Lu Qi previously served as vice president at Microsoft and led the company's search engine division. (Photo : Twitter)
Chinese search engine company Baidu on Sunday announced that Baidu Group president and chief operating officer Lu Qi has been appointed director and vice chairman of the board of directors of Baidu.
Baidu previously announced earlier in January its intention to appoint Lu as Baidu Group's president and COO, leading products, technology, sales, marketing and operations, effective immediately. The company's existing business groups and leaders would all directly report under Lu, while Lu would report to Baidu Group's chief executive Robin Li.
"Dr. Lu possesses a wealth of leadership and management experience, and is a leading authority in the area of artificial intelligence," Baidu chairman and CEO Robin Li said in a statement.
New Baidu board chairman Lu previously served as executive vice president at Microsoft in 2009 following an 11-year stint with Yahoo. He led the Washington-based tech giant's search division, applications, and services business until his resignation in September last year for medical reasons following a bicycle accident.
At Baidu, Lu, who holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon and has more than 40 U.S. patents under his belt, is responsible for products, technology, sales, marketing and operations, and particularly lend his expertise to the company's forays into artificial intelligence (AI).
"To achieve our goals, especially in artificial intelligence, which is a key strategic focus for the next decade, we will need to continue attracting the best global talent," Li said. "With Dr. Lu on board, we are confident that our strategy will be executed smoothly and Baidu will become a world-class technology company and global leader in AI."
Baidu also announced other changes to its board of directors.
Greg Penner, who has been a member of Baidu's board of directors since July 2004, will leave the board and its committees. Yang Yuangqing has been appointed as a member of the audit committee and a member of the corporate governance and nominating committee under the board.
