Chinese agribusiness giant New Hope Liuhe has appointed Tao Yuling as its new President and Zhao Liang as Board Secretary, signaling a generational shift in leadership as the company adjusts to a more stable swine production model following massive losses in 2021–2022. The transition reflects deeper strategic changes amid China’s evolving agrifood landscape, with a focus on operational consolidation, financial restructuring, and renewed investment from state-affiliated and industry players.
New Hope Liuhe, one of China’s agrifood leading player, announced key leadership appointments during its first board meeting of the 10th board session held on April 3. Tao Yuling has been appointed as President, and Zhao Liang will serve as Board Secretary.
Tao Yuling brings over a decade of internal experience to the helm. He previously served in multiple executive roles, including President of the North China Region, President of Shandong Special Economic Zone, President of the Poultry Business Unit, and head of the strategic New Sea swine division. One year ago, Tao was appointed as Executive President and head of the Swine Business Group.
Tao Yuling
The former president, Zhang Minggui, had been a pivotal figure since transitioning to the publicly listed company from New Hope Group’s real estate arm in September 2020. While he led a spectacular revenue surge in property over a five-year period, his tenure in the livestock sector faced considerable headwinds. As swine prices plummeted, New Hope Liuhe posted a net loss of CNY 9.6 billion (about USD 1.32 billion) in 2021 and a further loss nearing CNY 1.5 billion (about USD 208.33 million) in 2022.
Facing these challenges, New Hope began offloading idle swine production assets in 2022, including the transfer of controlling rights over a 100,000-sow capacity in Sichuan and Chongqing to the state-owned Xingcheng Group. In 2023, Zhang focused largely on facilitating asset restructuring and strategic partnerships.
Meanwhile, Tao Yuling was emerging as a central figure in operations. In early 2023, New Hope formally established a unified Swine Business Group (BG), putting Tao in charge of replicating the successful playbook of the New Sea vertical across all swine operations. His ascent continued in March 2024 when he was elevated to Executive President, working closely with Chairwoman Liu Chang on broader corporate management. His promotion to company president marks a formal culmination of this transition.
Zhang Minggui will remain involved, having joined the new board and was newly appointed Vice Chairman of New Hope Group, in addition to his current role as Party Secretary.
The newly appointed Board Secretary, Zhao Liang, comes with a robust financial services background, having served with major institutions such as the Bank of China, Ping An Insurance, Ping An Trust, and Dongxing Securities. Zhao currently manages the Guangdong New Hope New Agriculture Equity Investment Fund. Notably, this fund counts among its indirect shareholders state-owned Guangdong Hengjian Investment Holding Co., Ltd. and Wen’s Investment Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of agrifood giant Wen’s Group.
Zhao Liang
Zhao replaces Lan Jia, who also served as Chief Strategy Investment Officer. Lan, alongside her predecessor Hu Ji, previously worked at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the National Audit Office.
Interestingly, Bai Xubo remains as the representative of securities affairs through three consecutive board secretary appointments. A dual bachelor’s degree holder in engineering and management from the University of Electronic Science and Technology, Bai also holds a master’s in management and a Ph.D. from Zhejiang University. Beyond investor relations, Bai has led internal strategy teams for both poultry and swine operations.
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