Meet Stanford GSB’s MBA Class Of 2022

P&Q: What is one event, course, or activity that Stanford MBA students shouldn’t miss and why is it so important to the GSB experience?

Oyer: “TALK is a hallmark tradition of the Stanford GSB, an experience in which students share their life stories with classmates in a vulnerable, intimate, and supportive setting. TALK exists to support Stanford GSB students in the process of self-reflection and meaning-making of their lives; to encourage an appreciation and empathy for the vast diversity of experiences represented within the Stanford GSB student body; and to strengthen community and facilitate relationship-building within and between the two MBA classes at Stanford GSB.”

P&Q: What have graduates told you are Stanford GSB’s biggest strengths?

Oyer: “When alumni reflect upon their two years at the GSB, the first thing they think about is the community and the relationships they built. Your fellow classmates will become your friends, confidants, and colleagues — who will challenge and support you throughout your time on campus and long after. From TALK, to LOWKeynotes, to View from the Bottom, to POD and Ally series, our students forge deep and lasting relationships that extend beyond the classroom. There is truly no other community like it.

Traditional leadership curriculums often fail to challenge students in a way that compels them to reflect on their own personal leadership capacities, and to improve them. At Stanford GSB, our leadership program is designed to significantly increase the capacity of our MBA students in a different way. Our approach involves rigorous application of personal experiential testing, analysis, and reflection that unfolds in multiple steps, including formal classes, engagement with fellow classmates, and structured, on-going coaching opportunities. Upon graduation, GSB students claim to be more self-aware, better able to relate to others, and strive to become principled and purposeful leaders who will create lasting change in the world.

Because no two students — and no two subjects — are alike, our educational philosophy is uniquely adaptable. By incorporating an expansive range of academic methods, approaches, and experiences, we create a learning environment that leads to success and creates impact. We complement our faculty with an impressive roster of global thought leaders and innovative executives, who participate in speaking events, seminars, and class instruction.”

10 REASONS TO CONSIDER STANFORD GSB

1) Technology and Innovation: “In our lives, there are countless solutions to be discovered, adventures to explore, connections to be made, and ideas to be dreamed up. Innovation is key for us as a society in order to support our compassion with action and to translate our curiosity into progress. Many of our classes and extracurricular opportunities here are designed to empower us by using problem solving as a vehicle for learning. For example, in our “Data and Decisions” class, we not only learned about the potential pitfalls within algorithms where unwanted biases can be easily and unintentionally incorporated, but also were tasked with discovering where these pitfalls originate and designing creative machine learning approaches to better avoid unwanted bias. This gave us real reps in areas, like healthcare and environmental resources, that have a tangible improvement on the quality of life of others. The focus on innovation at the GSB is especially meaningful to me because it reflects an inherent optimism in our future. An optimism I share and feel the momentum of within our community.”
Jacob Blaeser (’22)

2) Versatility: “The biggest myth is that the GSB solely focuses on Technology, Entrepreneurship, and Venture Capital. Yes, that is one of the reasons I chose to come to the GSB, and multiple classes leverage our proximity to Silicon Valley. That said, I have also been exposed to fantastic classes across a variety of professions and disciplines – everywhere from Investments and Corporate Finance to Marketing and Entertainment. I am walking away with a more well-rounded business education than I anticipated.”
Bianca Pinasco (’20)

3) Networking: “The extraordinary access to successful individuals and organizations is something I did not expect. I found that the GSB network can get you to practically anyone, and faculty members will proactively help you to get to the right person to answer your questions or help with your ideas. Professors are super involved and eager to help launch new ventures, making GSB a paradise for potential founders.”
Alon Dror (’22)

“The incredible and expansive network one can access being a student at Stanford. I knew the Stanford network was large, but I was still blown away. This manifests itself in mostly two ways: 1) Stanford attracts amazing speakers and thought leaders to classes, speaker series, and club meetings; and 2) fellow classmates bring in their extended professional network for other students to tap into. At times, it seems like everyone is never too far removed from some of the seemingly impossible contacts.”
Edwin Qian (’22)

4) Leadership Development: “A key element of Stanford GSB’s curriculum is leadership development, including unique classes like Leadership Labs and Touchy Feely. When reviewing business schools, this intersection of professional and personal development was unique to the GSB. I wanted an MBA program that would not only allow me to explore my professional development, but (more importantly) explore what kind of professional I want to be. As someone who cares deeply about not only who we serve as business leaders, but also how and why we serve them, the GSB offered a perfect platform to consider how we can become values-driven leaders. Having an opportunity to question and understand my values as a professional, while learning from my classmates doing the same, was incredibly important. This type of programming will hopefully stand to GSB graduates in the most difficult professional and personal moments of our careers. For that, I am truly grateful.”
Conor O’Meara (’22)

