Sandy Ran Xu () is a Chinese business executive who has been chief executive officer of JD.com, the Chinese e-commerce and retail company, since May 2023. She is the company's third chief executive and the first woman to hold the post. Since November 2023 she has also run JD Retail, the group's core retail business.
Xu spent nearly 20 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Beijing and San Jose, rising to audit partner, before joining JD.com in 2018. She was the company's chief financial officer from 2020 to 2023. She has served as an independent director of Baidu since 2024.
Education Xu received a bachelor's degree from Peking University with a double major in information science and economics. She qualified as a certified public accountant in both China and the United States.
Career
PricewaterhouseCoopers Xu worked for nearly 20 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, in its Beijing office (PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian) and its San Jose office, and became an audit partner. Her practice focused on the technology, media, and telecommunications sector and on U.S. capital markets.
JD.com
Finance roles Xu joined JD.com in July 2018. She oversaw group finance, accounting, and tax, and served as chief financial officer of JD Retail from July 2018 to May 2020. In March 2020, JD.com named her, then a senior vice president, to succeed Sidney Huang as group chief financial officer, with the handover beginning that June. According to 36Kr, she helped complete JD.com's acquisitions of the listed companies Dada, Deppon, and China Logistics Property during her time as group CFO. The same report credits her with work on the restructuring of JD Technology and the company's secondary listing in Hong Kong.
Chief executive tenure On May 11, 2023, JD.com announced that Xu would succeed Lei Xu, who was retiring for personal reasons, as chief executive officer and would join the board as an executive director. She became the company's third CEO and the first woman in the role. Citi analysts called the appointment surprising and said it could signal that JD.com's major restructuring was largely done. 36Kr reported that she had not previously run a frontline unit of the core e-commerce business, and compared her move from CFO to CEO with the path taken by Alibaba chief executive Daniel Zhang.
On November 15, 2023, Xu also became chief executive of JD Retail, replacing Xin Lijun. Fortune tied the change to a slower-than-expected recovery in consumer spending and competition from PDD Holdings, and noted it came days after the 2023 Singles' Day sales.
In August 2024, the Financial Times reported that founder and chairman Richard Liu had been leading the company from London, with continued involvement in investment strategy, deals, and expansion. JD.com told the FT that Xu leads the management team and oversees daily operations.
Board memberships Xu has been an executive director of JD.com since May 2023. She has served as an independent director of Baidu since January 2024. As of 2023, she was also a director of JD Technology. She serves on the board of Yonghui Superstores.
Recognition Fortune named Xu to its global Most Powerful Women list in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and to its Most Powerful Women Asia list in 2024 and 2025. Forbes included her on its list of the world's 100 most powerful women in 2025.
References