 Speaking at the 2022World Economic Forum | |||||||||||||||
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| Born | John Michael Evans (1957-08-16)August 16, 1957 (age 68) Toronto, Ontario, Canada | ||||||||||||||
| Education | Princeton University University College, Oxford | ||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Technology executive | ||||||||||||||
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John Michael Evans (born August 16, 1957) is a Canadian technology executive and the President ofAlibaba Group. He previously spent 20 years working for U.S. investment bankGoldman Sachs and is a former Olympicrower.
Evans was born to Dr. John Robert Evans and his wife Jean on August 16, 1957. Besides his twin brotherMark, he has four other siblings: Derek, Gillian (Gill), Timothy (Tim), and Willa.[1][2][3]
He attendedUpper Canada College inToronto and received his bachelor's degree fromPrinceton University.[4] He later studied atUniversity College, Oxford[5] where he stroked the Oxford boat in theOxford-Cambridge Boat Race.[6][7] Alongside his twin brother Mark, Evans went on to join the Canadian Olympic team, where he won a gold medal in rowing at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles.[8]
In 2015, Evans was appointed President ofAlibaba Group, where he leads Alibaba Group’s international growth strategy outside of China and reports to CEODaniel Zhang.[9] Evans has served on the board of Alibaba Group since its September 2014IPO, and has known Alibaba Group founderJack Ma since 1999 when Ma first approached Goldman Sachs regarding an early investment in the company.[9] Evans was named as one of the National Retail Federation’s Power Players in 2019 for his work at Alibaba Group.[10]
In addition, Evans is currently a member of the Board of Directors ofBarrick Gold Corporation and several not-for-profit organizations.[11]
He is also a trustee of the Asia Society and a member of the Advisory Council for theBendheim Center for Finance at Princeton University.[12]
Before Alibaba Group, Evans was vice chairman ofGoldman Sachs, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia and spent 19 years as a Partner after joining the firm in 1993.[13]
In the high-profile IPO, Goldman was one of six lead underwriters with Mark Schwartz, chairman of Goldman Asia Pacific, named as lead banker for Goldman in a lead-up New YorkTimes report.[14]
In 2019 Evans was charged for his involvement in the1MDB scandal, which took place during his time at Goldman Sachs, which was settled.[15][16]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Evans was personally involved in several philanthropic efforts to donate personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers in New York.[17] New York GovernorAndrew Cuomo acknowledged in a press briefing that Alibaba Group’s and Evans’ assistance had been “very helpful to us.”[18]
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