Albemarle Welcomes China's New Country Manager and Vice President of External Affairs

"I hope I can win the hearts of people who work with me, and together, we will place our China organization on solid ground to capitalize on business opportunities in the market and make us a preferred place to work."

Country Manager and Vice President of External Affairs Gloria Xu joined Albemarle in February and will support our global businesses by proactively working with the governments and communities in China to mitigate risks, advocate for a favorable regulatory environment, develop strong relationships with the community, and leverage opportunities to support Albemarle's growth. It's a challenging job, but she's the perfect person to take on the job due to her background and vision.

Who is Gloria Xu? When asked about her background and education, she coyly told us she "only" has a bachelor's degree in English and Literature. For Gloria, her degree was just the start of her educational growth. She's immensely proud of how her career was shaped outside a structured educational environment.

"Learning is a lifetime journey. Over the years, I have attended many short-term programs on business management, law, leadership, and more. I even took a course on 'small talk' because I found it challenging to have a non-business-related conversation with people I do not know well. I learned how to talk about the weather at a cocktail party," Gloria joked.

Gloria is the perfect mix of inspiration and pragmatism. As a political correspondent, she quickly learned to be sensitive to the macro environment while caring for the details. This would later impact her leadership style when she moved into the private sector in 2000.

Her flexible thinking and versatility allowed her to work in many different environments, from large corporate companies to local Chinese businesses. Those experiences helped broaden her perspectives and affirmed the inspirational culture she strives to create daily.

"The first time I heard about career plan was in 2002, shortly after I joined DuPont. I looked at my line manager at the time and told myself that I wanted to be her one day. She told me 'a career was not about the title but the influence'. To date, my aspiration is to positively influence the company, the people I know, the community I am part of, and the relationship between China and other countries," Gloria said.

While she's new to the Albemarle way, what excites her most about her role is the opportunity to grow our organization to its full potential, develop our critical industry, and do so in a sustainable way.

Before coming over to Albemarle, she was the Vice President of Greater China at Dow Chemicals for the past 7 years. Before this role, she led the China government affairs functions at Standard Chartered Bank and DuPont. As China's Alibaba Public Relations Manager, she helped build brand awareness for the company. As a political correspondent, she covered legislative and foreign affairs for China Daily. Gloria Xu obtained her bachelor's degree in English Language and Literature from Nanjing University