Forget the Ivy League: Most valley CEOs went public
Nov 28, 2007 in Working
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Serial entrepreneur Jorge Fernandes jokes with colleagues that Silicon Valley start-ups tend to follow a common blueprint for success. A Stanford University grad comes up with an idea, a Harvard MBA runs the show and a Santa Clara University grad keeps the books.
The take-away? You need a pedigree from an elite private university to lead a Silicon Valley company.
Not so fast.
Two-thirds of the CEOs of the valley’s 150 largest public companies who earned their undergraduate degrees in the United States attended taxpayer-funded public universities, state colleges and regional schools, according to a Mercury News survey. About one out of six studied overseas. And two college dropouts - Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs - reinvented the Horatio Alger story for the computer age.
“Silicon Valley is really about as close to a pure talent meritocracy as you can find anywhere in the world,” said Thomas J. Friel, who retired this year as chairman of Heidrick & Struggles, a leading executive search firm with offices in Menlo Park. “It’s a brutal meritocracy.” … Whether you credit the quality of schools or factors like the great weather or lower tuition for residents, California schools accounted for one out of four Advertisement of the undergraduate and graduate degrees that valley CEOs earned. Bay Area schools held a particular draw, with CEOs earning one-fifth of their degrees locally. Stanford ranked No. 1 with 23 undergraduate and graduate degrees among 17 CEOs, followed by Cal with 16 degrees among 13 CEOs. All told, the Farm is responsible for 9 percent of the diplomas hanging on CEOs’ walls.
Link: San Jose Mercury News - Forget the Ivy League: Most valley CEOs went public
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Yes! I am on my way! Go public schools! Go Bears!
Tags: cal, stanford
