Earlier today, HTC announced that its President and CEO Yves Maitre has resigned due to personal reasons, making his stint at the company just a few days shy of a full year. Chairwoman and co-founder Cher Wang has once again assumed the CEO position.
According to HTC’s statement, “the strict international travel restrictions due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic... have had an impact on” the French executive, who had spent most of the past eleven months away from his family back in Europe. The board has therefore accepted Maitre’s resignation.
During Maitre’s time at HTC, the company attempted to boost its VR presence by expanding its Vive Cosmos family of modular headsets, and it even teased its next-gen devices which are said to be more compact. This was followed by the launch of Vive XR Suite to focus its VR efforts on the business sector. The company also eventually released its first 5G smartphone, the U20.
Still, the former Orange executive was unable to turn the company around. Q2 2020 saw HTC’s ninth consecutive quarterly loss, which cost NT$1.83 billion (about US$62 million); and it was also a jump from the previous quarter’s NT$1.68 billion loss (US$57 million).
After a round of layoffs back in December, the company announced further action in June, neither of which specified the number of employees affected. Though according to a source close to the matter, the latest round of redundancies wasn’t even Maitre’s own doing, which suggests he had already submitted his resignation months ago — a typical procedure for high-level executives.
Now that Wang is back in charge, not only will she have to take care of financial matters, but she will also have to put up a good fight against Facebook’s rumored next-gen standalone VR headset very soon. At the same time, Wang also needs to ensure that her smartphone business — what little is left of it — is sustainable.
| | Cher Wang has established a number of successful IT-related businesses, including co-founding HTC Corporation in 1997. She is currently Chairwoman of companies, and holds leadership roles in numerous other enterprises and organizations.Cher is active in the international business community, participating as an Industry Partner at the World Economic Forum and as a member of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). In 2010, Cher co-founded the ABAC Women’s Forum to identify capacity-building policy recommendations that enhance opportunities for women in business, and to hold outreach activities within APEC economies.Cher’s business achievements have been widely acclaimed in major international media. In 2011, she received the 20th spot on both Forbes’ and Fortune’s annual ‘most powerful women’ lists. Cher graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a devout Christian. She is married with two children. |
| | HT Cho is the Co-founder of HTC and currently sits on the Board of Directors. HT is the Chairman and Founder of the HTC Foundation, a philanthropic organization that supports and promotes a number of programs in education, character development and cross-cultural awareness. By helping educators, parents, students and public officials focus on character building, the HTC Foundation hopes to build caring communities where strong values, teamwork and positive thinking can flourish.To date, the Foundation has funded leadership training courses for over 13,000 elementary, secondary and post-secondary teachers and administrators in Taiwan. The Foundation has been recognized by Yuli Township in Hualien County in December 2006 and Longtan Township in Taoyuan County in June 2007 for promoting “Township Character” plans. These plans promote character development for officials working in township offices, police stations, public hospitals, fire brigades and other public sector positions.Before founding HTC, HT worked for the Digital Equipment Corporation from 1975 to 1996, ultimately serving as Head of Taiwan Engineering. Prior to dedicating himself to the HTC Foundation, HT served as President of HTC from 1997 to 2004 and was CEO from 2004 to 2005. His hard work, dedication, and passion for excellence have helped HTC form a corporate culture and work environment that emphasizes integrity, innovation and quality. HT graduated from the National Taipei Institute of Technology, majoring in Electronic Engineering. |
| | Wen-Chi Chen was appointed President and CEO of VIA Technologies Inc. in 1992. Under Mr. Chen’s leadership, VIA has transformed from a chipset designer to a leading developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions driving innovation in PCs, notebooks, thin clients and embedded systems. Mr. Chen has served on the Boards of Directors of, or as an advisor to, numerous companies in the IT industry. Mr. Chen was selected as a top entrepreneur by BusinessWeek in its 2001 “The Stars of Asia: 50 Leaders at the Forefront of Change.” A graduate of the National Taiwan University and the California Institute of Technology. |
