Meet The Stanford GSB MBA Class Of 2027

P&Q: What do you see as the main differentiator that distinguishes your MBA program from other schools? How does it enhance the student experience and make them more attractive to employers?

Beyer: “The GSB experience is, above all, a transformation: in how you think, in how you lead, and in what you believe you are capable of.

Dean Soule has said that the personal leadership skills we teach are part of our secret sauce, and GSBers are known for their interpersonal dexterity for good reason. As soon as they arrive on campus, students begin building leadership skills — before deepening them in courses like Interpersonal Dynamics. They learn to give and receive feedback and gain self-awareness about how they communicate and how they are perceived by others. In a class of roughly 430, students build relationships that create the trust on which this learning experience depends. The result: thoughtful leaders who are empathetic and effective.

In our classrooms, students benefit from a rare combination of expertise: The people creating knowledge and the people applying it are often both in the room, not as guests but as co-instructors. World-class research faculty whose work is changing how we understand markets, organizations, and leadership teach alongside practitioners — founders, PE and VC partners, and successful CEOs — whose leadership has changed the world. GSBers — like DoorDash’s Tony Xu — regularly return to engage directly with our students. And being in Silicon Valley means our students are surrounded by those who are building the future. It’s an incredible benefit that unlocks opportunities and expands what they believe is possible.

Inside and outside of the classroom, students become part of a community that is legendary in its own right, one that combines extraordinary ambition with genuine generosity in a class small enough that meaningful relationships form across it. From the students who share their life stories with each other in a tradition called TALK to the alumni who return to campus year after year to give feedback to first-year students they’ve never met, this is a community that invests in each other’s growth, not just their own success.

Our graduates join a group whose impact is outsized — people who build iconic companies, back transformative founders, and influence entire industries. Stanford GSB has always stood for a combination of excellence in ideas and in practice, explored within a community that challenges and supports one another. As a result, truly remarkable things happen here. When we say, “change lives, change organizations, change the world,” we mean it.”

P&Q: What types of services do you provide to first-year MBAs to ease their transition into business school?

Beyer: “As soon as students arrive on campus, an extensive, 11-day pre-term program begins. The centerpiece of this “Week Zero” is Managing Groups and Teams. Using dynamic activities and simulations, the course opens up a journey of learning to help students understand how they show up on teams and the challenges they’re likely to face as leaders. It sets the tone for the learning experiences to follow and serves as an icebreaker for our new arrivals. Anchored within a section — a community of 72 that becomes students’ first home at the GSB — Managing Groups and Teams reflects an important aspect of our MBA experience: Business school typically starts with business; here, we start with people.

For almost all first-year students, the GSB is also home in a literal sense — they live together on campus, right across the street from their classrooms. Living together creates community in ways few other things could, and from residence events and spontaneous gatherings to the conversations that happen when you run into classmates at breakfast or late at night in the common areas, students often tell us how central living in the residences is to their experience.

Of course, our goal is to support first-year MBAs well before they arrive at the GSB. Students work with a team of academic advisors to place into one of three levels — base, accelerated, and advanced — of core analytic courses like Finance. We strive to ensure that all our students are challenged — and supported — and peer mentors and our student support team are readily available. Whether they need help with coursework, adjusting to the pace of the program, or simply a person to talk with, students always have someone to turn to.”

P&Q: What types of support do you provide to international students before and during business school to enable them to better acclimate to your country?

Beyer: “The GSB is a global community. Our most recent class of 430 students represents more than 60 countries, and this is an important part of who we are. International students bring perspectives and experiences that enrich classroom discussions and our community.

I came to the United States as an international student myself, so I know this transition can touch many parts of life — academic, professional, and practical. For some of our students, it may be their first time living in the United States; others have been here for years. We work to make sure all of them feel supported from the moment they arrive on campus.

We offer dedicated sessions to help students find their footing in the highly interactive GSB classroom. We also host panels led by second-year international students who share their own experiences and advice. That’s especially valuable because first-year students are hearing directly from those who only a year ago sat in their seats.

Building a career as an international student comes with its own challenges, and we offer programming on American-style networking and job search strategies for U.S. and international opportunities, as well as support for students interested in entrepreneurship while managing visa requirements. Stanford’s Bechtel International Center also provides guidance on visas, travel, and employment authorization, helping students manage the legal and logistical aspects of studying and working in the U.S.

Above all, we want international students to know that they belong here, and that the GSB community wouldn’t be what it is without them.”

