Timothy A. “Tim” Steinert ’78, P’21 graduated from Yale with a B.A. in history in 1983 and received a J.D. from Columbia in 1989. Steinert served as secretary general counsel at Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. from 2007 through March 2020. He was also a member of the Alibaba Partnership.
Before joining Alibaba, he was a partner at law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Hong Kong, where he focused on cross-border mergers and acquisitions and IPOs from 1999-2007. Steinert began his career in corporate law as an associate at Coudert Brothers in Beijing and New York from 1989-1994, followed by a similar five-year position in Davis Polk and Wardwell’s New York and Hong Kong offices.
Steinert serves on the board of Princeton in Asia (audit and risk, nominating and governance committees), on the Columbia University World Projects President’s Council and the Yale University Asia Development Council. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Committee of United States – China Relations. He was a form agent from 2001-16, and he joined the SPS Asia Council in 2016. Tim and his wife Lixia Zhang and their two children call Hong Kong their home.