| | Professor David B. Yoffie is the Max and Doris Starr Professor of International Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean and Chair of the Executive Education Program at Harvard Business School. A member of the HBS faculty since 1981, Professor Yoffie received his Bachelor's degree summa cum laude and with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Brandeis University, and his Master's and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University. Professor Yoffie served as Chairman of the HBS Strategy Department from 1997-2002, Chairman of the Advanced Management Program from 1999-2002, and currently chairs Harvard's Young Presidents' Organization. Outside of HBS, Professor Yoffie's responsibilities include serving on the Boards of Directors of Intel Corporation, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and MindTree Ltd. At the time of his appointment to Intel's Board in 1989, Professor Yoffie was the youngest outside Director amongst those of America's largest 150 industrial corporations. Over the last decade, Professor Yoffie has served as lead Independent Director of Intel, and on the Boards of numerous companies, including Charles Schwab, Spotfire, and E Ink. |
| | Chen-Kuo Lin is the Chairman of Angel Hearts Family Social Welfare Foundation and Chairman of New Mainstream Cultural Foundation. He also has extensive experience in government affairs and was previously Chairman of Taiwan Asset Management Corporation, Chairman of Taiwan External Trade Development Council, Chairman of the Tunghai University , Independent director and Compensation Committee member of the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation , Minister of Finance of the R.O.C. .He has also served as a professor at the Department of Economics of the National Taiwan University. Mr. Lin received his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the National Taiwan University and took advanced economic studies at the Oklahoma State University and Harvard University. |
| | Dr. Michael C. Lu, MD, MS, MPH is the Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to coming to Berkeley, Dr. Lu served as Director of the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau under the Obama Administration. During his tenure, he transformed key federal programs in maternal and child health, and launched major initiatives to reduce maternal, infant, and child mortality across the nation. For his leadership, he was awarded the prestigious Hubert H. Humphrey Service to America Award in 2013.Prior to his public service, Dr. Lu was a professor of obstetrics-gynecology and public health at UCLA, where his research focused on improving the health of women and children from a life-course perspective. He co-directed the residency program in obstetrics and gynecology and a training grant in maternal and child health, and received several prestigious awards for his teaching. Lu served on three National Academy of Medicine Committees, and chaired the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As a practicing obstetrician for nearly two decades, he has attended more than 1000 births, and has been voted one of the Best Doctors in America since 2005. Dr. Lu received his bachelor’s degrees in political science and human biology from Stanford University, master’s degrees in health and medical sciences and epidemiology from UC Berkeley, medical degree from UC San Francisco, and residency training in obstetrics and gynecology from UC Irvine. |
| | Mr. Vincent Thai is currently the chairman of four companies including Playmind Ltd, National Products Ltd, Sweet N Fun Ltd, and Toy Plus Far East Ltd. He is experienced in corporate governance and entrepreneurship. Sweet N Fun Ltd is the leading brand of candy vending machines. Since being the general manager of M & D Toys, Inc from 1985, he has 35 years of experience in leading companies. He understands the company's leadership strategies in different periods and strengthens the team's coherence through a culture of trust. Vincent Thai graduated from the Department of Marketing at the University of Southern California. |
| | Mr. Wu is currently the Dean of Torch Church. He was Vice President of VIA Technologies, Senior Director of Advantech Technologies, Sales Manager of Cisco Taiwan, AVP of Tripod Technologies and IBM Taiwan System Engineer. He has 25 years of experience in management. The rich experience enables Mr. Wu to think constantly and wisely, also make the right and the greatest decision. He plays his strengths in various positions. Mr. Wu graduated from Department of Electrical Engineering at the National Taiwan University. |
Cher Wang
Chairwoman
HT Cho
Director
Wen-Chi Chen
Director
David Bruce Yoffie
Director
Chen-Kuo Lin
Independent Director
Michael C. Lu
Independent Director
Vincent Thai
Independent Director
Daniel Wu (Yeong-Cheng Wu)
Member of the Compensation Committee