Wycliffe "Wyc" K. Grousbeck (born June 13, 1961) is an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

who is the majority owner and

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

Career

Grousbeck was born in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 census, making it the second- most populous city in New England after ...

and graduated from

Noble and Greenough School The Noble and Greenough School, commonly known as Nobles, is a coeducational, nonsectarian day and five-day boarding school for students in grades seven through twelve. It is near Boston on a campus that borders the Charles River in Dedham, Massa ...

Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest ...

. He attended

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, B.A. in

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

in 1983, and rowed on the 1983 undefeated lightweight crew team that claimed the Ivy League and National rowing championship. He received a J.D. degree from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1986 and an M.B.A. in 1992 (Miller Scholar) from the

Stanford Graduate School of Business The Stanford Graduate School of Business (also known as Stanford GSB) is the graduate business school of Stanford University, a private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective business schoo ...

. After spending seven years as a partner at the

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which h ...

firm,

Highland Capital Partners Highland Capital Partners is a global venture capital firm with offices in Boston, Silicon Valley, and San Francisco. Highland has raised over $4 billion in committed capital and invested in more than 280 companies, with 47 IPOs and 134 Acq ...

, Grousbeck founded and led the group Boston Basketball Partners L.L.C. that bought the

for $360 million in 2002. In 2008, the Celtics won their seventeenth NBA Championship. While continuing his duties with the Celtics, in 2010 Grousbeck became Chairman of the

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Massachusetts Eye and Ear (Mass. Eye and Ear, or MEE) is a specialty hospital located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, which focuses on ophthalmology (eye), otolaryngology (ear/nose/throat), and related medicine and research. Founded in 1 ...

, the world's largest research and clinical hospital specializing in blindness and deafness research. He instituted and led a capital campaign that raised $250 million for Mass Eye and Ear, and led them to join the world class Mass General Brigham medical system, as a first-tier hospital. In 2013, Grousbeck co-founded Causeway Media Partners, LP, a growth equity partnership managing over $330 million, investing in sports technology and media companies such as Omaze, Inc.,

Zwift Zwift is a massively multiplayer online cycling and running physical training program that enables users to interact, train, and compete in a virtual world. Zwift was developed by Zwift Inc., which was co-founded by Jon Mayfield, Eric Min, Scot ...

FloSports FloSports is an over-the-top subscription sports broadcaster and streaming service. The company is based in Austin, Texas, United States, and was founded in 2006. FloSports streams live sporting events to audiences around the world. History ...

, Freeletics, Formula E Racing, and

SeatGeek SeatGeek is a mobile-focused ticket platform that enables users to buy and sell tickets for live sports, concerts and theater events. SeatGeek allows both mobile app and desktop users to browse events, view interactive color-coded seatmaps, compl ...

. Wyc married Emilia Fazzalari in January 2017. Wyc and Emilia joined with fellow NBA owners

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

Jeanie Buss Jeanie Marie Buss (born September 26, 1961) is an American sports executive who is the controlling owner and president of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A daughter of Jerry Buss, who owned the Lakers and oth ...

and

Wes Edens Wesley Robert Edens (born October 30, 1961) is an American billionaire businessman and private equity investor. He is the co-founder of Fortress Investment Group and founder of New Fortress Energy. Edens is co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA fran ...

to foun
Cincoro Tequila, which launched to acclaim in September, 2019.
Wyc sits on the Executive, Labor, and Media Committees of the NBA, is Board Chair of the Boston Celtics, and Mass Eye and Ear, and is a board member of the Boston Celtics, the Shamrock Foundation, Giving Grousbeck Fazzalari, Omaze, Inc., Cinco Spirits Group, Mass General Brigham, and NBC Sports Boston. In 2022, Princeton, in an expansion effort to support additional/diverse students, will open a new Dormitory, Grousbeck Hall, based on gift by Wyc and his family; https://alumni.princeton.edu/stories/wyc-grousbeck-dormitory and https://www.princeton.edu/news/2021/05/18/wyc-grousbeck-and-emilia-fazzalari-support-undergraduate-student-expansion-new

References

External links

ESPN story
1961 births Living people American sports businesspeople American venture capitalists Boston Celtics executives Boston Celtics owners Businesspeople from Massachusetts Princeton University alumni Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni University of Michigan Law School alumni People from Worcester, Massachusetts 20th-century American businesspeople Noble and Greenough School alumni Basketball people from Massachusetts {{US-business-bio-1960s-stub