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February 2001, Volume 69, Number 2 |
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February 2001, Volume 69, Number 2 |
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| Spreadsheet
One *Popping Out of the Box *School Adopts a New Grading System *Networks For Entrepreneurs |
Spreadsheet
Two *Stumping
for Stamps *Future Growth a Pretty Sure Bet *Pop Culture Online |
Spreadsheet
Three *Alumni Interview MBA Applicants *Urrutia Heads SBSAA |
| People:
Mike McCaffery, MBA '82 People: Peter Baish, SEP '84 For The Record: MBA Class of 2000 Placement Report |
People:
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In a world where investors judge corporate officers by quarterly results, Mike McCaffery, MBA '82, has accepted a different challenge-working for an employer whose time horizon is ad infinitum.
"It forces you to be much broader in the way you think," says McCaffery, 46, who in September became president and CEO of Stanford Management Company, the entity that manages the University's $7.9 billion endowment and investment real estate.
"The fundamental guiding principle is that you cannot fail to hand to future generations an endowment that has the same purchasing power we have today," says the father of three, who also volunteers time to the Business School and Department of Athletics. "The second operating constraint is that we write the University a check every year."
After 22 years in banking, McCaffery said Stanford offered him the chance to "apply my expertise in a position that was new enough that I could learn and challenge myself." Until December 31, he was chairman of the board of Robertson Stephens, a $1.5 billion revenue investment bank with 1,500 employees. In his new job, he is involved in planning for new faculty and staff housing, a "hybrid" project that taps expertise from the campus and management company. "Though the management company is independent and located on Sand Hill Road, we definitely feel part of the University environment, which I just love," he says. "In both places, you are surrounded by extremely bright people who are committed to the betterment of the University, whatever their function is."
His own functions include growing the size of the check he writes each year to cover University expenses, now roughly 16 percent of the University's budget. While Stanford's endowment size in dollars ranks near the top among universities, it "falls dramatically" when measured on a per-student or per-faculty-member basis, he points out, because of the University's broad mission. "Princeton, where I was an undergraduate, can compete with us in undergraduate education. But our mission is to achieve the highest standard of excellence in educating undergraduates and graduate students, across a broader range of disciplines, which makes Stanford a pretty remarkable place."
—KATHLEEN O'TOOLE
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