(Yicai Global) July 18 -- Hisense Group has named Yu Zhitao, an executive born in the 1970s, as its new president in an effort to rejuvenate the Chinese television maker’s senior management team.

Yu, a 47-year-old executive vice president at Hisense, was promoted by the board today to replace Jia Shaoqian, who took the role of chairman at the Qingdao-based firm in February. Jia, 51, had replaced Lin Lan, who resigned after less than a year in the job to allow a younger generation to take the reins.

Hisense set itself an annual revenue target of CNY200 billion (USD27.9 billion) earlier this year, a company insider told Yicai Global. Yu will lead it in expanding new business areas to achieve this goal, the person added.

Yu held several technical positions after graduating from Zhejiang University in 1998. He became the head of Hisense’s TV business in 2019 and executive VP in February, primarily responsible for the company’s consumer business.

Under the leadership of Jia and Yu, Hisense’s net profit and revenue climbed 21 percent and 12 percent to CNY7.8 billion (USD1.1 billion) and CNY99.4 billion (USD13.9 billion), respectively, in the first half from a year earlier.

Hisense was the world’s second-largest TV firm by shipments last year after South Korea’s Samsung. Founded in 1969, it has two listed units -- Hisense Visual Technology, which makes TVs, and Hisense Home Appliances Group, which makes white goods.

Editor: Futura Costaglione