02/28/2011
SANTA ROSA, Calif., Feb. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Electric car pioneer ZAP (OTC Bulletin Board: ZAAP), headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, and its majority owned subsidiary Jonway Automobile, are pleased to announce the appointment of Benjamin Zhu (Zhu Li Dong) as the Chief Financial Officer of ZAP and Jonway Automobile. Benjamin Zhu joins ZAP and Jonway Automobile March 1st, 2011. William Hartman, current CFO of ZAP will complete the year-end 2010 audits and the consolidated report of ZAP and Jonway Automobile for 1Q2011, while Benjamin Zhu and his team take over 2Q2011.
Since 2009 Benjamin Zhu has served as deputy CFO of Beijing Auto, Foton, one of the largest automobile companies in China, with reported yearly sales volumes of over 700,000 units. He led the group's operational finance, cost control and overseas partnerships and investments. Prior to this, he served as CFO of Ready Medicine Group, one of the largest medicine distribution and retailing companies with revenues of over 6 billion RMB. As CFO he led mergers and acquisitions and oversaw the IPO of the company in the United States in 2008. He was also the CFO of Chery Auto Group, China's largest passenger car automaker with reported sales volume of over 680,000 passenger sedans annually. From 2007 to 2008, as CFO he led the IPO of Chery Automobile in China. Prior to this, Mr. Zhu was Audit Manager at Deloitte & Touche and then at Price Waterhouse Coopers for nine consecutive years.
"We welcome Benjamin Zhu as Chief Financial Officer of ZAP Jonway," said Dr. Priscilla Lu, Chairman of ZAP Jonway and General Partner of Cathaya Capital. "We are bringing a new team of management executives on board to lead the growth of the new, combined ZAP Jonway. Mr. Zhu brings to our company tier one Chinese automobile finance management experience. His extensive international experience will help reinforce our financial growth, and his strong auditor background will help exert the required discipline in financial control, leveraging the knowledge from when he was audit manager at Deloitte and Price Waterhouse."