HANGZHOU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alibaba Group today announced the appointment of Jim Wilkinson as Senior Vice President, Head of International Corporate Affairs. Wilkinson will be based in the San Francisco Bay Area and will be charged with building and leading Alibaba Group’s international corporate affairs team.
Wilkinson brings to Alibaba Group extensive communications and corporate relations experience among the international, consumer and financial communities. Wilkinson also has strong government and regulatory affairs experience in key global markets worldwide.
“As Alibaba extends our platform for entrepreneurs and small businesses around the world, it is important that we have the right people in place who have a track record of building bridges across geographic boundaries,” said Jack Ma, co-founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group. “Jim’s leadership, global experience and successful track record will help Alibaba bring the message of our mission to markets outside China: to make it easy to do business anywhere.”
“Jim is a proven team builder and leader in global corporate affairs with a strong track record of integrity, passion and commitment that reflect the Alibaba values,” said Joe Tsai, executive vice chairman of Alibaba Group. “I look forward to working closely with Jim as we enter the next exciting phase of the company’s development.”
Prior to his appointment at Alibaba, Wilkinson was Executive Vice President of Communications for PepsiCo, a global food and beverage leader with net revenues of more than US$65 billion. At PepsiCo Wilkinson managed a strong and successful communications team with presence in key growth markets worldwide, including in China and across Asia.
Wilkinson joined PepsiCo from Brunswick Group where he served in San Francisco and Texas as managing partner for international business and financial strategy, providing strategic counsel on global mandates spanning international, corporate and financial communications, corporate reputation, investor relations, crisis management and litigation.
Prior to Brunswick Group, Wilkinson was Chief of Staff for U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, serving as a senior strategist and counselor and working on matters of financial policy and crisis management. Prior to his work for Treasury, Wilkinson served as senior advisor to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Wilkinson holds degrees from the University of Texas at Arlington (Bachelor of Business Administration, Finance) and Johns Hopkins University (Master of Arts). He is an endurance sports enthusiast and avid trail runner (including 26 marathons).
About Alibaba Group
Alibaba Group’s mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. The company is the largest online and mobile commerce company in the world in terms of gross merchandise volume. Founded in 1999, the company provides the fundamental technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help businesses leverage the power of the Internet to establish an online presence and conduct commerce with hundreds of millions of consumers and other businesses.
Alibaba Group’s major businesses include:
- Taobao Marketplace (www.taobao.com), China's largest online shopping destination
- Tmall.com (www.tmall.com), China’s largest online third-party platform for brands and retailers
- Juhuasuan (www.juhuasuan.com), China’s most popular online group buying marketplace
- AliExpress (www.aliexpress.com), a global online marketplace for consumers to buy directly from China
- Alibaba.com (www.alibaba.com), China’s largest global online wholesale platform for small businesses
- 1688.com (www.1688.com), a leading online wholesale marketplace in China
- Alibaba Cloud Computing (www.aliyun.com), a leading provider of cloud computing services to businesses and entrepreneurs
Alibaba Group also provides payment and escrow services on its marketplaces through its association with Alipay (www.alipay.com), a related company of Alibaba Group.
Through China Smart Logistics, a 48%-owned affiliate, Alibaba Group, operates a central logistics information system that connects a network of express delivery companies in China.