Jifan Gao, born in Changzhou in east of China. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Nanjing University in 1985, and the master’s degree in physics and chemistry under the supervision of the famous Prof. Aoqing Tang in Jilin University in 1988. Inspired by the Kyoto Protocol and the US Million Solar Roofs Initiative, Jifan Gao founded Trina Solar in 1997. In the past 27 years, Trina Solar has become one of the largest international companies in PV industry with over 50,000 employees worldwide, with accumulative shipment of modules over 190GW which have been installed in over 150 countries and regions all over the world. Trina Solar was ranked as “Global TOP 2000” (Forbes), “Renewable Energy TOP 10” (Forbes China), “TOP 100 Innovators of Global Energy Transaction” (Reuters). 

In 2010, Trina Solar was named with the first “Industry Shaper” for solar at the World Economic Forum in Davos. As founder and CEO of Trina Solar, Gao was invited to be mentor of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, founding member of the UNPD Private Sector Advisory Board. He was founding member of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA), and was elected as the first Chairman of CPIA (2014-2020) and as the honorary chairman after 2020. He was invited to well-known international forums, like World Economic Forum, the Boao Forum for Asia, and B20. Jifao Gao was awarded Advanced Individuals Contributing by Jiangsu Government (2018), and the Best CEOs of China by Forbes in 2022.