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TARP Head Allison Challenges the Banking Industry

Banking industry executives need to look broadly at chanbes to reform the American financial system, says Herbert Allison, MBA '71, the head of the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Networking Is More Than Lots of Names, Says Heidi Roizen

Networking is more than having a hefty collection of business cards and attending A-list parties. Heidi Roizen has been a Silicon Valley CEO, a venture capitalist, and a corporate board member but “the homework never ends,” she told students.

The Failure Mechanics of Dealer Banks

Prof. Darrel Duffie offers lessons from the financial crisis, and how banks that are major dealers in securities and derivatives can quickly unravel as their counterparts and customers rush for the exits.

Don’t Invest in Russia Today, Warns Bill Browder

Hermitage Capital Management went from $25 million to $4 billion by investing in undervalued Russian companies. Today its founder, Bill Browder, MBA '89, says anyone investing in Russia long term "is out of their mind."

Nobel Laureate Sharpe: There Are No Shortcuts in Investing

Although Nobel Laureate William F. Sharpe didn't give listeners any new advice about how to weather the current financial crisis and fill the holes in their portfolios, he did explain during a speech on the Stanford University campus how futile it is to read sure-thing investing books or watch the latest financial guru to find easy answers.

Chair Established to Honor Professor Van Horne

Alumni and friends of Professor James C. Van Horne have established an endowed chair in his honor.

September 11 Attacks Changed FBI Focus

Today the Federal Bureau of Investigation is more focused on counterterrorism around the world than on racking up big numbers of arrests FBI Director Robert Mueller told a Stanford Graduate School of Business audience.

Don't Waste Volunteers' Time

Many nonprofits fail to use their volunteers effectively, asking them to stuff envelopes when they could be doing more skilled and mission-critical work, speakers told a Stanford conference. While financial donations dropped in 2008, volunteering rose to more than 8 billion hours of service, worth an estimated $162 billion.

Oliver Williamson, MBA '60, Shares Nobel Economics Prize

UC Berkeley Professor Oliver Williamson, a 1960 MBA alumnus of the Stanford GSB, shares the 2009 Nobel Prize in economics with Elinor Ostrom of Indiana University.

Montgomery Named INFORMS Fellow

David B. Montgomery has been named a fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). The Kresge Professor of Marketing Emeritus, Montgomery was cited for "research contributions to marketing science, marketing strategy, and global marketing and management."

Economics Prize for John Van Reenen

John Van Reenen, director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics and a visiting professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, is the 2009 recipient of the Yrjö Jahnsson Award in Economics.

Microlending Gives Dignity to People with Leprosy

In India, microlending has been a powerful tool in helping individuals with leprosy move from a life of begging to economic self-sufficiency, leaders of the group Rising Star Outreach told a student audience at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Five Stanford MBA Students Honored as 2009 Siebel Scholars
Five accomplished second-year MBA students have been named 2009 Siebel Scholars based on their academic achievement, leadership, and citizenship within the Stanford Graduate School of Business community during their first year. The honor includes a tuition grant of $35,000 from the program, established by the Siebel Scholars Foundation to recognize the most talented students at the world’s leading graduate schools of business and computer science.

Business School Taps Tesla Motors for Global Executive Program

Tesla Motors will be featured as a weeklong class project for global executives   studying customers’  car-buying experience as part of the Customer-Focused Innovation executive education program offered this fall at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Students Tackle Electric Car Retrofit

Faculty-student research on how to get electric cars rolling.

A Professor’s Lasting Influence

Jacqueline Novogratz, MBA '91, recounts what she learned from Common Cause founder John Gardner, with excerpts from her 2009 autobiography, The Blue Sweater.

Tanks That Shaped History Offer Lessons for Soldiers and Scholars

The late Jacques Littlefield, MBA ’73, loved tanks and the engineering that went into them. Today part of his legacy is the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation, a collection of nearly 50 tanks from all over the world, located on Littlefield's estate in Portola Valley and managed by Foundation President Bill Boller, MBA ’71.

