Suntech reshuffles senior management; announces new COO

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. has, in a restructuring of its senior management, appointed a new COO in Johnson Chiang, and a new General Manager in Robin Chen, as well as announcing the departure of Frank Zhang, former General Manager of Suntech's Shanghai thin-film plant. Mr. Chiang takes over the role of COO from Graham Artes (pictured), who will now serve as Managing Director of KSL-Kuttler and as Suntech Corporate Vice President of Engineering, while Philip Yue has been appointed Vice President of Value Chain Development.

Joining Suntech from his former role in worldwide operations and business development for Foxconn Technology Group and Solectron Corporation, Chiang has a Master's degree in industrial engineering from the University of Texas; an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University in California and a Bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Chung-Yuan University in Taiwan.

As General Manager of Suntech, Robin Chen will apply his more than 20 years of manufacturing operations management to supervise all operations in the company’s thin-film plant currently being constructed in Shanghai. Former roles include a time as manager of manufacturing operations for Parlex Corporation. Mr. Chen has an M.B.A. from Henley Management College, England and a Bachelor's degree in automotive engineering from Tsing Hua University in Beijing.

Mr. Artes brought over 30 years of production and operations management experience to Suntech when he joined as COO in September 2005. Prior to 2005, he was Director of manufacturing of Kuttler Automation Systems (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., and as Vice President and Technical Director of manufacturing for GTY PCB. He studied mechanical engineering in the Abbey Road Technical and Engineering College in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Yue, who takes up the post of Vice President of Value Chain Development for Suntech, brings over 10 years of marketing, manufacturing and contracting experience to the role. He has an M.B.A. from the University of East Asia, Macau and a B.Sc. degree from the University of London.

By Síle Mc Mahon