About the Chairman

Mr. Pan Gang, Chairman and President of Yili Group, holds a doctoral degree in economics from Renmin University of China and an MBA degree from China Europe International Business School. He joined Yili Group upon graduation as a basic-level worker in 1992 and was appointed the president of the Group at the age of 32 as the then youngest president among 520 key industrial enterprises in China. Three years later, he began to serve as chairman and president of Yili Group.

By relying on his outstanding ability of exercising overall leadership and unique strategic vision, Mr. Pan led Yili to achieve leapfrog development, from a small neighborhood factory in Hohhot to the only dairy enterprise in Asia with revenue exceeding RMB100 billion, ranking among the top five dairy companies in the world and first in Asia while building a new pattern of "one super power and multiple great powers" in China’s dairy industry. Always putting quality above everything else in corporate development, he has put forward the concept that "Yili means the best quality. Quality is as precious as life itself." and established it as the belief of the Group which is even more important than the corporate vision, helping further improve the quality management level of Yili and China’s dairy industry. His strategies of "Domestic Networking" and "Global Networking" have made Yili not only the largest dairy enterprise in Asia, but also the only Chinese dairy enterprise operating in Asia, Europe, Americas and Oceania. His management concepts such as "precision management" and "full-chain innovation" have enabled Yili's management level to continue to lead the dairy industry in China. His keen insight and quick decision on rare resources such as "The Olympic Games" and "The World Expo" have enabled Yili to stay on top in terms of quality marketing in China’s dairy industry and to win the titles of "the most valuable dairy brand in the world" and "the most popular brand for Chinese consumers" for years. He has put forward the Yili Law that "A successful enterprise stresses social responsibility more than just development of itself, industry prosperity more than its own glory, and social value more than commercial wealth", which has made Yili the first in the industry to advocate the development concept of "green industrial chain" and promoted the sustainable development of China’s dairy industry. After Yili’s total operating income exceeded RMB 100 billion, Mr. Pan, based on the development of the enterprise, put forward the strategic goal of "New Vision for Value Creation", with the goal of leading the industry in creating consumer value, social value, employee value, and corporate value, continuing to lead Yili to grow into the world’s No.1 dairy enterprise and a world Top 5 provider of healthy food.

Mr. Pan holds many influential social positions, such as vice president of China Enterprise Confederation and China Enterprise Directors Association, chairman of China Youth Entrepreneurs Association, vice-chairman of China-EU Association, vice-chairman of the 11th Executive Committee of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, member of the 9th and 10th Standing Committees of the All-China Youth Federation, and vice-chairman of the 11th and 12th Committees. He has won many honors and titles including the Chinese Youth May 4th Medal, the May 1st Labor Medal of China, the 2005 CCTV China Economic Person of the Year, the Global Youth Leader of Davos, and the Chinese Pioneer for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In 2017, Mr. Pan won the "Ram Charan Management Practice Award" Grand Prize presented by Harvard Business Review, the highest honor of management practice in China, and topped the list of "Top 100 CEOs in China", becoming the first industrial entrepreneur to top the list since its establishment. In 2020, Mr. Pan won the 11th "Yuan Baohua Business Management Gold Award", which is regarded as the highest honor in the field of business management in China.