Rupert Hoogewerf 胡潤 is the founder and compiler of the Hurun Report – The China Rich List. Curious to know who was behind China’s fast-growing private sector, Rupert founded the China Rich List in 1999 with two students from Shanghai’s Donghua University, publishing the first four years results in Forbes magazine. Since then, the China Rich List has become an eagerly awaited annual event for China’s private sector.
Over the years, Hurun Report and Rupert have won numerous awards for their ground-breaking lists. Rupert won Neweekly magazine’s prestigious 2002 Person of the Year award for his contribution to the understanding of wealth in China. In 2004, Rupert was named one of the 100 Top Influencers in China’s Globalization by Global Entrepreneur magazine. In 2005, China Entrepreneur magazine named the Hurun Report China Rich List as one of the ten most important business events of the past twenty years. In 2008 Dragon TV nominated Rupert as one of the thirty most influential people since the Open Door Policy in 1978.
Government endorses Hurun Report 8 September 2009, the Shanghai government presented Rupert Hoogewerf with the Magnolia Award, for his contribution to the development of the Shanghai economy. Named after Shanghai’s official flower, the Magnolia Award is the highest honour bestowed by the City on foreigners who have “contributed significantly to Shanghai’s economic performance, international relations, business environment, management standards and community development.” This year, 45 people received the award, including the Dean of the Europe International Business School Rolf Cremer, the president of General Electric (China) R&D Center Guo Limo, and two British nationals. Previous winners have included senior staff members from Siemens, L’Oreal and Bayer.
In recognition of his contribution to the understanding of wealth creation in China, Hoogewerf was awarded the prestigious “2002 Person of the Year” by Neweekly magazine. Other winners include in 2001 Bora Milutinovic, the coach who steered the Chinese soccer team to its first World Cup Finals; in 2003 Zhong Nanshan, the SARS whistleblower; in 2004 Liu Xiang, China’s first Olympic gold medalist on the track; in 2005 Li Yuchun, winner of China’s inaugural Super Girl, the Chinese equivalent of Pop Idol; in 2006 Yi Zhongtian, for his reinterpretations of classical literature; in 2007 Xu Sanduo, a fictional character from the popular TV series ‘Soldiers Sortie’, who embodied the character of the Chinese people; in 2008 Jian Guangzhou, the journalist who exposed the Sanlu milk scandal; and in 2009 Lu Chuan, the director of Nanjing! Nanjing!
Rupert speaks fluent English and Mandarin.
