. Yang received a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2004 and passed the qualifying exam for the doctoral program in 2006. She received a doctoral degree in financial engineering from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2010.

 

Vice President for Human Resources and Administration

Ms. Wen Qi has served as our vice president for human resources and administration since 2016. Ms. Qi has held various positions in our company since 2006. From 2013 to 2016, she served as the director of our information technology department with responsibility for scheduling programs, appraising employees’ performance and planning the development of information technology solutions for our company. From 2011 to 2013, Ms. Qi served as a director of our purchasing department. From 2008 to 2009, and from 2009 to 2011, she successively served as a supervisor and as a director of our legal affairs department. From 2006 to 2007, Ms. Qi worked as the executive secretary to the chairman of our board of directors. Ms. Qi received a bachelor’s degree in law from University of Science and Technology Beijing in 2002 and received a master’s degree in law from the University of Hertfordshire in 2005.

 

Vice President for Development

Mr. Yong Yang has served as our vice president for development since 2015. Mr. Yang worked with our company as a regional manager from 2013 to 2015 and as a regional deputy manager from 2012 to 2013. In 2012, he served as our regional director of the Southern Anhui Region. From 2011 to 2012, Mr. Yang worked with our company as a regional manager and a development specialist. From 2011 to 2010, he worked successively as a deputy manager and then manager of our Anhui branch. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Yang served as assistant general manager of the Hefei branch of Homeinns Hotels Co., Ltd. Mr. Yang studied economic management at the College of Economics and Management at the Anhui Administration Institute and graduated in 2004.