It was a simple enough idea. In 2014 a group of senior GSB MBA graduates got together and agreed they wanted to give back to the school that had helped them achieve their success. The alumni, together with the school’s director, came up with a bold vision to start a foundation whose funds would be substantial enough to make a difference.
In 2014, alumni Tiger Wessels and Stewart Cohen were preparing for the 45th reunion of their class of 1969. They approached GSB Director Walter Baets to discuss what the class could do to give back to the school. He identified the need for an initiative that would attract the brightest young minds to the school and enhance the diversity of students. This is the core of our initiative.
The GSB has been educating students for 50 years. Already close to five thousand GSB MBA alumni are working all over the world, in business, government, education and many other sectors. Remarkably, these alumni have seldom been asked for support by the GSB. We believe it is time that changed.
The concept for the Foundation initiative was strongly supported by 1969 class members and co-founders, Ian Kantor and Peter Thorington-Smith. It was then presented at the 1969 class reunion and was very well received. Class members pledged significant amounts of money and time to the cause. And so the GSB Foundation was born.