Richard Gao
Managing Partner
Richard has 20+years of experience in supply chain management, business development, strategy and management consulting in Fortune 500 companies across industries such as CPG, energy, and chemicals.
Prior to joining Ideate, Richard established and built Royal Dutch Shell’s China domestic oil supply and storage, and oil transportation business units. In 3 years as VP of Domestic Retail Operations, he grew Shell China’s retail distribution network from 400 filling stations to 1100, becoming the third largest such network in China. Richard also acted as Vice Chairman of the Board of Shell’s domestic retail joint ventures, and in 2013 was awarded Shell’s Global CEO award, in recognition of his career achievements at the company.
Before Shell, Richard spent 11 years at P&G, managing the APAC regional supply chain planning & lean development teams, overseeing 15 factories across 8 countries in streamlining network processes.
Richard is a founding member and CEO of the Tsinghua University x-lab Empower Centre, a startup mentorship initiative for Tsinghua students and alumni.
