Louis Hsieh

Louis T. Hsieh is a Chinese businessman and lawyer who serves as a Senior Advisor and a Board Director of New Oriental Education and Technology Group (NYSE: EDU), China’s largest private educational services provider. He was the company's president from May 2009 to January 2016.[1] He is also the Board Director for JD.com (NASDAQ: JD), China's largest direct sales Internet company, and a board member at United Information Technologies, a Chinese storage solutions company.[2]

Early life

Hsieh attended Stanford University in California as an undergraduate, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management. He later received an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley, joining the State Bar of California.[2]

From 1990-96, he worked at White & Case LLP as a corporate securities attorney. He then worked at Credit Suisse in Boston and as a vice president at J.P. Morgan & Co. for four years.[1] He subsequently served as Managing Director of UBS Capital Asia Pacific (2000–02), Managing Director of Darby Asia Investors (2002–03), and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Ario Data Networks.[3]

New Oriental

In 2005, Hsieh became the CFO of New Oriental, China’s largest private educational services provider. In this role, he helped launch New Oriental's successful 2006 initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange, which was oversubscribed 35 times.[4][5]

In 2007, Hsieh was named Board Director, and in 2009, he became New Oriental's President.[3] The number of New Oriental schools doubled in following two years, and in 2011, Hsieh announced that the company would slow its expansion for a time and make more of an effort to fill existing classrooms and facilities.[6] During Hsieh's time as president, New Oriental also dramatically expanded its POP Kids program, which provided language instruction to children from 3–14 years of age.[7]

One of the more notable events of Hsieh's tenure was the 2012 publication of a report by an American firm, Muddy Waters Research, that stated that New Oriental was using accounting tricks to overstate its profits, and that it would soon have to restate its earnings. The Muddy Waters report coincided with an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and caused EDU to drop by 57% on the New York Stock Exchange. Hsieh defended New Oriental in the press, stating that Muddy Waters had incorrectly extrapolated New Oriental's accounting and business model from one of its subsidiaries.[8][9][10][11] New Oriental ultimately did not restate its earnings as Muddy Waters had predicted, and its stock rebounded and then rose by one-third. The SEC investigation was concluded in 2014 without any enforcement action.[8][12]

In April 2015, Hsieh was succeeded as CFO by Stephen Zhihui Yang, but continued to serve as New Oriental's President and Board Director.[13] On 5 January 2016, Hsieh stepped down as New Oriental's President and was succeeded by Chenggang Zhou. Hsieh remains the Board Director and a non-executive Senior Advisor.[14]

Other positions

Hsieh is the Board Director for JD.com, China's largest direct sales Internet company, and a board member at United Information Technologies, a Chinese storage solutions company.[2] He previously served on the boards of LDK Solar, where he served as chairman of the audit committee, Perfect World, and China Digital TV Holdings.[1][15][16]

References

External links

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