Stanford GSB: Stanford Business December 1998: About This Issue

Making the Connection
OUR COVER STORY IS ABOUT NETWORKS, the informal relationships that people build during their time at the Business School and then nurture and grow for the rest of their lives. A few decades ago, networks were looked at with suspicion as cliques designed to keep people out. Today the most successful networks are cooperative, open-ended chains that help connect people to one another.
This issue is full of examples of how these networks function. In the Class Notes there is Jerry Tomanek's wonderful account of the Class of 1973's 25th reunion as well as photos of the reunions of the SEP Class of '92 (in the Netherlands) and the Half-Century Club (you can imagine the network they've built over the years). Paula Reynolds, MBA '83, turned to her network when she learned she had breast cancer and eventually found herself relying on the advice of Dr. Laura Esserman, MBA '93, an alumna she had never before met. Newsmaker Peter Hero, MBA '66, was recruited by former dean Ernest Arbuckle to head what is now the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley. And Bea and George Gibson, both MBA '39, have been networking as husband and wife for more than a half century.
All of this is not to mention the formal networking services provided by the SBSAA that are listed on the site. Says incoming SBSAA president Andy Garman, MBA '87, "We are really blessed."

Cathy Castillo
Editor

Contributors

Swedish-born photographer FREDRIK BRODEN (cover) spends his time between editorial and advertising projects. His distinctive style has led him to assignment locations all over the world. His work has appeared in such publications as Men's Journal and Life. Broden currently resides in Dallas, Texas.

PAULA BELKNAP REYNOLDS, MBA '83, lives in Mill Valley, Calif., with her GSB classmate and spouse, Bob Reynolds, and their three children. She is a passionate advocate for public schools and cofounder of M Squared, Inc., a management talent broker based in San Francisco.

ANNE HAMERSKY is a San Francisco-based photographer who shoots for regional, national, and international magazines. Six years ago Hamersky photographed subject Paula Reynolds for Forbes. "Meeting Paula again, I felt like we were old friends. That made it easy to capture her grace and courage on film," she says.

GORDON STUDER is a freelance illustrator with both corporate and editorial clients. His current projects include Web pages, interactive CDs, and a children's book. Studer has worked out of his Emeryville, Calif., studio for the past nine years.

New York-based PATRICK HARBRON has received numerous awards for his portraits of the famous and notable. His work has appeared in Time, Esquire, and Entertainment Weekly, among other magazines.