Alibaba founder and CEO Jack Ma is known as an advocate of women empowerment. (Photo : www.careeraddict.com)
Effective on Sept. 1, former Walmart executive Wan Ling Martello will be added to Alibaba Group Holding's main board and its audit committee, signaling the e-commerce giant's plan to push its ambition of going global.
Currently, Martello is the executive vice president of Nestle, overseeing the consumer goods giant's operations in Asia, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa.
Previously, she was Walmart International's and Nestle's chief financial officer.
The U.S. citizen is originally from the Philippines. She is fluent in English, Tagalog, Hokkien and Mandarin Chinese.
For Alibaba Group executive chairman Jack Ma, Martello's "global perspective, retail expertise and sharp business acumen will make her an invaluable member of our board."
"As Alibaba grows globally, we need business leaders like Ms. Martello, to be part of the internationalization process and help ensure it goes smoothly," he added.
This announcement, which was made on Wednesday, comes after former Goldman Sachs banker Michael Evan's appointment as Alibaba's chief of international dealings.
Along with the addition of Martello to the board, Alibaba also revealed that it will be expanding its cloud computing business, Aliyun, opening its seventh hub in Singapore. Alibaba eyes to have Singapore as the center of its cloud computing venture.
The leading Chinese e-commerce group will also strike a joint investment with Japan's SoftBand and Taiwan's Foxconn in Indian e-commerce site, Snapdeal. The three firms are expected to pour in a total of $500 million.
Last year, the Indian firm has secured an investment deal from China's richest man, property mogul Wang Jianlin.
