Zhang Lei (born 1972) is an investor and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of Hillhouse Investment, the largest private equity firm operating in Asia as of October 2021.^[1]

Lei received a scholarship to Renmin University of China, where he received a bachelor's degree in economics in 1994.^[2][3]

In 1999, Lei took a class taught by David F. Swensen, who was the chief investment officer of the Yale Endowment.^[2] Swensen became a mentor to Lei, leading to Lei interning at the Yale Endowment, his first position in finance.^[2] During his studies, Lei interned at the Yale University Endowment.^[2][4] Lei translated Swensen's book, Pioneering Portfolio Management, An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment (2000), into Chinese while studying at Yale, which, according to the Financial Times, involved creating new Mandarin words for "endowment" and "fiduciary".^[2] Lei's investing philosophy is largely based on Swensen's teachings.^[2]

In 2002, he received an MBA and MA in international relations from Yale University.^[5] After graduating from Yale, Lei took a role with Virginia equities firm EMM, covering Southeast Asia.^[6][7] He obtained certification as a chartered financial analyst (CFA).^[when?][4]

Lei founded Hillhouse Investment in 2005, with S$20 million of seed capital from Yale University.^[8] Hillhouse invests globally, with a particular focus on Asia, and manages about US $50 billion of assets as of September 2018.^[9] Known investors include Yale, Stanford and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).^[10]

In addition, Hillhouse closed the Real Assets Opportunities Fund (RAOF) with over $2 billion, with support of $300 million from CPPIB.^[11]

Lei is a founding board member of the United World College (UWC) of Southeast Asia Foundation.^[12][13] He is a founding board member of the United World College (UWC) of Southeast Asia Foundation.^[12] Lei is vice chairman and a trustee of the board at Renmin University of China.^[13] He is a trustee of the Yale-NUS College and the chair of the Yale Asia Development Council and a member of the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council.^[13][14] In June 2016, the governing board of Yale University, Yale Corporation, appointed Lei as a successor trustee.^[15] In 2020, he was named to the board of directors of FCLTGlobal and serves on the advisory board for the Bloomberg New Economy Forum.^[16][17]

As of August 2023, his net worth was estimated at US$3.0 billion.^[18]

Lei donated US$8.88 million to the Yale School of Management, the largest alumni donation in the history of the school.^[2] He also established Gaoli Academy^[19] (高礼研究院) by donating money together with support from Renmin University.^[20][12] In 2010, Lei donated $1.4 million to his alma mater, Renmin University of China.^[21] In 2017, he donated another $43 million to an education fund for the school^[21] and gave the commencement speech to the graduating class of 2017.^[22] Lei started Hillhouse Academy in association with Renmin University to prepare students in business for the technological revolution.^[23] He has been involved with the BN Vocational School (BNVS) in China.^[24]

Lei funded a low-budget docudrama called Kang Rinpoche (Paths of the Soul) in 2017.^[25]