Zhang Liping is the senior managing director and chairman for greater China of Blackstone, the giant US asset manager, with operations in areas including private equity, hedge funds and real estate, that is particularly known for its expertise in mergers and acquisitions. He took up the role in 2015, having worked in the financial industry for more than 30 years.

From 2004, he worked for investment bank Credit Suisse, where he was co-CEO for greater China and vice chairman of the global investment banking department. He started his career in government, working for China’s Ministry of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation in Beijing in the Eighties; worked for most of the Nineties at Merrill Lynch, becoming director of its investment banking division; and has also worked for Dresdner Banking Group and property company Pacific Concord.

He is currently a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee, Guangxi Autonomous Region; a member of the Board of Trustees of Beijing University of International Business and Economics; a member of the Belt and Road Committee of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council; vice chairman of CCG Hong Kong Council; a member of the Chinese Overseas Friendship Association; a member of the China Institute of Theory on the CPPCC; founding chairman of the Guangxi Educational Foundation for the Poor; and a member of the fifth term of the Election Committee.