Ex-politicians join Huawei

Chinese communications vendor, Huawei, has recruited former Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, and former Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, as independent directors for the company’s Australian board of directors.

(img src="http://demo.idg.com.au/arn/directors.jpg" align="left")Brumby served as the Labor Premier of Victoria from 2007 to 2010 while Downer served in his role from 1996 to 2007 while the Liberal Party was in office.

Huawei flagged intentions to set up a local board of directors in April to steer business growth in Australia. It would be the first time the company established a board outside of China.

Current DMS Maritime Services director, John Lord, has been named the third independent director and chairman for the board.

Huawei Australia CEO, Guo Fulin, Huawei South-Pacific president, Jeff Lui, global director, Chen Lifand, and global executive director, Li Jie, are also part of the new board.

“The company has now grown to a point where it is amongst the top telcecoms vendor both locally and globally and the Australian Board will ensure Huawei continues on that growth trajectory,” Lord said in a statement.

The board will meet in Australia and at Huawei’s global headquarters in Shenzhen, China.

In February, Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) signed the company on as a supplier for its $1 billion network upgrade plan. The vendor has also worked with a number of other local telcos including Telstra, Optus, vividwireless and TPG.

Downer noted Australia’s business relationship with China was strong and Huawei has been a significant contributor to the local market.

Brumby was heartened by Huawei’s willingness to train local ICT students as skill shortages in the sector plague Australia.

Huawei Australia, headquartered in Chatswood, Sydney, currently employs 300 local staff. It hopes to double that to 600 by the end of the year.