A young woman who began by answering telephones in her father's young company has spent three decades climbing its ranks, until she now stands among the leaders of one of China's most consequential technology firms. Her path, from the switchboard to the finance department to the boardroom, reflects how a company built on modest beginnings grew into a global force, even as the walls around it rose. Her story also carries the weight of a larger contest, where a family name, an arrest abroad, and a return home have all become part of how the world reads Huawei. What she does next, under the press
From Huawei's switchboard to the boardroom: Meng Wanzhou's three-decade rise
From answering phones to deputy chairwoman, in three decades
Mark
Why does a ranking like Fortune's matter for a story about Huawei?
Mimi
It places her in a specific frame. She's fourth in Asia, 12th globally, and the top Chinese tech executive on the Asia list. Fortune pointed to the smartphone comeback and domestic AI chips.
Mark
And the career path, from answering phones to CFO?
Mimi
She says her early work was trivial, and colleagues reportedly didn't know whose daughter she was. She moved into finance, and the work there got bigger as Huawei went global.
Luke
One caution: the not-knowing is reported, not confirmed. The source says "reportedly," and we don't know how widespread it was.
Mark
What about the 2018 arrest?
Mimi
She was held in Vancouver at U.S. request over bank fraud allegations tied to Iran, spent nearly three years under bail, then reached a deferred prosecution agreement in 2021 and returned to China without pleading guilty.
Luke
Right, and those are allegations. No guilty plea and no trial verdict. The piece doesn't say what the agreement required.
Mark
Do the financial figures show the company is doing well?
Mimi
Revenue was 880.9 billion yuan, second-highest ever, with 68 billion yuan net profit and R&D at 21.8% of revenue.
Luke
Those come from Huawei's own annual report, so they're company-reported. And the article doesn't say how much of her influence is her own role versus the rotating leadership, where three people share the chair.
Der Puls
- A founder's daughter starts at the bottom, fielding calls and handling secretarial work, and quietly works her way toward the center of power.
- A 2018 arrest in Vancouver on US bank-fraud allegations throws the company's most visible executive into a three-year legal standoff.
- A 2021 deferred prosecution deal lets her return to China and resume command, yet the legal shadow never fully lifts.
- Huawei's 2025 revenue reaches 880.9 billion yuan even as US limits on advanced chips force the company to double down on its own technology.
- Her rotating chairmanship and the strategy she sets now face the sharpest test: keeping execution steady in an unpredictable future.
A young woman who began by answering telephones in her father's young company has spent three decades climbing its ranks, until she now stands among the leaders of one of China's most consequential technology firms. Her path, from the switchboard to the finance department to the boardroom, reflects how a company built on modest beginnings grew into a global force, even as the walls around it rose. Her story also carries the weight of a larger contest, where a family name, an arrest abroad, and a return home have all become part of how the world reads Huawei. What she does next, under the pressure of tightening chip restrictions, will say much about whether that long ascent can continue.
In 1993, a year after leaving university and a brief stint at China Construction Bank, Meng Wanzhou joined her father's company and spent her first days answering telephones. Today she is Huawei's deputy chairwoman and chief financial officer, and this October Fortune ranked her fourth among Asia's 100 most powerful women in business, the highest placement of any executive from a Chinese technology company.
Her father, Ren Zhengfei, a former military engineer, founded Huawei in 1987 with roughly $3,000. Meng began with secretarial work, sales support and exhibitions, duties she later called "very trivial." The real start of her career came when she moved into finance after earning a master's degree. For years many colleagues did not know whose daughter she was. She used her mother's surname and called him "President Ren" in public, a CEO at work and a father at home, as she once put it.
Her rise tracked the company's global expansion. She built a unified financial system for Huawei's international operations, led a sweeping overhaul of financial controls between 2007 and 2014, and since 2019 has pushed digital and AI tools into finance.
