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

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

, who has been a lead owner for the

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 Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

of the

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

since December 2002.

Early life and education

Grousbeck was born in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

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 in Dedham, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. It educates 638 boys and girls in grades 7–12. The school's campus border ...

Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a New England town, town in, and the county seat of, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on Boston's southwestern border, the population was 25,364 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. First settled by E ...

. He attended

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, B.A. in

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

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 The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

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

Stanford Graduate School of Business The Stanford Graduate School of Business is the Postgraduate education, graduate business school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective ...

Career

After spending seven years as a partner at the

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

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 acqui ...

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

for $360 million in 2002. During his time as lead owner, the Celtics would have won two more championships in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. After their second win in 2024, Grousbeck and his family revealed their intention to sell their majority stake in the franchise, and on March 20, 2025, he announced the proposed sale for a record setting $6.1 billion to Bill Chisholm, a managing partner of

Symphony Technology Group STG Partners, LLC (STG) is an American private equity firm and based in Menlo Park, California. Its predecessor, Symphony Technology Group ("Symphony") was founded in 2002Dorbian, Iris (July 1, 2024) STG Rising: Hailing the Newcomer on the 100. ...

in a predetermined agreement that will allow Grousebeck to remain as Governor for the team until 2028. Besides the Celtics, Grousbeck has had numerous other business ventures. In 2010, Grousbeck became Chairman of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEE), a research and clinical hospital specializing in blindness and deafness research. He instituted and led a capital campaign that raised $250 million for MEE, and led them to join

Mass General Brigham Mass General Brigham (MGB) (formerly Partners HealthCare) is a not-for-profit, integrated health care system that engages in medical research, teaching, and patient care. It is the largest hospital-based research enterprise in the United States, ...

medical system. 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 game, 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-founde ...

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 L ...

, Freeletics, the PGA Tour, and SeatGeek. Grousbeck has served as Executive Producer on two recent Hollywood productions. He co-created and was an Executive Producer of the 2023

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

sitcom ''Extended Family'', loosely based on Grousbeck, his wife, and her ex-husband (a lifelong Celtics fan). He also appeared in, and was an Executive Producer of, the critically acclaimed HBO Sports documentary on the Celtics, "Celtics City" which aired on Max in 2025.

Personal life

Grousbeck married Emilia Fazzalari in 2017. The couple 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, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...

, Jeanie Buss and Wes Edens to found Cincoro Tequila, which launched in September 2019. In 2022, Princeton University opened a new dormitory, Grousbeck Hall, which was funded through a donation from the Grousbeck family. Wyc and Emilia also created the Fazzalari Sky Bridge serving Boston Children’s Hospital patients, and support the Grousbeck Boys and Girls Club of Charlestown, Mass. Grousbeck is an avid rock and blues drummer and guitarist. He has appeared on stage around Boston and New York City with his band French Lick, the James Montgomery Band, and the Dirty Angels. He has shared bills with such headliners as Billy Idol, Gregg Allman, Lenny Kravitz, the B-52s, Flo Rida, and the J. Geils Band.

References

External links

Celtics.com profile

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