Investor Summit Launches New Era for Investing at Stanford GSB

On January 24, nearly 700 alumni investment professionals, faculty, and students gathered at Stanford Graduate School of Business for the inaugural Stanford GSB Investor Summit. The invitation-only event convened investors from the Stanford ecosystem around the world, bringing together senior leaders, emerging managers, and rising professionals with Stanford GSB faculty and students to foster connection and shared learning. The summit also marked the first major event hosted by the business school’s newly created Initiative for Investing.

The Knight Management Center buzzed all day with conversation as alumni practitioners, students, and faculty assembled for fireside chats, expert forums, and experiential workshops. Alumni from across the industry engaged in peer-level dialogue and candid discussion, gaining insight and perspective.

In the mainstage fireside chats, industry leaders, Stanford GSB faculty, and alumni practitioners reflected on market dynamics, long-term value creation, and the evolving role of investors amid technological change, shifting regulation, and global uncertainty. Others underscored the enduring value of public markets, which serve a crucial purpose by allowing price discovery, encouraging strong governance, and offering liquidity and transparency. Discussions spanned opportunities and potential in private equity, venture capital, public equities, credit markets, real assets, and alternative investment strategies.

Fireside chat speakers included:

• Pete Briger, executive chairman, Fortress Investment Group, with Jonathan B. Berk, the A.P. Giannini Professor of Finance
• Jim Coulter, MBA ’86, founder and executive chair, TPG, with Amit Seru, the Steven and Roberta Denning Professor of Finance and senior associate dean for academic affairs
• Jody Jonsson, MBA ’90, vice chair, Capital Group, with Hanno Lustig, the Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance
• Ravi Mhatre, MBA ’93, partner and co-founder, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Peter Chung, MBA ’94, CEO, Summit Partners, with Ilya A. Strebulaev, the David S. Lobel Professor of Private Equity
• Hamid Moghadam, MBA ’80, co-founder and executive chairman, Prologis, with Raj Agrawal, ’95 MBA ’00, global head of real assets, KKR
• Marc Stad, MBA ’08, founder and managing partner, Dragoneer Investment Group, with Tim Bliss, MBA ’78, partner, Partners Fund Capital
• Denise Strack, MBA ’98, chief investment officer, Moore Foundation, and Rob Wallace, CEO, Stanford Management Company, with Joshua D. Rauh, the Ormond Family Professor of Finance

Noting that markets are growing only more complex and that technology is increasingly influencing investment decisions, Stanford GSB leaders emphasized the rising importance of the school as a convening platform — anchored in foundational research — for lifelong learning, judgment, and peer interaction.

Sarah A. Soule, the Philip H. Knight Professor and Dean and Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior, highlighted these changes and the strategic importance of the field of investing to the school. “The investing landscape has evolved dramatically,” she told the audience. “Financial rigor remains essential, but it is no longer sufficient on its own. Today’s investors must also understand technology, data, organizational dynamics, and, increasingly, artificial intelligence as a force reshaping how value is identified, created, and sustained.”

The Initiative for Investing, launched in early 2025, serves as a hub for investing-related education, research, and community at Stanford GSB and is a top priority for Dean Soule and a central pillar of the school’s long-term vision. The summit was part of the initiative’s effort to deepen Stanford’s relationship with alumni investors, who are partners in advancing innovation, supporting the next generation of leaders, and stewarding capital responsibly.

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Stanford President Jonathan Levin shared that alumni-founded and -funded companies comprise about 10% of global public market capitalization. “The Initiative for Investing and this summit are about harnessing that power to strengthen the connections between research, education, and practice,” he said, shown here with Stanford GSB Dean Sarah A. Soule. | SF Photo

“This summit reflects our commitment to building a lasting platform for connection, learning, and community around investing,” said Peter M. DeMarzo, the John G. McDonald Professor of Finance and faculty director of the initiative. “Our goal is to do for investing what the GSB has done for entrepreneurship: to create a community that people return to year after year, grounded in rigorous thinking and real-world practice.”

