J. Michael Evans
John Michael Evans | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 16, 1957 Canada |
| Occupation | Executive |
| Known for | President of Alibaba Group, former Olympic gold medalist in rowing |
John Michael Evans (born August 16, 1957) is a Canadian executive in the technology sector and currently serves as President of Alibaba Group. He dedicated two decades to the U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs and is a former Olympic athlete in rowing.
Early life, family and education
Evans entered the world on August 16, 1957, as the son of Dr. John Robert Evans and Jean. He has a twin brother named Mark and four additional siblings: Derek, Gillian, Timothy, and Willa.
His education includes attendance at Upper Canada College in Toronto, followed by earning a bachelor's degree from Princeton University. He pursued further studies at University College, Oxford, where he was the stroke for the Oxford crew in the prestigious Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. Together with his twin brother Mark, he represented Canada at the Olympics and secured a gold medal in rowing at the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles.
Career
Evans was named President of Alibaba Group in 2015, where he is responsible for steering the company’s international expansion beyond China and reports directly to CEO Daniel Zhang. He joined Alibaba’s board following its September 2014 IPO and has maintained a professional relationship with founder Jack Ma since 1999, when Ma initially sought investment from Goldman Sachs. In recognition of his contributions to Alibaba, Evans was honored as one of the National Retail Federation’s Power Players in 2019.
In addition to his role at Alibaba, Evans holds a position on the Board of Directors at Barrick Gold Corporation and participates in several nonprofit boards. He is a trustee for the Asia Society and serves on the Advisory Council for Princeton University's Bendheim Center for Finance.
Prior to his tenure at Alibaba, Evans dedicated 19 years to Goldman Sachs, where he advanced to vice chairman and chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia after joining in 1993. Goldman Sachs played a leading role as underwriter during Alibaba's notable IPO, with Mark Schwartz heading Goldman’s Asia Pacific division.
In 2019, Evans encountered allegations connected to the 1MDB scandal related to his time at Goldman Sachs; these issues were later resolved.
Philanthropy
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, Evans actively supported efforts to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare professionals in New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo publicly acknowledged that contributions from Alibaba Group and Evans himself had been “very helpful to us.”