Birmingham, UK – The director who has spearheaded Broadway Malyan’s exceptional growth in China over the past decade has been appointed to the practice’s main Holdings Board.

Sean Li has built a team of more 50 since launching the Shanghai studio in 2007 and made the studio one of the practice’s best performing in recent years by securing key commissions from a range of blue chip clients.

Sean has been a member of the APAC board since 2010 and Singapore-based Ian Simpson, who chairs the firm’s APAC board, said Sean’s background in design management and business development, as well as his crucial operational and design visioning input, would be vital to the practice’s future success in the region.

Ian said: “Sean has been an exceptional colleague and an inspirational leader in China for more than a decade and has had a huge influence in supporting the fantastic growth we have seen in APAC in recent years. China is currently one of the world’s strongest economic regions but there have been many challenges since we first established a studio in Shanghai and Sean’s leadership has been fundamental in skilfully navigating these while building strong partnerships colleagues throughout the APAC region.”

Sean’s appointment to the Holdings Board coincides with the opening in October 2019 of a new operation in Shenzhen, which Sean will also oversee, and he is confident that the timing is right to expand the practice’s footprint in what is the world’s second largest economy.

Sean said: “Broadway Malyan opened its first international studio more than 20 years ago and it has established itself as a successful global business by recognizing and embracing local values and business cultures and this has been right at the heart of our successful growth over the last 12 years in Shanghai. I am delighted to be joining the practice’s Holdings Board and I am looking forward to continuing to build our fantastic international team in China and taking the practice across previously unexplored frontiers, both geographically and in terms of our sector expertise.”