HTC Promotes Cher Wang To CEO

HTC has marked another step in its reinvention by naming the company’s first-ever female CEO.

The Taiwanese manufacturer announced today that co-founder and current chairwoman Cher Wang would be taking over the top job, effective immediately.

Former CEO Peter Chou will now move to a new strategic role that allows him to focus more on product development, the company said.

All-change

“We are seeing rapid changes in the industry, with the smartphone as our personal hub connecting us to a growing world of smart devices. We pioneered the smartphone industry; now we are applying that thinking to realise the potential of a new generation of connected products and services. The overwhelming response that our virtual reality product, HTC Vive, received earlier this month underlines the importance of these new connected technologies for our future,” Wang said.

“As an entrepreneur at heart, I am excited to see so many new opportunities, and I am honoured to accept this opportunity to help shape the next stage of HTC’s development.”

Wang co-founded HTC in 1997, and helped the company grow into the million-dollar business it is today, most recently unveiling the HTC One M9 smartphone, HTC Grip wearable and HTC Vive virtual reality headset at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona earlier this month.

Last year, Ms. Wang was named of the 25 people CNBC judged to have had the most profound impact on business and finance since 1989.

In 2011, Ms. Wang was named ‘the most powerful woman in wireless’ by Forbes and one of the most influential women by Fast Company, and she has been ranked on Fortune’s annual ‘most powerful women’ list continuously since 2012.

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