P&Q: How does your program integrate other disciplines, such as the liberal arts and STEM, across your curriculum to provide students with a more interdisciplinary experience in business school?

Beyer: “Interdisciplinarity is built into the GSB. Our faculty include those from business and economics backgrounds, as well as engineers, data scientists, psychologists, and even improv performers. That breadth shows up in the courses our faculty offer and the questions they pose, and reflects the reality that the challenges organizations face today rarely fit neatly within the boundaries of a single discipline.

Almost all of our students also take courses “across the street,” as we like to say. And what lies across the street is extraordinary. Every school at Stanford — from Engineering to Medicine to Law to Humanities and Sciences — is not only world-class, but also on the same campus. That proximity is rare, even among top universities, and our students take full advantage of it. I am always amazed by the range of courses they choose, from machine learning and climate policy to vocal pedagogy and computer programming. For students seeking a deeper interdisciplinary experience, we also offer joint and dual degree programs with other Stanford schools.

What’s most important is that students leave the GSB comfortable drawing on different ways of thinking. The problems they will face are rarely only finance problems, or technology problems, or policy problems. They are complex and multidimensional, and we want our students to be ready.”

P&Q: What are two ways that your program is incorporating Artificial Intelligence into your programming? How do they better prepare students for the future world of work?

Beyer: “While only some of our students may wish to work in AI, we believe all of them will work with AI. As a technology, AI will permeate every role, every industry, and every level of an organization. It will be the context in which leaders operate — and being in Silicon Valley means our students have a front-row seat to what the future may look like. Our goal is to equip every GSBer to lead in a world defined by AI.

I touched on AI earlier, but it is worth looking at how the GSB prepares students for what’s ahead. While the GSB is not becoming an AI school, I expect AI will play a role in the majority of our classrooms. New courses like AI for Human Flourishing and Understanding AI Technology for Business Problems reflect how our curriculum has evolved significantly around AI, and beyond dedicated courses, faculty are integrating AI across the curriculum. Students consider what AI means for organizations, leadership, and society, how to use AI tools effectively, and where these tools fall short (for now).

The student-led AI@GSB initiative — spanning workshops, conversations with practitioners, and more — gives students hands-on experience with AI applications and a better understanding of how these applications may reconfigure workflows, product development, and decision-making inside companies. The goal is not mastery of any single tool, since these will keep changing, but developing a “builder’s mindset”: the habit of experimenting, adapting, and continuing to learn.

We want GSBers to be neither intimidated by AI nor uncritical of it.”

P&Q: What types of educational and career support do you provide to alumni after graduation? How does it make them more valuable to employers during their careers?

Beyer: “I believe the most important career support GSB alumni have is each other. This connection is formed in our small classes, cultivated over two years on the Farm, and sustained over decades. The trust and generosity that characterize the GSB community do not stop at graduation. GSBers not only return each other’s calls, they make introductions and offer honest advice about opportunities and challenges.

Alumni regularly return to campus to share their expertise in the classroom and interact with students. Engaging with the next generation of leaders — hearing what they are thinking, what they are building, what they are grappling with — is something our alumni seem to find genuinely energizing.

Alongside this, the GSB’s Career Management Center supports alumni throughout their careers. Job seekers in their first year after graduation receive unlimited career coaching, and all alumni have access to complimentary one-on-one coaching sessions for life.

Our graduates depart the GSB prepared for their next adventure, and remain part of a community that will always challenge and support them.”

Click on the links below to access in-depth student profiles.

MEET THE STANFORD GSB MBA CLASS OF 2027

MBA Student	Hometown	Undergraduate Alma Mater	Last Employer
Teju Adeyinka	Lagos, Nigeria	University of Lagos	0x Labs
Alexandria Clarke	Washington, DC	University of Virginia	Boston Consulting Group
Daniel Elechiguerra	Madrid, Spain	Comillas Pontifical University	McKinsey & Company
Tafui (Taf) Leggard	Cary, NC	North Carolina State University	McKinsey & Company
Yash Maheshwari	Gwalior, India	IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Kanpur	Blackstone
Gevin Reynolds	Smyrna, GA	Harvard University	Office of Vice President Kamala Harris
Thomas Stone	Ellicott City, MD	U.S. Naval Academy	U.S. Navy
Stefan Sujansky	Woodside, CA	Georgetown University	Otovo
Danni Zhang	Hong Kong, China	University of Hong Kong	HSBC Global Asset Management

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