The path was not smooth. In December 2018 she was arrested in Vancouver at the request of US authorities, who alleged bank fraud linked to Huawei's dealings with Iran. She spent nearly three years in Canada fighting extradition, and in 2021 reached a deferred prosecution agreement that let her return to China without a guilty plea. She resumed her duties, and in 2023 became one of three rotating chairpersons.
Huawei's 2025 revenue reached 880.9 billion yuan, with heavy investment in research. Now the company is reaching beyond phones and telecom gear into AI, chips, cloud and vehicles, while US restrictions limit its access to advanced foreign chips. Meng has said the future is uncertain and the company must hold to its strategy. Whether that strategy survives continued chip restrictions is the question her next term will answer.
In 1993, a year after finishing university and starting at China Construction Bank, Meng Wanzhou joined her father's company and spent her early days there answering telephones. Three decades later, the 54-year-old is Huawei's deputy chairwoman and chief financial officer, and on Oct. 6 Fortune placed her fourth on its 2026 ranking of Asia's 100 most powerful women in business.
She was the highest-placed executive from a Chinese technology company on that list. Ahead of her were Tan Su Shan, CEO of Singapore's DBS Group, Grace Wang, founder of Luxshare Precision, and Zhou Qunfei, founder of Lens Technology. Earlier this year, Fortune also ranked her 12th on its global list of the most powerful women in business, citing Huawei's financial performance, its return to the top of China's smartphone market and its growing role in developing domestic AI chips.
Meng was born in Chengdu, in Sichuan Province. Her father, Ren Zhengfei, is a former military engineer who founded Huawei in 1987 with the equivalent of $3,000, starting with telecommunications equipment, according to The Washington Post. She studied at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and after joining Huawei she handled secretarial work, sales support and exhibitions. In a 2013 interview with China's 21st Century Business Herald she called those early jobs "very trivial." She later earned a master's degree at the same university and moved into the finance department, which she described as the real start of her career.
For years, many colleagues reportedly did not know she was the founder's daughter, partly because she used her mother's surname rather than Ren. In interviews she called him "President Ren" rather than "father." As she once told AFP, he is a CEO at work and a father at home.
Her finance roles grew along with the company's international reach. Huawei's official biography lists her as director of international accounting, CFO of Huawei Hong Kong and president of the accounting management department. In 2003 she began developing a unified financial management system for Huawei's global operations. From 2007 to 2014 she led an overhaul of financial operations, standardizing procedures and tightening controls across international businesses. She went on to oversee improvements in financial reporting, data management, taxation and risk controls, and since 2019 she has led efforts to bring digital technology and AI into the finance function.
In December 2018, she drew international attention when she was arrested in Vancouver at the request of U.S. authorities, who alleged bank fraud tied to Huawei's dealings with Iran. She spent nearly three years in Canada under bail restrictions while fighting extradition. In September 2021 she reached a deferred prosecution agreement with U.S. authorities, which let her return to China without pleading guilty. She then resumed her senior duties at Huawei.
In 2023 she became one of Huawei's three rotating chairpersons, who each oversee the company for six months at a time. Her latest term ran from October 2025 through March 2026. Huawei's 2025 annual report shows revenue of 880.9 billion yuan ($132 billion), its second-highest total on record, with net profit of 68 billion yuan. Research and development spending came to 192.3 billion yuan, or 21.8% of revenue.
The company has moved beyond telecom equipment and smartphones into AI, semiconductors, cloud computing and intelligent vehicles, and has stepped up investment in its own technology amid U.S. limits on its access to advanced foreign-made chips. Announcing the results in March, Meng said the company is heading toward a future full of uncertainty, so it must stay true to its strategy and keep its focus, translating strategy into execution and continuing to cultivate its developer ecosystem. Whether that strategy holds under continuing chip restrictions is the question her next rotation will face.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
We are moving toward a future that is full of uncertainty, so we have to remain true to our strategy and maintain strategic focus.— Meng Wanzhou, announcing Huawei's annual results in March
My early jobs in Huawei were very trivial.— Meng Wanzhou, 2013 interview with 21st Century Business Herald
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