Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley is among the many highly influential execs with a Harvard MBA
The Most Successful Harvard B-School Graduates
“I’d rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the Manhattan phone book than the entire faculty of Harvard.”
Remember that gem from William F. Buckley Jr.? Mind you, a handful of Harvard faculty members have made the transition to elected government (witness Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Elizabeth Warren). For the most part, Harvard’s biggest leadership contributions have come from business school students. And it’s quite an enviable list.
Sure, The usual power players populate the founder and CEO ranks. But you’ll also find a former American president and governor (along with a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff). And did I mention a few convicted felons too?
This week, Business Insider compiled a list, featuring alumni from the MBA program. And it’s not just bluebloods and billionaires. Check out this list of the big names who’ve passed through HBS on their way to wealth, power, and (occasionally) infamy.
Walter Haas (’39): Former CEO of Levi Strauss & Co.
Robert S. McNamara (’39): Former Secretary of Defense
Philip Caldwell (’42): Former CEO of Ford Motor Company
Stephen Covey (’57): Author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Robert Kraft (’65): Chairman of the Kraft Group (and owner of the New England Patriots)
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg (’66): Founder of Bloomberg and former mayor of New York City
George Kaiser (’66): Founder of BOK Financial
Henry Paulson (’70): Former Goldman Sachs CEO and U.S. Treasury Secretary
Stephen Schwarzman (’72): Chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Group
Ray Dalio (’73): Found of Bridgewater Associates
Mitt Romney (’74): Former Massachusetts Governor and Presidential Candidate
George W. Bush (’75): Former President of the United States
Jim Koch (’78): Founder of Samuel Adams Beer
Jamie Dimon
Anne Moore (’78): Former CEO of Time, Inc.
Meg Whitman (’79): Chairman and CEO of Hewlett Packard
Dan Bricklin (’79): Inventor of Spreadsheets
John Paulson (’80): Founder of Paulson & Company
Chase Carey (’81): President of News Corp
Jamie Dimon (’82): Chairman of JPMorgan Chase
Jeffrey Immelt (’82): Chairman and CEO of General Electric
Michael Lynton (’87): CEO of Sony Entertainment and Sony Pictures
Abigail Johnson (’88): Chair of Fidelity Worldwide Investment
Bill Ackman (’92): Founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital
Mark Pincus (’93): Co-Founder of Zynga
Sheryl Sandberg
Sheryl Sandberg (’95): COO of Facebook and author of Lean In
Sal Khan (’03): Founder of Khan Academy
Wow! Dimon and Immelt were classmates! So were GM’s Rick Wagoner and P&G’s A.G. Lafley. And Bush and Romney were only a class apart? Actually, there were plenty of distinguished graduates that Business Insider couldn’t fit into their list. Want to see some other surprises? Check out Poets&Quants’ expanded list of distinguished HBS alumni:
Donald Carty (’71): Former Chairman and CEO of American Airlines
Rajat Gupta (’73): Former Managing Director of McKinsey & Co. Currently serving time at Devens Federal Medical Center in Ayer, MA.
Daniel D’Aniello (’74): Co-Founder of the Carlyle Group
Robert Nardelli (’75): Former CEO of Home Depot
Elaine Chao
John Hess (’77): CEO of Hess Corporation
A.G. Lafley (’77): Chairman of Procter & Gamble
Rick Wagoner (’77): Former Chairman & CEO of General Motors
Jeffrey Skilling (’79): Former CEO Of Enron. He goes by the name of 29296-179 in Littleton, Colorado.
John Thain (’79): Former CEO of Merrill Lynch and Chairman of the CIT Group
Elaine Chao (’79): Former U.S. Secretary of Labor
Grover Norquist (’81): President of Americans for Tax Reform
Zoe Cruz (’82): Former Co-President of Morgan Stanley
Gerald Storch (’82): Chairman and CEO of Toys “R” Us
Ron Johnson (’84): Former President of J.C. Penney
Fritz Henderson (’89): Former President of General Motors
Angela Hicks Bowman
Cynthia Carroll (’89): CEO of Anglo American
Gideon Yu (’99): Co-Owner of the San Francisco 49ers (and former CFO of YouTube and Facebook)
Liam Byrne (‘00): Education Minister in the United Kingdom
Angela Hicks Bowman (’00): Co-Founder of Angie’s List
DON’T MISS: THE MOST SUCCESSFUL STANFORD SCHOOL OF BUSINESS GRADUATES OF ALL TIME
Source: Business Insider