Jonathan Levin, Stanford President and Bing Presidential Professor, underscored the influence of Stanford GSB’s investing ecosystem, noting that alumni-founded and -funded companies account for an estimated 10% of global public market capitalization, and that Stanford-affiliated investors collectively allocate trillions of dollars across public and private markets. “That gives you a sense of the collective power of the GSB alumni community when it comes to investing and capital markets,” Levin said. “The Initiative for Investing and this summit are about harnessing that power to strengthen the connections between research, education, and practice.”

While Stanford’s alumni investors have long engaged with Stanford GSB, their involvement has typically occurred in fragmented ways, by asset class or geography, or through separate networks. The summit represents a concerted effort to assemble that community across disciplines and perspectives on campus around a shared purpose and long-term commitment to engagement with Stanford.

“This is not just a one-day event,” Gina Jorasch, MBA ’89, director of the initiative, said to the audience at the summit. “It’s the launch of an ongoing community where alumni, students, and faculty can engage around the real questions facing investors today and in the years ahead.” Attendees heard from influential leaders across the industry and had face-to-face time during afternoon expert forums. These forums fostered open exchange to allow practical learning and connection, letting participants speak directly to panels of experts and one another on topics including powering the digital economy, portfolio value creation, the future of public and private markets, and building investment firms. They left the event with new insights, stronger connections, and a renewed sense of belonging to Stanford GSB’s investing community.

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The 10 afternoon forums were interactive events and included “The Next Era of Private Markets” panel in which the experts, shown left to right, were Bill Barnum, general partner, Brentwood Associates; Hadley Mullin, senior managing director, TSG Consumer; Brian Rose, deputy head of private equity, Viking Global Investors; and Scott Crabill, managing partner, Thoma Bravo. | SF Photo

Artificial intelligence emerged as a recurring theme throughout the day, both as an area of investment opportunity and as a tool reshaping how firms source deals, conduct diligence, and manage portfolios. Several sessions explored AI’s impact on the investment process and the implications for the workforce and operational efficiency, given its ability to perform large amounts of repetitive or analytical work far faster than a human.

Student-organized activities also drew strong participation and contributed to the sense of community. An enthusiastic crowd attended a networking dinner in Menlo Park at the start of the weekend. After Saturday’s all-day event, many alumni, faculty, and students gathered for small dinners to foster candid discussion, peer exchange, and relationship-building. Participants enjoyed other recreational activities, including a tennis clinic led by Stanford men’s tennis coaches, a golf outing, and a group run, further encouraging informal connection and community-building.

“One of the most valuable aspects of the summit was the opportunity for candid, off-the-record dialogue,” said one alumnus who attended. “It felt less like a conference and more like a peer conversation among people who are actively making decisions in the market.”

The initiative is already expanding opportunities for students through a finance bootcamp for incoming MBA admits, a growing portfolio of more than 40 investing-related courses, and the Investing Summer Internship Program, which provides stipends for students pursuing roles at emerging funds led by Stanford alumni.

A core objective of the initiative, DeMarzo said, is to create a virtuous cycle between alumni and students: “Send your best and brightest to Stanford, and we’ll send them back better, broader, and ready to lead.”

Faculty are another key part of that community connection. “Our hope is to build a flywheel,” said Seru, the Steven and Roberta Denning Professor of Finance and senior associate dean for academic affairs, who moderated a fireside chat at the summit with Jim Coulter, founding partner, executive chair, and director, TPG. “One that sparks sustained collaboration between faculty and alumni, generates new research, informs and enriches our curriculum, and creates meaningful exchange across generations and asset classes. With the depth of Stanford GSB’s faculty and the reach of its alumni network, few communities are as uniquely positioned to create that kind of enduring momentum.”

Looking ahead, organizers emphasized that the summit is intended to be the foundation of long-term alumni engagement that includes future campus events, regional gatherings, experiential learning occasions, and mentorship connections. Alumni in investing, from all asset classes, are invited to engage with the initiative to indicate interest in speaking at events, hosting an alumni or student gathering, hiring a Stanford student, or other activity.

“Our ambition is to build a platform that strengthens the entire investing community connected to Stanford,” Jorasch said. “This summit is the beginning of that story.”