On March 31, CIFI Holdings (0884.HK) announced its 2025 financial results alongside a key management reshuffle: Ru Hailin resigned as Executive Director and CEO, while Ge Ming stepped down as Executive Director, having previously served as Group Vice President and General Manager of the Integrated Management Center. The official announcement stated both resigned to "focus on their personal career development" and would subsequently transition to roles as company advisors.
Just two days later, Ge Ming's next move was revealed—he has joined SUNSHINE INS (06963.HK). According to sources familiar with the matter, Ge Ming has already commenced employment at SUNSHINE INS and is likely to continue specializing in human resources, his area of expertise. His specific position and responsibilities are expected to be clarified after the Qingming Festival.
A property company vice president and HR head crossing over into insurance.
Rewind to 2012. At that time, CIFI had recently relocated from Fujian to Shanghai, with annual sales below RMB 5 billion, making it a relatively minor player on the industry map.
Ge Ming, then 32 years old, made what was considered a bold decision at the time: resigning from his position as HR Director at Oriental Cambridge Education Group to join CIFI. The company's organization was still nascent then, but its strategic intent was clear. It was Zhang Liang, then Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of CIFI, who recruited Ge Ming.
Over the following decade, Ge Ming became one of the most important builders and guardians of CIFI's human resources system.
In 2012, CIFI proposed its "First Five-Year Strategy," aiming to achieve RMB 50 billion in sales by 2016. Ge Ming rapidly promoted two major talent initiatives, "Hunt for Elites" and "Pluck the Stars," establishing a talent supply chain combining external recruitment and internal cultivation. He evolved the "Five Highs" talent strategy previously established by Zhang Liang into the "Six Highs" strategy, which became a core engine for CIFI's organizational capabilities.
After Zhang Liang's departure in 2016, Ge Ming took over comprehensive responsibility for the HR system. During CIFI's leap from tens of billions to hundreds of billions in scale, he championed organizational transformation and incentive reforms, built a multi-level management trainee system, and continuously improved per capita efficiency.
In 2023, Ge Ming was appointed as an Executive Director of CIFI Holdings, concurrently serving as Group Vice President and General Manager of the Integrated Management Center. At CIFI, he experienced the company's entire journey from a regional developer to a national player, and from its Hong Kong listing through industry adjustments. Among CIFI's senior executives, few veterans have accompanied the company through such a complete cycle. Ge Ming is one of them.
However, starting in 2022, the script for the real estate industry was completely rewritten, with every private developer struggling to survive amid challenges. CIFI was no exception. Ge Ming's focus subsequently shifted from "building systems and driving growth" to "reducing layers, streamlining structures, and controlling costs." This has been the common fate for HR heads across the property sector during the downturn.
By the end of 2025, CIFI completed its debt restructuring domestically and overseas, reducing total debt by approximately RMB 43 billion. Its 2025 annual report showed a net profit attributable to shareholders of about RMB 17.666 billion, superficially indicating a turnaround. However, this was primarily due to a one-time gain of roughly RMB 41.4 billion from the restructuring; excluding this, the core loss actually widened compared to the previous year.
It was at this juncture that Ge Ming chose to leave, and his move to SUNSHINE INS came as somewhat of a surprise.
Yet, this is not an isolated case. Before Ge Ming, CIFI's commercial property operations executive Zang Lei had joined Ping An Insurance, responsible for the health and elderly care segment. Earlier, investment, finance, and HR heads from several property companies had also moved to insurance institutions.
The career paths of these cross-industry movers differ entirely from those of property sales professionals transitioning to become insurance agents; they are entering group management levels, responsible for core functions such as organizational development, talent cultivation, and system building.
From an industry logic perspective, there is a fit. The insurance industry is in a critical phase of transitioning from extensive mass-agent strategies to refined, high-quality development, requiring a mature organizational management methodology. The aggressive scale targets, complex regional structures, and high-density capital operations seen in the property industry's past expansion phases might offer some valuable lessons.
Chairman once personally intervened in HR matters.
SUNSHINE INS, which Ge Ming has joined, belongs to the industry's second tier. In 2025, its total premium income was RMB 150.72 billion, a year-on-year increase of 17.4%. Its life insurance business performed notably well, with premiums exceeding RMB 100 billion, up 27.5% year-on-year; however, its property and casualty insurance business faced clear pressure, with premiums growing only 0.1% and an underwriting loss of RMB 1.03 billion. The insurance industry is undergoing profound structural adjustments, and the rise of integrated "insurance + elderly care + healthcare" models has further amplified the demand for cross-disciplinary management talent.
It is within this context that a previous, somewhat dramatic episode might have set the stage for Ge Ming's arrival.
Last April, the phrase "SUNSHINE INS Chairman holds meeting with employees until early morning" unexpectedly trended on Weibo. At that time, Zhang Weigong, founder and Chairman of SUNSHINE INS, held a symposium with employee representatives from the HR and technology departments. The Chairman interacted with attendees regarding their questions and ideas until 2:30 AM, when the meeting concluded in an atmosphere where participants felt there was still more to discuss.
This late-night symposium was officially described as "an important step towards more efficient and scientific management." However, public opinion was skeptical. Many netizens commented directly that "meeting until dawn runs counter to所谓的 efficient and scientific management."
The theme of that热搜-making midnight meeting was precisely "Scientific Management System for Human Resources" and "Robot Construction." Chairman Zhang Weigong personally stepped in, engaging intensively with HR and technology staff until the early hours, discussing how to systematize and scientize the human resources management framework. This was no coincidence; the Chairman's direct involvement in HR topics itself signaled a strong shift: prioritizing organizational capability building significantly higher on the company's strategic agenda.
This is likely precisely where Ge Ming can provide value. The "Six Highs" system he refined over 14 years at CIFI is essentially a management methodology suited for high-growth organizations. The insurance industry is currently at a similar stage, transitioning from extensive expansion to quality-driven development, requiring the very "strategy-driven human resources" approach that Ge Ming specializes in.
In fact, SUNSHINE INS has already been taking action. In 2025, Sunshine Life's individual agent channel continued to advance its "One Body, Two Wings" strategy: the "Body" focuses on optimizing the quality of the traditional sales force by raising standards for new team building and enhancing the quality and efficiency of selective recruitment and cultivation, driving steady team upgrading; the "Two Wings" concentrate on refining models to enhance value development momentum.
Particular attention should be paid to the elite team construction, which insists on high starting points in planning and high standards in requirements, strengthening a cultivation system based on tiered recruitment, systematic training, and long-term empowerment. The comprehensive professional capability and quality of the team require systematic enhancement.
From these details, it is evident that SUNSHINE INS's organizational capability building is firmly transitioning from a "mass-agent strategy" to an "elite team approach." The "One Body, Two Wings" strategy has established a framework and shown initial results. However, while frameworks can be set up easily, implementation is challenging. Who will truly embed this system into the organization's fabric and convert it into operational effectiveness? Ge Ming's recruitment is precisely SUNSHINE INS's key answer to this question.
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