Tan Xiangdong, also known as Adam Tan, is a Chinese-American businessman who is a co-founder of

Hainan Airlines Hainan Airlines Co., Ltd. (HNA, ) is an airline headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, People's Republic of China. The airline is rated as a 5-star airline by Skytrax. It is the largest civilian-run and majority state-owned air transport company, m ...

and the CEO of

HNA Group HNA Group Co., Ltd., is a Chinese conglomerate headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, China. Founded in 2000, it was involved in numerous industries including aviation, real estate, financial services, tourism, logistics, and more. It is a part owner ...

Biography

Tan received his B.A. from the

Capital University of Economics and Business Capital University of Economics and Business (CUEB) () is a modern, multi-disciplinary financial and economic public university in Beijing, China. Founded in 1956 when the Ministry of Education founded the Beijing Economics Institute. In 1995 ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, his M.B.A. from St. John's University in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and an executive education diploma from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...

. He worked in the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

, where he met Chen Feng, who was asked by

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slight ...

provincial government to set up an airline, and co-founded

in the early 1990s. He became a director of HNA Group in 2001, and served as Vice Chairman and President from 2013 to 2016. He became CEO of HNA Group in 2016 and currently served as Vice Chairman from 2016 to 2020. Tan was credited as the "principle architect" of the group's expansion, which led to 80 deals totaling more than $40 billion between early 2015 and October 2017, including investments in

Deutsche Bank AG Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York S ...

, the Hilton hotel chain and

SkyBridge Capital SkyBridge Capital is a global investment firm based in New York City, United States. It is run by founder Anthony Scaramucci, Brett S. Messing, Raymond Nolte and Troy Gaveski. SkyBridge produces the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference, or "SALT" C ...

. According to

Rupert Hoogewerf Rupert Hoogewerf (born 1970 in Luxembourg), also known by his Chinese name Hu Run (), is the chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report, a research, media and investments business, best known for its Hurun Rich List, a ranking of the wealthies ...

's 2019 Hurun Rich List, Tan was the 1507th richest person in China, with a net worth of RMB 2.5 billion, or $360 million. Tan also served as chairman of HNA Capital and the aircraft leasing company

Avolon Avolon is an aircraft leasing company based in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in May 2010 by Dómhnal Slattery and a team from RBS Aviation Capital, including John Higgins, Tom Ashe, Andy Cronin, Simon Hanson and Ed Riley. In December 2014, A ...

until February 2021. Tan has served as a member of

Columbia College Columbia College may refer to one of several institutions of higher education in North America: Canada * Columbia College (Alberta), in Calgary * Columbia College (British Columbia), a two-year liberal arts institution in Vancouver * Columbia In ...

's board of visitors and a director of

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic pro ...

. In September 2021, Tan and HNA Group Chairman Chen Feng were detained by the Chinese police for unspecified crimes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tan, Xiangdong Living people American people of Chinese descent American businesspeople Capital University of Economics and Business alumni St. John's University (New York City) alumni Harvard Business School alumni Hainan Airlines HNA Group people World Bank people Chinese company founders Year of birth missing (living people)