As a teenager in 1976 attending the elite Toronto high school, Upper Canada College, Michael Evans knew he wanted something different than his peers: he wanted to leave the country.
That itch initially led him to Princeton University in New Jersey, and later to a banking career in New York, London and Asia.
Today, as president of Alibaba Group. — China’s answer to Amazon.com Inc. — Evans spends the majority of his time in China and other developing countries, helping build out online payment methods, a smart logistics system and digital innovations that will allow their economies to, technologically speaking, leapfrog the developed world.
Image: IHS Markit’s Lance Uggla, left, Andrew Arruda of ROSS Intelligence, centre, and president of Alibaba Group Michael Evans, right.Becky Guthrie/National Post