Stanford Business School Scholars Honored with Top Marketing Awards
Marketing Professors V. “Seenu” Srinivasan and James Lattin, and their former doctoral student, Oded Netzer, were honored by the INFORMS Society for Marketing Science at its recent Marketing Science conference.

Yes I (Gulp) Can: Peter Henry’s Obama Adventure
Economist Peter Henry spent 10 intense months in the maelstrom of national politics, leading then candidate Barack 0bama’s group on Economics, Globalization and Trade Policy during the 2008 campaign.  He collected position papers and tracked down surrogates who could knowledgeably speak for the Obama Campaign on economic issues. He even found himself in front of the microphones.

Stanford Hosts Silicon Valley Roundtable for White House Office of Social Innovation
White House Office of Social Innovation officials gathered with Silicon Valley philanthropy, business, and nonprofit leaders in a roundtable convened by the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Stanford MBA Class First to Graduate Under New Curriculum
The 2009 commencement ceremonies at the Graduate School of Business marked several firsts and lasts. The MBA class was the first to complete the newly redesigned curriculum and it also was the first class that had 100 percent participation toward a cash gift of $1.1 million in pledges and matching funds. The ceremony was also the last for Robert L. Joss, who retires as Dean after 10 years of service.

Stanford Social Innovation Fellowships Awarded to Two MBA Students’ Ventures
The School’s Center for Social Innovation has awarded its first Social Innovation Fellowships to graduating MBA students Federico Lozano Fernandez and Jayampathy “Chari” Ratwatte Jr. for their nonprofit ventures to serve disadvantaged populations in Mexico and Sri Lanka, respectively.

Biodesign: Curing With Innovation

The objective of Stanford’s Biodesign program is to teach medical-technical innovation by giving graduate students and fellows the opportunity to develop medical products and bring their innovations to market. The course draws graduate students from business, engineering, and other disciplines.

What's It Like to be the Boss of the "Most Interesting Man in the World?"

He’s suave, he’s wise, and his advice is always: “Stay thirsty, my friends.” Jose Antonio Fernandez, chairman and CEO of FEMSA, the largest bottler in Latin America, is the man behind the ad campaign featuring The Most Interesting Man in the World.

In Africa and at Home, Supply Chains Are Getting Kinder and Greener
Solutions to supply chain problems from motorcycle parts in Africa to grocery delivery and solar power in the US were shared at the Advancing Socially and Environmentally Responsible Supply Chains Conference presented by the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum and the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

New Source of Loans for GSB’s International Graduate Students
Stanford Graduate School of Business announced the launch of a new private loan program through Star One Credit Union to provide financial assistance to students admitted to the School’s MBA, PhD, and Sloan Master’s programs. An especially welcome relief to international students, the custom loans, which cover tuition and living expenses, will be available to those without a U.S. co-signer.

Stanford Social Innovation Review Article Offers Ways to Promote Ethical Conduct

In the summer 2009 issue, two Stanford Law School scholars examine the ethical issues that arise specifically in the nonprofit sector. Also in this issue, GSB coauthors Bethany Coates and Garth Saloner spotlight Kiva's path to becoming a nonprofit, and advantages as well as the costs of being 501(c)(3).

Video Oracle CFO's Career Didn't Follow Straight Path

When Jeff Epstein earned his Stanford MBA in 1979 and went to work for Boston Consulting Group on Sand Hill Road, he didn’t know about a young company a mile away—a company that would later become Oracle. Three decades later, Epstein is Oracle’s chief financial officer, but his path was no simple one-mile drive. 

Video Leadership Means Responsibility

In his View from the Top speech, Dean Robert Joss defines what it means to be "at the top": "It's any position where you take responsibility for a group with a mission to fulfill."

