Class of 2026 celebration at graduation
As Jake Chasan, MBA ’26, sat at his graduation lunch in June beside his grandfather, a member of his team called with news. A few more donations had come in at the penultimate hour, and the Stanford MBA Class of 2026 was within reach of 100% participation in its Class Gift. Chasan had led this campaign during his final months at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and this moment carried extra weight for him as his grandfather had defied a terminal prognosis to be there for his graduation.
From left: GSB Dean Sarah A. Soule, Associate Dean Derrick Bolton, MA/MBA ’98, Jake Chasan, MBA ’26, with members of his family
Chasan stepped away from the table at Fleming’s Steakhouse to coordinate the final outreach with the few classmates who had not yet participated. “I know you’re not done,” Chasan remembers his grandfather saying. “You won’t rest until you hit 100%.”
Two decades earlier, his grandfather had taken Chasan to visit Stanford’s campus as a boy. Now, on the day his grandson walked across the graduation stage, he watched Chasan help carry that experience forward for the students who would come next.
The last few confirmations came in one by one, and by the time confetti popped at the graduation ceremony for Stanford GSB’s 100th MBA class, the class had reached its goal.
Chasan as chairman of the Class Gift campaign was overjoyed.
The Stanford GSB Class of 2026 reached 100% participation in its Class Gift before graduation, the highest participation in over 15 years, said Jordan Ketring, associate director of Class Giving at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
A spirit of unity
Bringing every member of a class on board took more than a single campaign push. The student leaders behind the effort say the result reflects a spirit of unity the class cultivated long before those final phone calls on graduation day.
“When you put people together who are like-minded and share the same values and are willing to come together as a group, amazing things can happen,” said Alex LaPolice, associate chair for the MBA ’26 Class Gift campaign.
Fellow classmate Helen Cashman, MBA ’26, said it was great to see her entire class decide to give.
“You can’t have 100% of people participate unless everybody is bought in. Our class really came together as a collective. It was so cool to see,” Cashman said.
For many students, the decision to give came down to gratitude. They pointed to memorable experiences, inspiring faculty, and the lifelong community Stanford GSB helped them cultivate as the reasons they chose to give back.
“At Stanford, you basically spend two years receiving advice, mentorship, networking connections, opportunities to travel, and opportunities to learn from some of the best practitioners and academics,” said Will Conte, associate chair for the MBA ’26 Class Gift campaign. “After two years of receiving, I think I felt like I wanted to start giving back.”
For Associate Chair Abhinav Kejriwal, MBA ’26, the gratitude centered on how GSB changed the way he sees what is possible.
“I have incredible amounts of gratitude to Stanford GSB for three things: giving me the ability to think much bigger than I had previously thought; giving me an incredible community that continues to inspire me every day, and allowing me to dream big with a real chance of hitting those dreams,” Kejriwal said.
A revival of a tradition
The Class of 2026’s milestone also builds on recent history. The Class Gift tradition was discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Tye Gerrard, MBA ’24, helped revive it with his own class. Two years later, the tradition he helped bring back reached every member of the 2026 class.
Gerrard, who is also a member of the Business School Fund Leadership Council, said the GSB set him on the path to where he is today, and the connections he made among the GSB community have only grown since graduation.
“Stanford was such a conduit for me to get to this place where I am now in New York, so I really wanted to find a mechanism to pay it forward to the next generation,” said Gerrard, who is originally from Australia. “I still talk to everyone at the GSB all the time. I invest with them. It touches every single part of my life.”
Chasan sees the gift the same way, as a thank you that belonged to every member of the Class of 2026, the entire GSB, and the broader Stanford community that was meant for the school that brought them together.
“It was a way for us to show our appreciation for the experience, the community, and family that we built with the GSB,” he said.
