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Dr. Tony Xu Han founded WeRide and currently serves as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to founding the company, Dr. Han worked as an associate professor of the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department at the University of Missouri from 2007 to 2017, and was granted tenure in 2013. In his academic career, he specialized in computer vison and machine learning. He worked as the Chief Scientist of autonomous driving unit at Baidu Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU and HKEX: 9888) from 2014 to 2017. Dr. Han received his bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Beijing Jiaotong University in 1998, master’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Rhode Island in 2002, and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2007.
Dr. Yan Li co-founded WeRide and currently serves as its Director and Chief Technology Officer. Prior to co-founding WeRide, Dr. Li served as the Director of engineering of Ucar Inc. from 2015 to 2017, leading the autonomous driving department and GPS data platform. From 2012 to 2015, he worked as a Senior Engineer at Facebook, where he was responsible for developing deep learning algorithms and engines. From 1999 to 2002 and 2009 to 2012, Dr. Li worked as an applied researcher at Microsoft. Dr. Li received his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Tsinghua University in 1997, master’s degree in Computer Science from Tsinghua University in 1999 and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009.
Mr. Takao Asami has served as our Director since 2022. Mr. Asami has worked at multiple positions at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Renault S.A. Mr. Asami has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nissan Technology Development (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., currently a subsidiary of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., (formerly known as Alliance Automotive Research & Development (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., which was a joint venture company between Renault S.A. and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.) since February 2019. Since 2013, he has served as a Senior Vice President at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. From 2009 to 2013, he was the Corporate Vice President focusing on research at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Mr. Asami received his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Engineering in 1981 and his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California School of Engineering in 1988.
Ms. Huiping Yan has served as WeRide’s independent director since 2024. Ms. Yan has served as the chief financial officer of ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: ZTO, HKEX: 2057) since May 2018 and was the vice president of finance there from January 2018 to May 2018. Before that, Ms. Yan spent approximately seven years serving as the chief financial officer of a number of Chinese TMT and hospitality companies including two years at Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of Alibaba (NYSE: BABA, HKEX: 9988), and over four years at Home Inns, a leading economy hotel chain in China. Prior to that, Ms. Yan spent 11 years at GE in both the U.S. and Asia, serving in various key roles in corporate and operational financial management. Prior to that, Ms. Yan spent over six years at Deloitte & Touche in the U.S. in tax services. Ms. Yan has served as the independent non-executive director of TUHU Car Inc. (HKEX: 9690), a leading integrated online and offline platform for automotive service in China since September 2023. Ms. Yan studied at Shanghai International Studies University, where she majored in English literature and linguistics and received a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an accounting major from Hawaii Pacific University in August 1991. Ms. Yan graduated from the GE experienced financial leadership program in September 2003 and is a U.S.-certified public accountant with a CGMA designation (AICPA).
Mr. David Tong Zhang has served as WeRide’s independent director since 2024. Mr. Zhang has extensive experience representing Chinese issuers and leading investment banks in U.S. initial public offerings, Hong Kong initial public offerings and other Rule 144A and Regulation S offerings of equity, debt and convertible securities. Mr. Zhang had been a senior corporate partner in the Hong Kong office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP, from which he retired in 2024. Prior to joining Kirkland & Ellis International LLP in 2011, Mr. Zhang was a partner of Latham & Watkins LLP for eight years. Mr. Zhang is an independent non-executive director of Fosun International Limited (HKSE: 00656), a global innovation-driven consumer group; a non-executive director of Noah Holdings Limited (NYSE: NOAH and HKEX: 6686), a leading wealth management service provider; and an independent director of Morgan Stanley Securities (China) Co., Ltd. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Tulane University. Mr. Zhang graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Beijing Foreign Studies University in 1981 and earned his juris doctor degree from Tulane University Law School in 1991.
Mr. Grégoire de Franqueville has served as WeRide’s director since 2024. Grégoire de Franqueville is the Vice President for Strategy and Partnerships in the Light Commercial Vehicles Business Unit of Renault Group since 2023, and Chief Executive Officer of PVI - Renault Vehicle Innovation, an OEM specialized in small series of new energy LCV transformation since 2024. He led a Renault Powertrain entity spin-off from 2021 to 2023, to create together with Geely a global powertrain supplier (Horse). As Vice President of International Development and Partnerships from 2020 to 2022, he redefined Renault’s global strategy. Prior to that, he directed autonomous new mobility services program at Renault Nissan from 2017 to 2020, and managed Nissan’s Qashqai and X-Trail programs in Japan from 2011 to 2015. His expertise spans technical engineering to strategic leadership in the automotive industry. He graduated with an engineering degree from Ecole Centrale de Nantes (France) in 1996.