Stanford GSB Announces Inaugural Recipients of Its Stanford USA MBA Fellowship

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Stanford GSB Town Square | Elena Zhukova

Stanford Graduate School of Business today named Adam Verhasselt, Amanda Donohue-Hansen, and Taylor Seabaugh the inaugural recipients of its Stanford USA MBA Fellowship.

As part of its mission to educate business leaders to solve society’s most pressing problems, Stanford’s USA MBA Fellowship will provide up to $160,000 in tuition and fees to each recipient over two years. Within two years of graduation from the Stanford GSB, fellows must begin working in the Midwest region in a professional role that contributes to the region’s economic development.

Adam Verhasselt

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Adam Verhasselt

Adam was raised on his family’s dairy farm outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin. He is a first-generation college graduate who earned his bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Subsequently, he started a career in middle market banking at Wells Fargo in Green Bay, where his promotion to relationship manager was the fastest ever in the regional history of the firm. He aspires to have fun each day working alongside smart, honest people in the Midwest upon graduation.

Amanda Donohue-Hansen

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Amanda Donohue-Hansen

Amanda is also a first-generation college graduate. Although originally from California, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, where she was awarded the business school’s oldest and most prestigious award for undergraduate students, The Tomato Can Loving Cup. She continued to work in the region after graduating and now, after living there for 10 years, calls Minnesota her home. Donohue-Hansen is a business development manager at Cargill, Inc. in Wayzata, Minnesota, leading many of Cargill’s ventures in the alternative plant protein market. She plans to improve local communities in the Midwest through innovation in the food and agriculture sector.

Taylor Seabaugh

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Taylor Seabaugh

Taylor was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and although he left the region to attend Cornell University, he returned to the Midwest after graduating magna cum laude with a degree in chemical engineering. As a product development engineer at 3M Company in St. Paul, Minnesota, Seabaugh has filed eight patents, and previously interned at Monsanto in St. Louis. At 3M, he discovered three new product opportunities and convinced senior leadership to commercialize them. He’s also a longtime volunteer at St. Paul public schools. He aspires to build a materials-based company to disrupt mature markets and address critical issues such as climate change.

Stanford GSB established the Stanford USA MBA Fellowship in September 2016 to provide financial support for students with a passion for generating economic development in regions of the United States underrepresented in its MBA program, focusing first on the Midwest.

“The Midwest is strategically important to the United States and global economy, and Stanford wants to contribute to its strength by encouraging students and alumni to foster economic development and pursue careers in the region,” said Jonathan Levin, Dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business and Philip H. Knight Professor of Economics. “Adam, Amanda, and Taylor have each demonstrated tremendous passion and commitment to the Midwest, and we look forward to seeing both their long-term impact, as well as the unique perspective they will bring to our student body.”