Stanford GSB: Stanford Business November 2000

Known as the Technology Opportunity Project (TOP), the year-long effort plans to mobilize global business, government, nonprofits, and Business School alumni/ae, students, and faculty to create universal technology access, education, and economic opportunity.

"We think we can contribute to the public debate on how technology can create economic opportunity," said Jamie Daves, one of the PMI student coordinators. "A main goal is to touch everyone in the Stanford community."

TOP has high-level buy-in. William E. Kennard, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has agreed to chair the education project. Daves said he also expects technology firm 3Com to play a major role in a year-long project to strategize how low-cost hand-held wireless access devices can be developed for use throughout the world.

Other project ideas include an effort to revise H-1B visa rules to make it easier for people with technical skills to immigrate to the United States and partnering with members of the Congressional Black and Hispanic caucuses and the New Democrat Coalition to help fund nonprofits to provide technology training to nontraditional American labor pools.

"We'll work on specific projects that are real problems we need to solve for people close to the ground on these issues," said Kausik Rajgopal, a second-year classmate of Daves' and the second PMI coordinator. Organizers also plan to partner with Redwood City-based New Schools Venture Fund, a tech-backed venture philanthropy fund cofounded by John Doerr, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The group seeks to reform public K-12 education by developing a nationwide network of entrepreneurs and educators.

Daniel N. Rudolph, a former software executive, became senior associate dean of the Business School and its first chief operating officer Sept. 1.

Rudolph oversees most of the nonacademic operations at the School, including information resources, executive education, external relations, and the operation of the School's research centers.

A 1981 graduate of the MBA Program, Rudolph was recognized as an Arjay Miller Scholar, one of the top 10 percent of his class in academic standing.

"This was an opportunity to work with a great institution where I could add value," said Rudolph. "The Business School already has an outstanding array of executive education programs. We're in an era of growing demand for these types of programs and for new ways of delivering them to new audiences. It's an area I'm very interested in."

Rudolph said he is also interested in the strategic use of technology. "One very exciting way to use technology will be to reach out to external audiences. I'm particularly interested in creating more and better opportunities for alumni to be better informed and more involved on an on-going basis."

Most recently Rudolph served as president and chief executive officer of Imparto Software Corp. of Palo Alto, a venture-backed start-up firm that provides tools for managing Web content and Web-based marketing campaigns.

Tina Shah and Michael Duran, both MBA '98, have taken on the "last-mile" problem of e-commerce. Shah is CEO and Duran is president of zBox Co., which is marketing a secure home delivery box that allows consumers to receive and return packages without being present. The San Francisco-based company is also working to partner with major shippers and e-tailers to offer start-to-finish services for online shoppers. See www.zbox.com.

Among those trying to harness Internet power for far-flung working groups is Tom Witkin, MBA '79, president and founder of SpeedWork Co., based in Sudbury, Mass., with workers scattered throughout the Northeast and Canada. Its primary product is SpeedWork 2.5, an application that aims to combine the best of traditional project management software and virtual Web office environments to reduce the hassle of the former and the disorganization of the latter. Download a trial version of SpeedWork 2.5 at www.speedwork.com.

Now, Midwesterners can eat on the run and still get their daily supply of fresh fruits and vegetables, thanks to J. Bradley Barnhorn, MBA '95, cofounder and CEO of Fantasia Fresh Juice Co. (http://fantasiafresh. com), based in Rosemont, Illinois. Barnhorn's first fruit juices and smoothies were delivered to stores in a Chicago blizzard, which hints at the logistical problems involved in supplying the Midwest with fresh-daily, no-preservatives-added drinks. Fantasia's line of 21 juice, smoothie, and nutritional drinks is available in 11 Midwestern metropolitan markets.

Spreadsheet One