Lenovo 2015 Annual Report Download - page 128

126 Lenovo Group Limited 2014/15 Annual Report
DIRECTORS’ REPORT
BIOGRAPHY OF DIRECTORS AND SENIOR MANAGEMENT (continued)
Biography of directors (continued)
Independent non-executive directors (continued)
Mr. Nicholas C. Allen, 60, has been an independent non-executive director of the Company since November 6, 2009. Mr. Allen
received a bachelor of arts degree in economics/social studies from Manchester University, United Kingdom. He is a Fellow of the
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Mr. Allen has extensive experience in accounting and auditing and was a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers until his retirement in
June 2007. Mr. Allen is also an independent non-executive director of CLP Holdings Limited, Hysan Development Company Limited
(both HKSE listed) and VinaLand Limited (London Stock Exchange AIM listed) and Texon International Group Limited.
Mr. Nobuyuki Idei, 77, has been an independent non-executive director of the Company since September 28, 2011. Mr. Idei is
the founder and chief executive officer of Quantum Leaps Corporation, an executive advisory company. Until retiring in June 2005,
for more than a decade, Mr. Idei held a wide variety of leadership positions at Sony Corporation (Tokyo Stock Exchange, Osaka
Securities Exchange, NYSE and London Stock Exchange listed), including chairman and group chief executive officer. He was also
the chairman of Sony’s advisory board from June 2005 to June 2012.
Mr. Idei currently serves on the boards of directors of Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ listed), FreeBit Co., Ltd. and Monex Group, Inc. (both
Tokyo Stock Exchange listed). Mr. Idei is also chairman of the National Conference on Fostering Beautiful Forests in Japan. Mr. Idei
holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Waseda University in Tokyo.
He has served on the boards of directors of Nestlé S.A., Electrolux, General Motors Company and Accenture plc and also served
in a number of other advisory positions including as counselor to the Bank of Japan, vice chairman of Nippon Keidanren (Japan
Business Federation) and chairman of the IT Strategy Council, an advisory committee to Japan’s Prime Minister.
Mr. William O. Grabe, 77, has been an independent non-executive director of the Company since February 8, 2012 and was
appointed as the lead independent director of the Company on May 23, 2013. Before that, he was a non-executive director of
the Company since May 17, 2005. Mr. Grabe is currently a director of the following listed companies: Gartner Inc. (NYSE listed),
Covisint Corporation (NASDAQ listed) and QTS Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE listed). He was previously an independent director of
Compuware Corporation. Mr. Grabe is an advisory director of General Atlantic LLC. He formerly served as a managing director
of General Atlantic and has been associated with General Atlantic Group since 1992. Prior to that, he served as a corporate vice
president and officer of IBM.
Mr. William Tudor Brown, 56, has been an independent non-executive director of the Company since January 30, 2013. Mr.
Brown is a Chartered Engineer and holds an MA (Cantab) Degree in electrical sciences from Cambridge University. He is a Fellow
of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He was awarded as Member of
the Order of the British Empire (MBE) on June 15, 2013.
Mr. Brown was one of the founders of ARM Holdings plc (London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ listed). During the years with
ARM, he held a broad range of leadership positions including engineering director, chief technical officer, executive vice president
for global development, chief operating officer and president. He had responsibility for developing high-level relationships with
industry partners and governmental agencies and for regional development. He also served as a director of ARM from October
2001 to May 3, 2012. Before joining ARM, he was the principal engineer at Acorn Computers Ltd., working exclusively on the ARM
research & development programme since 1984.
Mr. Brown is currently an independent non-executive director of Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ listed), Semiconductor
Manufacturing International Corporation (NYSE and HKSE listed) and P2i Limited. He was a non-executive director and a senior
independent director of ANT plc (London Stock Exchange listed) until his retirement from these positions in February 2013. He also
served on the UK Government Asia Task Force until May 2012.
Ms. Ma Xuezheng, 62, was re-designated as an independent non-executive director of the Company on November 7, 2013. Prior
to that, she was a non-executive Vice Chairman of the Company since 2007. Before becoming a non-executive director, she was
an executive director and the chief financial officer of the Company at different times between 1997 and 2007 and held directorship
in various subsidiaries of the Company. She is currently chairman of Boyu Capital Advisory Company Limited and a non-executive
director of the Securities and Futures Commission following her resignation from the Main Board and GEM Listing Committees of
the HKSE on November 14, 2013. In addition, she is also a non-executive director of STELUX Holdings International Limited (HKSE
listed), Unilever N.V. (NYSE and Euronext Amsterdam listed) and Unilever PLC (NYSE and London Stock Exchange listed). She
was formerly a non-executive director of Wumart Stores, Inc. (HKSE listed) and an independent non-executive director of Standard
Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited. Ms. Ma holds a bachelor of arts degree from Capital Normal University.