2015 ENCORE Award

The Stanford GSB Alumni Association is proud to announce that Alibaba Group has been named the recipient of the 2015 ENCORE Award for its remarkable entrepreneurial spirit and pioneering work in e-commerce. Lead Founder and Executive Chairman Jack Ma discussed entrepreneurship in a fireside chat with Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang, BS/MS ’90 on September 24. 

About Alibaba Group

Alibaba Group, founded in 1999 and headquartered in Hangzhou, China, operates leading online and mobile marketplaces in both the retail and wholesale trade. They provide technology solutions and services to enable consumers, merchants, and other participants to conduct commerce on their platform. In September 2014, the company debuted the largest IPO in the world at $25 billion.

Keynote Speaker

Jack Ma, Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group

Jack is the lead founder and, since May 2013, has served as the executive chairman. From the founding in 1999 until May 2013, Jack served as chairman and chief executive officer.

Jack currently serves on the board of SoftBank Corp., one of the major shareholders and a Japanese corporation listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. He is also chair of The Nature Conservancy’s China board of directors and a member of its global board of directors. In September 2013, he joined the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation as a director. In August 2014, Jack was elected to the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum. Jack graduated from Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute with a major in English language education.

About ENCORE Award

The Entrepreneurial Company of the Year (ENCORE) Award was created in the late 1970s by the Bay Area Chapter of the GSB Alumni Association, when they saw an opportunity to recognize the entrepreneurial spirit of the companies springing up in the Silicon Valley. The first honor was given to the CEO of ROLM Corporation in 1977.

Although the award was originally designed to honor an individual, it soon became clear that a company’s success was based on the contributions of many people. Accordingly, the award was changed to the Entrepreneurial Company of the Year in 1982. Additionally, the scope of the award has been widened to recognize best in class entrepreneurs from throughout the world, and is no longer limited to Silicon Valley.