Mr. Zhang is currently the managing partner of Firstlight Capital.
Mr. Zhang was appointed chief executive officer of Alibaba Group in May 2015 and its chairman in September 2019 until September 2023. Mr. Zhang is a founding member of the Alibaba Partnership and was recognized the distinct honor of being the first-ever “Aliren Emeritus” in Alibaba Group’s history.
During his 16-year journey with Alibaba Group, Mr. Zhang was a driving force behind numerous groundbreaking initiatives and was the ingenious architect of the “11.11 Global Shopping Festival”, defining the most lucrative shopping day globally. He began in 2007, serving first as the chief financial officer and then the chief operating officer of Taobao Marketplace. He later also became the general manager of Taobao Mall and was appointed president in June 2011 when Taobao Mall became an independent platform and rebranded as Tmall.com. His strategic foresight and leadership were pivotal in the creation and evolution of Tmall.com for what would become the world’s largest e-commerce platform. In his role as chief operating officer of Alibaba Group from 2013 to 2015, Mr. Zhang successfully steered Alibaba Group from a PC-centric to a “mobile-first” ecosystem, establishing Alibaba’s significant presence in the mobile internet era. Mr. Zhang also served as the chairman of Cainiao Network from 2018 to 2023. His “New Retail” strategy revolutionized traditional business models, exemplified by Freshippo. Mr. Zhang became chief executive officer of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group in December 2022, and its chairman in May 2023, in addition to his other roles with Alibaba Group until September 2023. Mr. Zhang was also the chief architect of Alibaba business operating system, facilitating global businesses in leveraging the Alibaba ecosystem for digital transformation, promoting data integration and value enhancement across Alibaba Group.
Before his career at Alibaba Group, Mr. Zhang had extensive experience in financial management. He served as the chief financial officer of Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited between 2005 and 2007, with former roles at Arthur Andersen and PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firms spanning from 1995 to 2005.
Mr. Zhang has served as a member of the World Economic Forum International Business Council and as the co-chair of the Consumer Goods Forum in both its Global and China divisions. TIME magazine listed him among the 100 Most Influential People, Forbes China named him the Best CEO in 2020, and Fortune magazine honored him as the Businessperson of the Year in 2019 and 2020.
Mr. Zhang graduated from the Finance Department of the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. He was appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director of the Company in December 2024 and is aged 52.