Our People
President
Simon Chuang
President
Mr Chuang invested in Guilin GFS Monk Fruit Corp. in 2014 and is one of the company’s largest shareholders. Mr Chuang has held the position of Chief Strategic Officer in a number of leading Chinese marketing and advertising companies including Guangdong United Advertising Co. Ltd. and Publicis Group. Currently Mr. Chuang holds the position of General Manager of Ries & Chuang & Wong (Ries China) where he has provided marketing and strategy advice for a number of leading Chinese enterprises including Great Wall Motor Company Limited, Inner Mongolia Meng Niu Dairy (Group) Co. Ltd, Classy-Kiss yogurt brand of Green’s Bioengineering (Shenzhen), Haier Group, Beijing Medicine Group Co. Ltd, and Caiyunjian green tea brand of Zhejiang Caiyunjian Tea Industry Co. Ltd. Mr. Chuang has deep expertise in consulting in the motor vehicle, household appliance, catering, pharmaceutical, medical, industrial products and food industries. Mr. Chuang has also trained thousands of entrepreneurs on strategic management, and has assisted the Great Wall Motor Company Limited to successfully realize its strategic transformation to become, along with Porsche, one of the world’s two most profitable motor vehicle companies.
Management Team
Mr Fusheng (Frank) Lan BSc
CEO AND DIRECTOR, LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE, GUILIN GFS MONK FRUIT CORP
From the founding of the company in 2004 until November 2014 Mr Lan held the position of President, Legal Representative and CEO of Monk Fruit Corp.
Mr Lan graduated from Guangxi Agricultural Vocational College in 1983 and founded Guilin GFS Monk Fruit Corp in 2004 with BioVittoria Ltd as a Joint Venture partner. Prior to 2001 Mr Lan worked for the Guangxi Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as vice-director. While employed by the Guangxi Institute of Botany Mr Lan organised and managed more than 30 research projects and published over 70 papers. Mr Lan has received more than 30 different awards including from the Guangxi Institute of Botany, Guangxi Academy of Science, Guangxi Department of Science and Technology, The Government of Guilin, The Government of Guangxi, and the Departments of the Central Government of China. Mr Lan has worked in Guangxi for more than 30 years where he has built strong and stable relationships with local government and famers.
Since 2001, Mr Lan has held the positions of CEO of Guilin DaDi Bio-Tech Co. Ltd, supervisor of Guilin Lijiang Rural Cooperative Bank, member of the Guilin Municipal Committee, vice Chairman of the Guangxi Association of Overseas and Returned Scholars, vice Chairman of the Guilin Plant Extraction Association, and Chairman of Guilin PureLo Monk Fruit Association.
As the General Manager of Monk Fruit Corp and CEO of BioDaDi, Mr Lan played a significant role in the early development of the monk fruit industry. Lead by Mr Lan these two companies jointly achieved many outstanding milestones and innovations in the monk fruit industry, and as a result of these achievements Monk Fruit Corp. has been the world’s leading monk fruit company for more than a decade and the world’s largest supplier of monk fruit products.
In recognition of his unique and significant contribution to the monk fruit industry and local economic development Mr Lan has received many awards including “The Advanced Overseas Return Individual of Guangxi” from the Guangxi Government, “The First Prize for the First Entrepreneurship of Overseas Return Scholar” from the Guangxi Association of Overseas and Returned Scholars, “The 2013 Excellent Entrepreneur of Guilin” by the Guilin Municipal Government and “The Top Talent for the Fourth Evaluation of Guilin”. The Chinese Government has recognized Mr Lan as their national expert in monk fruit production.
Ms Zhang Yanling
GENERAL MANAGER OF GUILIN DADI BIO-TECH CO., LTD, A WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF GUILIN GFS MONK FRUIT CORP.
Ms. Zhang graduated from the Guangxi Eco-engineering Vocational and Technical College in 1984 and became the expert in plant tissue culture of the Guangxi Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Before 2002, Ms Zhang engaged in research and development of plant tissue culture and was recognized as the Chinese expert in monk fruit tissue culturing. From 2002-2013, Ms Zhang was director of Guilin DaDi Agricultural Bio-Tech Development Institute, and since 2013, Ms Zhang has worked as General Manager of Guilin DaDi Bio-Tech Co. Ltd. Since 2007 Ms Zhang has also held the position of Vice General Manager and Chief Raw Material Officer at Guilin GFS Monk Fruit Corp.
Mr David Thorrold, CA
GENERAL MANAGER SALES AND MARKETING, DIRECTOR, GUILIN GFS MONK FRUIT CORP.
Mr Thorrold has over 20 years’ experience in accounting, finance, sales and marketing and management. He has worked in London for Deutsche Bank, Bankers Trust and the BBC as well as holding the position of Managing Director of a UK based Software Company. In New Zealand Mr Thorrold has worked as a consultant to early stage technology and Agri-tech companies. In 2006 Mr Thorrold joined BioVittoria as CEO and has been a director of Guilin GFS Monk Fruit Corp since this time. Mr Thorrold has developed an extensive network of contacts in the US and European food and beverage industries and was appointed General Manager Sales and Marketing and Director of Guilin GFS Monk Fruit Corp in 2014.
Mr Paul Paslaski
VICE PRESIDENT SALES AND MARKETING
Mr Paslaski has 25 years’ experience as an innovator in sales and marketing, principally in the health and nutrition product category. Before joining BioVittoria/Monk Fruit Corp Mr Paslaski worked as Market Development Director for Cargill Health and Nutrition, developing brand strategies for a number of branded ingredients in the health and wellness space, including Truvia®, the leading stevia-based natural, zero-calorie sweetener. In this role, Mr Paslaski consulted with CPG business partners on collaborative marketing programs and support, including Coke/Minute Maid, Wyeth, General Mills, ConAgra, Kraft Foods, Kroger, Dreyers, Blue Bunny, Smucker’s, Welch’s, Nestle, Safeway, CVS, Walgreens, Pepsi, Hain Foods, Walmart, and Bayer.
Mr Paslaski has developed consumer value propositions for many new health products including antioxidant vitamins, Omega 3, phytosterols, soy protein and chondroitin sulfate. Mr Paslaski was Senior Marketing Manager for Roche Vitamins’ Food Business Unit, responsible for new business development in the emerging functional foods/nutraceutical market.
