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Education and Business: A Joint Success Story
Business School alums Jim Shelton, Gloria Lee, and Jennifer Sigler are just some of the graduates of Stanford’s joint Business/Education degree program who are making a difference in school classrooms. Details
Mortgage Innovator
Promising mortgage applications have not traditionally contained a short credit history, lots of past employers, and a reliance on government meal vouchers to make ends meet. But to Leo Simpser, MBA ’01, lending to people who don’t fit into the conventional credit guidelines is “a huge business opportunity,” he told the Los Angeles Times.
Simpser is managing director of the Hispanic National Mortgage Association, a privately held for-profit company whose goal is to increase home ownership among Hispanics and other minority groups in the United States. The company has not only created a culturally sensitive mortgage underwriting system, it has automated it in hopes that financial institutions can efficiently make loans at more affordable prime rates, instead of the so-called sub-prime rates that recently have led to many foreclosures.
It’s too early to tell whether this model will work; the company has been in the market for less than a year. But Simpser, who was born in Mexico, hopes the company will be able to extend homeownership to many borrowers who “fall out of the typical box.”
Before Silicon Infested the Valley
Alan Henricks, MBA ’74, arrived in California in “ancient times,” when today’s Silicon Valley was full of “cherry trees, prune yards, empty lots.” The president and CEO of Cenzic Inc., a software security and risk management company, served as chief financial officer for a number of technical companies but reminisced recently in the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal about his early days as a consultant.
His first client was a company called Intel, whose parking lot he entered from a dirt road. Intel had “this thing called a microprocessor and nobody really knew what to do with it, including Intel,” Henricks said.
Another consulting assignment was to help Atari, the video game maker, determine if it needed its first computer.
Nonprofit Makes IPO Conversion
Financial services firms generally follow the money, targeting the wealthy as the best potential customers. But Compartamos, a Mexican bank, where Fausto Miranda, MBA ’94, was chairman of the board for five years, has found a business opportunity in offering financial services to Mexicans who aren’t well off.
Started as a nongovernmental organization, the bank has increased its client base tenfold since 2001, according to the Financial Times, and is now one of the biggest microfinance institutions in Latin America. Its IPO in April raised $407 million.
Building Better Markets
With a plan conceived at the GSB, alumni bring greater market efficiency to South America through online auctions, says MercadoLibre's CEO Marcos Galperin, MBA '99. Several Argentina-based alumni are on MercadoLibre's team including, Osvaldo Giménez, MBA '98, Hernán Kazah, MBA '99, and Nicolás Szekasy, MBA '91 Details
A Russian Odyssey
Bill Browder, MBA '89, the grandson of a Communist leader, made a fortune as a capitalist in Russia. Now he's locked out. Details
Applying MBA Principles to Development in East Timor
Barry Thomas (MBA '68) decided he could afford to adopt more altruistic goals and work in the nonprofit sector. He began working on conflict resolution in East Timor but increasingly was drawn into business development. Details
The World Looks at Chinese Law
As China sprints toward becoming a word economic power, issues from use of natural resources to copyright law are being debated. Two lawyers, both Stanford alumni with years of experience in China discuss the country's emerging power. Details
The Magic of MicroFinance
Monica Brand (MBA '97) talks about the magic and potential of microfinance. Details 
Video
GSB Alum Bruce McNamer to lead TechnoServe
McNamer (MBA '96) will be CEO of TechnoServe,a 36-year-old non-profit organization focusing on economic development in Africa and Latin America. TechnoServe's mission is to help entrepreneurial men and women in poor rural areas of the developing world build businesses that create income, opportunity and economic growth for their families, communities and countries. MBA students Hannah Brooks, McClure Kelly and Michael Robson worked with TechnoServe during summer 2004 in Kenya, Peru, and Mozambique. Details
Stanford Business School Honors GlaxoSmithKline CEO Jean-Pierre Garnier for Global Business Leadership
Business School Dean Robert L. Joss presented the Global Business Leadership Award to Garnier (MBA '74) during the dinner at the Stanford International Alumni Conference in London. "We are very proud of the achievements of our international alumni who are making a real difference in the world," said Joss. "I am especially pleased to recognize the leadership of Jean-Pierre Garnier. He has shown exceptional ability in guiding his company through significant and lasting changes that will influence the availability of important drugs both in major markets and the developing world." Details
Global Business Ethics
Gregg Marshall
(MBA '94) offers a cautionary tale of corruption and other dangers in today's global business environment. Details
