ACT Awards Celebration

On June 21, 2022, the Stanford Alumni Consulting Team held its annual Volunteer Recognition and Appreciation Event — in-person for the first time since 2019 before the time of COVID.

Kudos From Dean Levin

Jonathan Levin, Dean of the GSB, kicked off the event with welcoming remarks thanking volunteers for their commitment to ACT throughout the pandemic and to the GSB’s action plan for racial equity. Asked by the Dean to complete 50 projects by the end of 2025 for organizations supporting racial equity and inclusion (REI), ACT is ahead of schedule having already completed 26 projects with an REI-focus. Dean Levin noted the frequency with which he receives messages from ACT clients expressing gratitude for the impressive work of their volunteer project teams.

Conversation With Two-Time ACT Client, Our Voice Initiative

Dr. Abby King, our guest speaker and twice ACT client, took to the podium following Dean Levin’s remarks. Dr. King serves as Professor and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs of Epidemiology & Population Health and Professor of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and is founder and Director of the Our Voice Citizen Science Initiative and Global Network. Her research focuses on the development, evaluation, and translation of public health interventions to reduce chronic disease and its key behavioral risk factors.

The Our Voice Initiative activates the power of people as change agents to build healthier and more vibrant communities. The Our Voice Discovery Tool mobile app empowers local “citizen scientists” to document features of their communities that impact their ability to lead healthy lives. They then review their own findings, prioritize areas for change, and mobilize to promote improvements that will support community health.

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Grace Yuan, MBA '03 and Dr. Abby King

Grace Yuan, MBA ’03 and Dr. Abby King

Grace Yuan, project leader for both ACT projects for this client, led a Q&A discussion with Dr. King about the impact that the ACT projects had on Dr. King’s organization. ACT’s first project focused on the pricing structure of Our Voice, segmenting differences between nonprofit and university research customers, and ultimately recommended a freemium pricing model to enable low-cost acquisition appropriate for the small team. ACT’s second project focused on economic modeling, with an additional track around exploring corporate sponsorships as a potential new revenue source.

Volunteer Milestone Awards

Susan Austin, ACT’s staff director, recognized 15 ACT volunteers who have achieved milestones in their work with ACT: Bryan Brown, John Carlson, Jon Castor, Vince Forte, Judi Lum, Karl Matzke, Tony Ramsden, Robin Reynolds, Jon Richards, Jeff Risberg, George Rossmann, Michael Saunders, Tom Scannell, Cheryl Sendaydiego, and Greg Tucker. Way to go, alumni!

Allison Elliott Exceptional Achievement Award

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Kevin Richardson, MBA '97 and Susan Austin

Kevin Richardson, MBA ’97 and Susan Austin

The Alison Elliott Exceptional Achievement Award honors Stanford GSB alumni volunteers who have gone above and beyond the high expectations of the Alumni Consulting Team consultants. Recipients have helped ACT or a community cause move to a new plane of excellence through their dedication, pragmatism, and team leadership. The award is named after Alison Elliott, a volunteer instrumental in the inception of ACT and its first Exceptional Award recipient.

In the past ten years, only three volunteers have received this high award.

This year, ACT honored Kevin Richardson for his vision, leadership, and stewardship of ACT’s racial equity initiative, which has changed the landscape of ACT for the better. Susan Austin, ACT’s staff director, is quoted as saying of Kevin:

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“Kevin is a dream Management Board member: dedicated, conscientious, and willing to go the extra FIVE miles to support a cause that’s both near and dear to his heart and a high priority for ACT.”

Congratulations, Kevin!

ACT’s Management Board as a New ACT Client

Management Board Chair, Steve Astle, closed the program with further details regarding ACT’s planned pause for the fall-winter 2022/23 project round. We are stepping back from conducting projects to address strategic questions about how ACT might sustainably fulfill its mission given the multitude of changes in the world, the nonprofit space, Stanford GSB, and the structure of ACT’s Management Board. We’ll keep our website updated as we have additional information, and look forward to continuing to engage GSB alumni and serve nonprofit clients for many years to come.

Despite 100-degree weather and the loss of power on campus, this year’s annual celebration moved forward in resilient ACT style without a hitch. Many thanks to all who bore the heat to celebrate ACT and its volunteers!