Yale SOM Announces Largest Alumni Gift to Date
Yale President Richard C. Levin PhD '74 announced on January 4, 2010, that Lei Zhang MBA '02, GRD '02 has pledged the largest gift ever to the Yale School of Management by a graduate of the school. Zhang's pledge, made less than 10 years after his graduation from Yale, also represents the largest gift to date from a young Yale University alumnus. Zhang, the founder and managing partner of Hillhouse Capital Management, will give $8,888,888 primarily to help build Yale SOM's new campus. A portion of the gift will provide scholarship support for Chinese students in the International Relations Program at Yale's new Jackson Institute of Global Affairs. Other funds will be used to support a variety of China-related activities at the university, such as work undertaken in cooperation with China's Ministry of Education to train Chinese university presidents.
The announcement came at a special event co-hosted by Levin and Yale School of Management Dean Sharon M. Oster at the Westin Beijing Chaoyang, which included a panel discussion between several prominent SOM alumni called "Investing in the Middle Kingdom."
In announcing the gift, President Levin commented, "This truly extraordinary and auspicious gift reflects the deep commitment to Yale that Lei Zhang shares with so many fellow graduates of the School of Management. Lei's generosity also represents a significant step toward the realization of SOM's new campus."
Zhang chose to make his gift $8,888,888 because of the significance of the number eight in Chinese culture. Throughout China, eight is considered lucky. The Chinese word for "eight" sounds similar to those for "wealth" and "fortune."