Founding Partners

Clara Wu Tsai is a businesswoman and philanthropist. She is Governor and Owner of the New York Liberty and Owner of the Brooklyn Nets. As Vice Chair of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, the teams’ parent company, she oversees fan development and community engagement in Brooklyn.

Ms. Wu Tsai’s philanthropic investments span the arts, science, and social justice. She founded the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, which unites seven universities to advance the science of human performance. In science and technology, she supports the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford University and the Wu Tsai Institute at Yale University, both dedicated to advancing the understanding of human cognition. She established the Social Justice Fund in 2020 to catalyze economic mobility in Brooklyn, and is a founding partner of the REFORM Alliance, which works to reform the criminal justice system.

Ms. Wu Tsai serves on the Boards of Trustees for Stanford University, New York Presbyterian Hospital, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and on the Advisory Board for the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington. She was an executive producer of several films, including Into the Okavango (2018), Blue Bayou (2021), Unfinished Business (2022), Bedford Park (2026 Sundance Special Jury winner), and Bucking Fastard (2026), directed by Werner Herzog.

Previously, Ms. Wu Tsai was General Manager of Hong Kong operations for Taobao, China’s largest online shopping platform, and a Vice President at American Express in New York and Hong Kong.

She holds a B.A. in International Relations and an M.A. in International Policy Studies from Stanford University, and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Joe Tsai is a co-founder and executive vice chairman of Alibaba Group, a global Internet technology company based in China. His career at Alibaba spans over 20 years, during which he was the company’s chief financial officer and oversaw strategic investments. Tsai serves on the boards of directors of Alibaba Group and its financial services affiliate, Ant Group.

Tsai is Governor of the Brooklyn Nets (NBA) and New York Liberty (WNBA), and is Chairman of the teams’ home arena Barclays Center. He owns two professional indoor lacrosse teams, based in San Diego and Las Vegas, respectively, in the National Lacrosse League. Tsai also has investments in the outdoor professional lacrosse league, Premier Lacrosse League, and Los Angeles FC of Major League Soccer.

Through the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, Tsai and his wife Clara Wu Tsai are active philanthropists supporting initiatives in education, research, criminal justice reform, economic mobility, the arts and humanitarian relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tsai is a founding board member of The Asian American Foundation (TAAF), a non-profit launched in 2021 that provides resources to Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities to mobilize against hate and discrimination and build the infrastructure to improve AAPI advocacy, power and representation.

Tsai is a member of the J.P. Morgan International Council, EXOR Partners Council, and International Advisory Council of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He is a trustee of The Lawrenceville School.

Prior to founding Alibaba Group, Tsai practiced tax law as an associate with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York from 1990 to 1993 and was responsible for Asian private equity investments for Investor AB of Sweden’s Wallenberg family from 1995 to 1999. He is a graduate of Yale College (BA ’86) and Yale Law School (JD ’90).