Zhang Xin

Founder

One of the world’s most celebrated female entrepreneurs, Zhang Xin is renowned for infusing business with creativity, beauty, and innovation. As Co-Founder and former CEO of China’s most iconic property developer SOHO China, Xin has been widely acclaimed as the “woman who built Beijing”. Now, as Founder of New York based film production company and financier Closer Media, Xin is deeply committed to working with global filmmakers and partners to make meaningful stories that bring people closer together. Headquartered in New York City, Closer Media develops and produces narrative and documentary films and series. Born in Beijing in 1965, Xin moved to Hong Kong at age 14 where she labored as a factory girl while putting herself through night school to study English. At 19, she ventured to the UK where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Sussex and a Master’s degree in Development Economics from Cambridge University. Education served as a springboard to launch a career in investment banking with Goldman Sachs, however, the allure of entrepreneurship soon brought her back to China. Xin co-founded SOHO China in 1995 and as CEO, led the company to become one of the country’s most prolific office property developers with 54 million square feet of projects in Beijing and Shanghai. In 2007, SOHO China was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange raising proceeds of US $1.9 billion, the largest IPO from a private Chinese enterprise at the time. Xin is best known for her daring projects designed by international architects such as Zaha Hadid, Kengo Kuma, and Kohn Pederson Fox. In 2002, Xin was awarded a special prize at the 8th La Biennale di Venezia for Commune by the Great Wall, a private collection of architecture featuring the works of 12 Asian architects. She has been lauded globally for her patronage of the arts exemplified in her developments that have reshaped cities and elevated public appreciation of architecture and design. Xin's rags-to-riches story and entrepreneurial success have made her a social media celebrity with 10 million followers on Weibo, China’s Twitter, and a sought after Chinese voice on the international stage. Xin serves as a Trustee of MoMA, she is a Member of the Harvard Global Advisory Council and a member of the Asia Business Council. She holds an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Sussex and has served as a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. Deeply committed to sustainability, Xin and her husband Pan Shiyi are founding members of Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a fund spearheaded by Bill Gates that invests in cutting-edge ventures to enable a zero-emissions energy future. In 2014, Xin and Pan launched the SOHO China Scholarships to provide financial aid to Chinese undergraduate students at leading international universities. To date, the SOHO China Scholarships have been established at Harvard, Yale and the University of Chicago, and support approximately 50 Chinese students every year.