“Stanford GSB’s emphasis on value-based leadership. I’m a firm believer that our digital and physical identities are merging as immersive technology becomes a larger portion of our lives (driven by trends in AR/VR, gaming, social media, computing power, telecom infrastructure, etc.)  I think the leaders and decision-makers in these industries have the huge responsibility to ensure that the technologies they build and people they influence are positively benefiting society. As I aim to develop my own leadership skills, core classes like Ethics in Management and programs like Arbuckle Fellows or Knight-Hennessey Scholars signaled to me that shaping students into thoughtful, compassionate, and ethical leaders was a central focus at Stanford. Beyond resources at the GSB, the proximity to Silicon Valley and access to state-of-the-art courses and research in other Stanford departments was appealing to me.”
Archana Sohmshetty (’22)

5) LOWKeynotes: “A highlight of my time at the GSB was delivering a LOWKeynote address about reskilling the American workforce. Reskilling at scale can help the country attack the profound economic inequalities we face, realize the full potential of emerging industries, and even help us recast the way we think about our own ability to grow and change. Creating and delivering this TED-style talk was a great opportunity to explore an issue I care about and to develop my presentation skills with the help of a dedicated communications coach.”
Miriam Rollock (’22)

6) TALK: “My favorite tradition at Stanford is TALK, where two students per week voluntarily share their life stories. The stories are often very vulnerable in nature, demonstrating how much we trust each other with our deepest and often still-in-process challenges and emotions. TALK is an example of the culture – authentic and supportive –that is characteristic of the GSB.”
Angela Sinisterra (’20)

7) School Mission: “I chose Stanford GSB for business school because the mission of the school (Change lives, change organizations, change the world) resonates deeply with me. I knew that I would be surrounded by people who want to create positive change in the world, and this is a major source of inspiration in my own life.”
Angela Sinisterra (’20)

8) Social Impact: “While I was attracted to Stanford’s entrepreneurship and leadership offerings, the distinguishing factor for me was the emphasis on social impact. The Center for Social Innovation, including the GSB Impact Fund, offers a wide range of opportunities for students interested in social innovation. For example, as part of my MBA, I am able to pursue a special Certificate in Public Management and Social Innovation. These programs assured me that I could complete a well-rounded MBA experience while staying strongly connected to the social impact world, especially in health.”
Austin Ward (’21)

9) Introspection: “I have built up more self-awareness for my own leadership style and identified improvement areas moving forward. While my strengths are “structured and logic thinking”, and “creating affiliation and connection among the group”, previously I was afraid of using power – which I thought would make me look like a bad person. After taking classes such as “Leadership Lab” and “Acting with Power”, I realized power up does not mean acting like a jerk, but is more about the following: 1) Building up prestige and assertiveness from my knowledge and expertise; 2) Standing up in front of a team to navigate complexity when faced with uncertainty; and 3) Gaining influence by sharing different perspectives, which I am willing to practice in future classes…

I think what differentiates Stanford GSB from other MBA programs is that it provides such a “touchy-feely” environment for students to fully explore and understand themselves better as a person, charter their own career, and develop emotional intelligence skills (leadership, communication, interpersonal skills) accordingly to achieve long-term success.”
Nancy Wenjia Yu (’22)

“Beyond academic or professional accomplishments, I feel proud to say that I’ve ventured to go deeper in myself throughout these past months. This is something I hadn’t prioritized during the past 5-8 years. As cliché as it can sound, the GSB pushes us to find ourselves. I’ve been encouraged to reflect deeply on who I am and what I want to pursue in my life, the type of leader I want to be, and most importantly the why behind my aspirations. I’m being more intentional and engaging in more reflection of the decisions I’m making for my future career and while at the GSB.”
Fernanda Sottil De Aguinaga (’22)

10) Transformative Experience: “The GSB has been transformative in many ways — I’ll briefly describe three. Being at the GSB allowed me to change the way I thought about the world. The class is diverse not only geographically, but professionally, and personally. The GSB allowed me to reflect on who I was as an individual, and who I wanted to be in the future. Lastly, the GSB taught me that the journey doesn’t end here — there are many more years to develop our friendships and change lives, change organizations, and change the world.”
Phillipe Diego Rodriguez (’20)

Click on the links below to access in-depth profiles of Stanford GSB students from the Class of 2022. 

MBA Student	Hometown	Undergraduate Alma Mater	Last Employer
Jacob Blaeser	Marietta, GA	Georgia Tech	Ventures ATL
Alon Dror	Jerusalem, Israel	Hebrew University	MAFAT (the Israeli DARPA)
John Foye	Salt Lake City, UT	University of Pennsylvania	Fenix International
Myrel Iturrey	Miami, FL	Dartmouth College	Insight Partners
Michael Oguike	Lagos, Nigeria	University of Port Harcourt	ExxonMobil
Conor O’Meara	Galway, Ireland	Trinity College Dublin	United Nations Trade & Development
Edwin Qian	Shanghai, China	University of Texas at Austin	Deloitte Consulting
Miriam Rollock	West Lafayette, IN	Brown University	America’s Promise Alliance
Archana Sohmshetty	Canton, MI	University of Michigan	Roblox
Fernanda Sottil De Aguinaga	Mexico City, Mexico	ITAM	Uber
Mollie Viater	Indianapolis, IN	Purdue University	Eli Lilly and Company
Nancy Wenjia Yu	Shanghai, China	Tsinghua University	Boston Consulting Group