Video Three Honored as Distinguished Teachers

Faculty members Ilya Strebulaev, Baba Shiv, and Alan Jagolinzer were honored with 2009 Distinguished Teaching Awards by students in the School’s MBA, PhD, and Sloan Master’s Program, respectively.

Garth Saloner Named Ninth Dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business

Economist Garth Saloner, a scholar of entrepreneurship and business strategy, will be the next dean of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, President John Hennessy and Provost John Etchemendy announced May 26.

Former Foes Unite to Bridge the K-12 Achievement Gap
Liberal and conservative groups are forming unprecedented alliances to improve K-12 education in the United States, sparked by a study from McKinsey & Co. that put a $700 billion price tag on the education achievement gap, Jonathan Schorr told the 2009 Stanford Business of Education Symposium.

Banker David Morgan Takes a Positive Look at Failure
Before he costarred with Olivia Newton-John and long before he ran the biggest bank in Australia, David Morgan got a life lesson that was every bit as valuable as it was brutal.

Stanford Social Innovation Review Wins 2009 Maggie Award

Stanford Social Innovation Review is a 2009 Maggie Award recipient for its successful redesign. The journal is published by the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Diagnostic Test Technology Will Change Medical Treatment

Of the $2.2 trillion spent on U.S. health care in 2008, diagnostic tests accounted for just 2 percent of total dollars spent. Yet the results of such tests drive 70 percent of treatment decisions, speakers told the Health Care Summit at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Six Faculty Named to Endowed Chairs

Six Business School professors have been honored with new endowed chair titles. Honored with new academic titles are Professors Anat Admati, Jonathan Berk, Charles Jones, Dale Miller, Jesper Sørensen, and Sarah Soule.

SEIU Head Urges Unions: Join Today’s Economic Revolution

"No single generation has ever witnessed so much change in a lifetime," SEIU President Andy Stern told a Business School audience, and unions must be part of that change.

Michael Harrison Named 2009 Davis Award Recipient

J. Michael Harrison, an operations researcher who admits “I live in a pretty abstract world,” is the 2009 recipient of the Robert T. Davis Award, presented by the Stanford Business School deans to recognize a colleague for a lifetime of service and achievement.

First Reliance Dhirubhai Fellows
Named for Stanford MBA Program

Five individuals from diverse regions of India have been selected as the first-ever class of Reliance Dhirubhai Fellows. They will receive full financial support during their two-year MBA studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, starting in September 2009.

Time Warner CEO Honored with Excellence in Leadership Award

The Stanford Graduate School of Business honored Time Warner Chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes, who has played a pivotal role in reshaping the entertainment industry, with the School’s 2009 Excellence in Leadership Award.

Conference Aims to Advance Socially and Environmentally Responsible Supply Chains

More than 150 supply chain management experts, practitioners, and policy makers are expected to gather at a conference May 21 at the Stanford Graduate School of Business to exchange best practices for sustainable supply chains. Registration is now open for executives, nonprofit leaders, policy makers, and academics.

Google Goes to Carnegie Hall

MBA student Tim Lee is the innovator behind the April Carnegie Hall premier of an orchestra selected via international internet auditions.

Turning on The Light For Customers on Tiny Incomes

Sam Goldman, MBA '07, CEO of D.light Design, finds himself running an international company whose customers are some of the poorest people in China, India, or Tanzania. The firm grew out of the Business School course Design for Extreme Affordability. Goldman talked to the Stanford Reporter.

Google’s Schmidt: 2009 is a Good Year
to Be a New Graduate

Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt told a Business School audience 2009 is a good time to be graduating. "Assets are cheap and expectations are set realistically. . . .Change happens when things are hard."

Michael Shanahan Honored with 2009 Arbuckle Award

Capital Research and Management Co. Chairman Emeritus R. Michael Shanahan, who helped his firm blossom into one of the three largest U.S. mutual fund companies, has received the 2009 Arbuckle Award recognizing leadership.