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The chemistry between Jack Ma, the hyperkinetic Chinese billionaire, and Michael Evans, whose friends tend to describe as “low key” and “Canadian”, is unlikely to be the main reason the two struck up a friendship 10 years ago.
一个是精力旺盛的中国富豪马云(Jack Ma)，一个是常被友人形容为“低调”和“加拿大人”的迈克尔埃文斯(Michael Evans)，这二人之间的化学反应不太可能是他们十年前建立友谊的主要原因。
Mr Evans, an Olympic gold medallist in rowing and a former Wall Street executive, was running Goldman Sachs’ Asia operations and the two met for one reason: money. Goldman co-ordinated the initial public offering of Alibaba.com, Mr Ma’s first publicly listed company, in Hong Kong.
埃文斯是一名前华尔街高管，曾获得奥运会皮划艇项目的金牌，他在管理高盛(Goldman Sachs)亚洲业务时结识了马云，而促成他们相识的原因是——钱。当时高盛负责协调阿里巴巴网络(Alibaba.com)在香港的首次公开发行(IPO)，这是马云的首家上市公司。
Fast forward 10 years and this week Mr Evans, who stepped down from Goldman in 2014 after 21 years, was hired by Mr Ma to become Alibaba’s president in charge of its international operations.
一晃十年过去。2014年，在高盛工作了21年的埃文斯宣布辞职，本周他被马云聘为阿里巴巴总裁，负责该集团国际业务。
“We are turning to a proven international leader who has been connecting China and the rest of the world for most of his career,” said Mr Ma.
马云表示：“我们将迎来一位久经考验的国际化领导者，他的大部分职业生涯都致力于将中国与世界其他地区连接起来。”
Joining Goldman in 1993 and becoming partner in 1994, Mr Evans was originally brought to China in 2004 by Hank Paulson, the bank’s chief executive at the time and who went on to become Treasury secretary in 2006 and has maintained a keen interest in Sino-US relation.
埃文斯于1993年加入高盛，1994年就成为合伙人。2004年，在高盛当时的首席执行官汉克保尔森(Hank Paulson)带领下，埃文斯第一次来到中国。保尔森于2006年成为美国财政部长，对中美关系一直保有浓厚的兴趣。
In fact, Mr Evans is the second protégé of Mr Paulson’s to be snapped up by Alibaba — Jim Wilkinson, the group’s senior vice-president for corporate affairs was Mr Paulson’s chief of staff at the Treasury.
事实上，埃文斯是保尔森被阿里巴巴挖走的第二个门生。阿里巴巴负责企业事务的资深副总裁吉姆威尔金森(Jim Wilkinson)曾是保尔森在财政部的幕僚长。
Lucas van Praag, a former colleague at Goldman who now runs the public relations company Fitzroy Communications, says Mr Evans was a “classic Goldman person, very driven, very focused, very determined”.
埃文斯的前高盛同事、现在运营着公关公司Fitzroy Communications的卢卡斯范普拉格(Lucas van Praag)说，埃文斯是一个“典型的高盛人，非常有干劲，非常专注，非常坚定。”
But “if he wanted a new chapter in his business life, it wasn’t going to be at Goldman Sachs”, he adds.
但是“如果他想开启商业生涯的新篇章，就不能在高盛”，他补充道。
Based in Hong Kong from 2004, Mr Evans helped many of China’s biggest companies go public and became a key conduit to US capital markets for a new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs.
埃文斯从2004年起驻香港工作，帮助多家中国大企业上市，并成为中国新一代企业家进入美国资本市场的重要渠道。
“Mike has deep experience with China and played an instrumental role in the first wave of landmark Chinese listings such as China Mobile and PetroChina,” says Fred Hu, chairman of investment firm Primavera Capital and a former Goldman economist in China.
前高盛中国经济学家、投资公司春华资本(Primavera Capital)的主席胡祖六(Fred Hu)表示：“迈克尔有着丰富的对华经验，而且在中国移动(China Mobile)和中国石油(PetroChina)等中国企业里程碑式的首轮上市潮中发挥了重要作用。”
When he returned to New York in 2011, Mr Evans was seen as a possible successor to Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman’s chief executive, when the company was still reeling from the financial crisis.
2011年埃文斯返回纽约时，被视为高盛首席执行官劳埃德贝兰克梵(Lloyd Blankfein)的可能接班人，当时这家公司仍处于金融危机的影响中。
“That’s not a perception that he fought to have people recognise, but he certainly didn’t dissuade people from thinking it,” says one former colleague. “Mike was there as a very strong potential heir apparent, to a throne that was not likely to be given up.”
埃文斯的一位前任同事表示：“他并没有力求让人们认识到这种可能性，但他肯定也没有阻止人们这么想。当时迈克尔显然是一个非常强有力的可能继任者，但他要继承的是一个不太可能被放手的王位。”
Mr Blankfein stayed on and Mr Evans eventually left at the end of 2013.
贝兰克梵依然留任，而埃文斯最终在2013年底离开。
“A number of people thought he’d have gone sooner,” says one former colleague.
一位前同事表示：“很多人以为他会更早离开。”
Mr Evans was almost immediately scoped by Alibaba for an independent board seat which he took up last September.
埃文斯离开高盛后，阿里巴巴几乎立即向他提供了成为独立董事的机会，去年9月他接受了这一职位。
In his new post, he will be the point man in persuading big US brands to open ecommerce stores on Alibaba platforms. He will also be charged with selling Alibaba to Wall Street as the stock price, which sailed to a high of $119 in November after listing at $68 in September, dipped below $80 this week.
升任阿里巴巴总裁后，埃文斯将成为说服美国大品牌在阿里巴巴平台上开设电商店铺的牵头人。他还将负责向华尔街兜售阿里巴巴的股票。本周阿里巴巴的股价跌破80美元，自去年9月以每股68美元的价格上市后，其股价在去年11月冲到过119美元高点。
“He’s exactly what Alibaba needs,” says Mr Van Praag. “I cant imagine that he was hired for his ability to turn around the stock price, but I think that his understanding of what investors want and how they think about opportunities is probably critical.”
范普拉格说：“他正是阿里巴巴需要的人才。我不觉得他之所以获得聘用，是因为他拥有扭转股价的能力。但我认为他知道投资者想要什么，以及他们对机会的看法，这一点可能才是关键。”
