Huawei strengthens management team

January 16, 2016

Huawei Submarine Networks Co Ltd, the optical networking company, has appointed four new senior managers. The appointments were announced at the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) annual meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Ian Douglas becomes the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Xiong Feng is the new Chief Financial Officer, Bruce Neilson-Watts has been appointed Chief Planning Officer, and Yiquan Lu is now Chief System Engineer.

Huawei Submarine Networks Co Ltd is a joint venture between Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. of China and Global Marine Systems of the UK.

The new appointments bring a wealth of industry experience to the joint venture. Mr Douglas, who will be responsible for global activities, strategic initiatives and key customer and partner relationships, was Global Marine’s Asia Pacific Director from 1995-2002. He then became Director and General Manager of SB Submarine Systems (SBSS), a joint venture between China Telecom and Global Marine.

Mr Douglas is one of only few western businessmen to receive the Friendship Award from the Chinese Government for contributions to China.

Mr Feng worked for 30 years with China Telecom in a variety of management positions, and from 2000 to 2006 was President and Board Chairman of Guangdong Telecom, China Telecom’s largest business unit.

Mr Neilson-Watts has held a number of key roles with Global Marine Systems. He worked as Development Director for the Asia Pacific region and also managed business development relationships with Huawei Technologies.

Mr Lu, who will be responsible for the design and development of advanced submarine products, has significant project management and R&D experience at Huawei. His most recent position was as a system engineer in charge of DWDM product design and development.