Yong Rui
Also known as Rui Yong
Yong Rui is a researcher and technology executive whose work covers visual pattern analysis, recognition and retrieval. After a PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1999, he joins Microsoft, where his teams go on to develop Bing image search, XiaoIce and Satori. The International Association for Pattern Recognition names him a fellow in 2012, and in November 2016 he takes office as Lenovo's CTO and senior vice president. In July 2024 Tolga Kurtoglu succeeds him as CTO, and he leads Lenovo's new Emerging Technology Group as president until 2025. As of October 2026 he sits on the Scientific Advisory Board of Berkeley Frontier Fund.
- Now at
- Berkeley Frontier Fund
- Works
- 280
- Citations
- 20,095
- h-index
- 67
Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 14 October 2026.
Timeline
-
1999
A doctorate in Illinois
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign awards him a PhD in 1999, after degrees from Southeast University and Tsinghua University.
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1999–2016
Joining Microsoft Research
Microsoft Research in Redmond takes him on in 1999, and his teams go on to develop Bing image search, XiaoIce and the Satori entity graph.
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2012
Named an IAPR Fellow
In 2012 the International Association for Pattern Recognition names him a fellow for contributions to visual pattern analysis, recognition and retrieval.
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2012–2016
Senior director at Microsoft Research Asia
From 2012 to 2016 he serves as senior director and deputy managing director of Microsoft Research Asia.
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November 2016
Joining Lenovo as CTO
After 18 years at Microsoft, he takes office as Lenovo's CTO and senior vice president in November 2016.
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2016–2018
Two technical achievement awards
The IEEE Computer Society gives him its Edward J. McCluskey Technical Achievement Award in 2016, and ACM SIGMM gives him its Technical Achievement Award in 2018.
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2024–2025
Heading the Emerging Technology Group
In July 2024 Lenovo names Tolga Kurtoglu as CTO, succeeding Rui, who leads the new Emerging Technology Group as president until 2025.
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As of October 2026
A scientific advisory board seat
Among his boards is the Scientific Advisory Board of Berkeley Frontier Fund, alongside other startup, university and nonprofit boards.
Sources and credits
Photo: Lenny2018, via Wikimedia Commons. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: commons.wikimedia.org. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.
