Guohua Jean Zhang is the Executive Director of Institute for Cities and Real Estate in Emerging Markets (ICREEM) at NYU Shanghai and Professor of Practice in Real Estate. Prior to joining NYU Shanghai, Mr. Zhang was a senior executive in real estate with the internationally renowned real estate investors and developers such as Taubman Centers Inc. and Ivanhoe Cambridge Group. Mr. Zhang was the Vice-President of Taubman Asia and Managing Director of Taubman China, where he oversaw and coordinated Taubman China’s business development, strategic partnership management as well as project investment, development, management and financing activities through joint-venture companies in serving as the General Manager. He was also the Vice-President of Ivanhoe Cambridge, China and Director of Strategic Planning, at CDPQ where he led China market research efforts, business strategies development, investment analysis and participated in project execution. Mr. Zhang’s earlier educational and research roles included lecturer at Yuelu Academy, Hunan University (China), Ph.D. candidate research at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (China) and East Asian Studies Center, University of Montreal (Canada), etc.

Mr. Zhang holds advanced degrees including a Ph.D. in Philosophy from University of Montreal (Canada), an MBA from HEC Montreal (Canada) and an MA from Hunan University (China). He completed his undergraduate studies in History at Shandong Normal University (China).

Mr. Zhang is a longtime member of ICSC (International Council for Shopping Centers) and once served on the ICSC China Leadership Board. Mr. Zhang is also an active member of Mall China and China Commercial Real Estate Association. Mr. Zhang published articles and provided exclusive interviews on China retail real estate investment and management in industry magazines. He also organized and led training seminars for business partners and government officials in promoting international best practices. Mr. Zhang is fluent in Chinese, English and French. He lives in Shanghai with his wife.