Daniel Zhang

Since taking over as CEO of the Chinese tech giant in 2015, Zhang has continually found ways to boost the company’s prodigious growth. Zhang was the key architect of Singles’ Day, for instance, the online shopping festival popularized by Alibaba. This year sales from the event totaled some $75 billion––up 26% over 2019. Further, Alibaba has reported revenue growth for each of the past three quarters and a 31% increase in total revenues over the past 12 months. A graduate of the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and a certified accountant, Zhang first joined Alibaba in 2007 and succeeded cofounder Jack Ma as executive chairman in 2019. With Alibaba recently increasing its stake in the brick-and-mortar retailer Sun Art, Zhang continues to carry out Ma’s vision of a blended online and offline shopping experience.