"Kenneth" Huang Jianhua (Chinese: 黄健华; pinyin: Huáng Jiànhuá; born 1964)[1] is a Chinese businessman, Chairman of Hong Kong-based QSL Sports Ltd,and co-chair of both the National Basketball League of China and Chinese Baseball League.[2]
Born in Guangzhou, China into a family with close business and government ties, he graduated in 1984 from Zhongshan University. Huang then pursued under graduate studies at Columbia University, and then obtained his Masters from St. John's University, before undertaking his MBA in financial management at New York University.[3] However, some of these universities say he did not attend at all and there are considerable doubts about numerous claims made by Huang about his background.[4]
Huang and Chicago-based sports consultant Marc Ganis, founded Sportscorp China in 2002, a company that helps bridge sports and sponsorship deals between the United States and China. This enabled Chinese sponsorship and rights distribution deals with both the Houston Rockets and the New York Yankees.[2]
QSL was formed on the back of the success of the 2008 Summer Olympics, to invest in the growing interest in sports in China. Huang introduced the Cleveland Cavaliers to Tsingtao Brewery, which resulted in an historic agreement between the two.[5] In 2009, Huang and partner Adrian Cheng, who family controls the Hong Kong conglomerate New World Development, Huang was alleged of to invested in a 15% stake in the Cleveland Cavaliers but the bid was rejected.[6][7] After buying into and hence becoming co-chair of both the National Basketball League of China and the Chinese Baseball League,[2] Huang bought the Jilin Northeast Tigers.
Huang is also a partner at Aspen Infrastructure Investment Corporation, a New York-based company that invests in Chinese infrastructure projects.[6]