The Edward Milton Jacquet Memorial Fellowship Fund

After eleven years on active duty flying fighters for the U.S. Navy, attending the Stanford GSB was one of the best professional decisions of my life. My criterion for choosing Stanford was simple – learn from and with the best, a philosophy that had worked well in my Navy career–and the GSB did not disappoint. The exceptionally high caliber faculty and classmates challenged me and pushed me to grow in ways I hadn’t realized I needed when I left the Navy. As a married father of two young children, the assistance from the Jacquet Fellowship guaranteed my financial freedom after graduation, allowing me to pursue more risk-seeking career options. Since graduation I’ve worked to inspire the passion and mission focus from my time in the service at entrepreneurial ventures. I’ve built teams at Pinterest, Yard Club, and Skylo Technologies – opportunities afforded me by the combination of my Veteran background and GSB education. I’m incredibly grateful to all our former Veteran alumni that have helped me during my transition and to achieve my dreams.

– Aaron Kline, U.S. Navy Veteran, GSB MBA ’13

Entering the Stanford MBA program as a Pat Tillman Scholar and Edward Milton Jacquet Memorial Fellowship recipient, I have never felt less deserving of the enormous privilege bestowed upon me. Surrounded by the most accomplished students in organizational leadership and business from around the country, I felt a heavy responsibility. Having served nine years as a military prosecutor and defense counsel in the U.S. Army JAG Corps, I left the military and active practice of law to attend Stanford and look for my next opportunities to serve. With the vote of confidence and financial support from this fellowship, along with the generosity, grace, and support of my wife, children, and classmates, I pursued my vision of wielding entrepreneurship in support of transforming our failing, inequitable criminal justice system. While the entrepreneurial endeavor has been placed on hold for now, I am immensely grateful for all the support I received along the way, and now I am proud to pursue transformation of our criminal justice system from my role at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The vote of confidence and financial support from Ernest Jacquet made all of this possible. I and my family are immensely grateful.

– Patrick Robinson, U.S. Army Veteran, GSB MBA ’19 Justice and Opportunity, Service Design and Innovation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

The Stanford GSB changed the trajectory of my career and life completely. The education was stellar and the school opened doors to me in careers I would never have been able to achieve otherwise. After graduation I joined McKinsey & Company, where I became an Associate Partner. I later moved to a Berkshire Hathaway company as a senior vice president of asset management, where I am learning all I can about real estate so I can eventually move off and start my own real estate investment firm. I am incredibly grateful to the GSB for the opportunities that have come my way and I wouldn’t have been able to attend the GSB without support from the Edward Milton Jacquet Memorial Fellowship Fund and other fantastic organizations. Thank you for the much-needed and much-appreciated support.

– Morgan Cox, U.S. Army National Guard Veteran, GSB MBA ’13

I graduated from Stanford GSB in 2011 after having served as a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army. While West Point enabled me to receive a great undergraduate education absent of financial debt, the cost of graduate education was quite substantial. The Edward Milton Jacquet Memorial Fellowship Fund helped tremendously in ensuring that financial considerations wouldn’t prevent me from being able to attend Stanford GSB. Stanford GSB was instrumental in getting me to where I am today. One challenge with the military is that it does not expose members to the variety of opportunities available in the business world. Classmates, instructors, and the career center at the GSB all played a part in helping me find my way to Amazon where I started a career in product management. At Amazon, I was able to learn the craft of product management, including being the product manager for Mayday, the key feature on the Kindle tablets in 2013. This has led to other product leadership roles driving new products and business lines Westfield, Ridecell, Macerich, and now Frontdoor. My classmates remain lifelong friends, mentors, and confidants. I hope I can repay the favor and help other veterans transition to new careers after service to our nation.

– Jim Wilson, U.S. Army Veteran, GSB MBA ’11

I can still remember the day when Stanford became my top business school choice. It was in July 2014, during the Israel-Gaza conflict, when I was serving my country in reserves. The American Embassy hosted an MBA Fair, which hosted the top U.S. business schools and a huge crowd of Israelis interested in applying to some of these programs. While the plan was to host the deans of admissions of most of these schools, most of the deans decided to cancel their trip because of the conflict and ended up just sending alumni. Not Derrick Bolton, then the Stanford Dean of Admissions. Not only was he in the event, he also remained calm and continued talking about Stanford as rockets were hitting nearby in Tel Aviv. Even though I was exhausted after another sleepless night in the War Room, I remember how appreciative and honored I felt by having him there.

A few months passed by and the same Derrick Bolton called me to tell me that I was accepted to the GSB. Very quickly the huge wave of excitement turned to anxiety. How am I going to fund my studies and our lives in the most expensive place in America? While I was super excited about starting the school year, running through the numbers made me very anxious. My bank offered me a loan with exorbitantly high rates, and I was seriously considering what to do.

Luckily, a few weeks later I received the amazing news about my financial aid, a significant part of which came from the Jacquet Scholarship. This financial aid kept me afloat and allowed me to finish my studies with a reasonable debt that I manage to this day, and allowed me to choose a less high-paying job in order to fulfill my calling of helping grow fresh and nutritious food everywhere, which I currently do at AeroFarms.

– Fabian Schvartzman, Israel Defense Forces Veteran, GSB MBA ’17

I graduated from the GSB in 2015 after seven years in the Israeli Air Force followed by a few more years in health care. Coming from Israel, which has mandatory military service, all my friends have done military service. Some made an incredible impact at a very young age. Personally, I was fortunate to have an opportunity to lead and manage a group when I was twenty-two years old, where an equivalent lead role at Lockheed Martin would probably require twenty-two years of experience. But I only came to appreciate these opportunities and the value of my military experience later in life, and this appreciation intensified when I connected with fellow veterans from other countries at the GSB. I am humbled to be part of the Stanford GSB community, and the GSB veteran’s community in particular. I believe the GSB benefits greatly from our veterans, who learned and grew very quickly in their military service, can deal with very complex situations – often actual life or death situations – and navigate ambiguity and pressure. The Edward Milton Jacquet Memorial Fellowship Fund enabled me to pursue my aspirations, build on my military experience and propel myself to a whole new level.

– Assaf Einat, Israel Air Force Veteran, GSB MBA ’15

No doubt, my experience post-graduation has been different from that of all my classmates. While some veteran classmates brought their military experience to the GSB and to the corporate world beyond, I now have the challenge to bring the lessons of the GSB back to the military.

I am currently assigned as an F/A-18E Super Hornet pilot with the ‘Wildcats’ of Strike Fighter Squadron 131. Serving in an operational Navy fighter squadron is a far cry from the comfort of The Farm. Over the course of the next three years, I will spend nearly eighteen months deployed on a carrier or otherwise away from home on a training detachment. Tight living quarters, limited internet connectivity, and distance from family are challenges that few of my classmates experienced after leaving the GSB. Even so, I feel privileged to be a part of a group of people so devoted to duty that they would give their lives in support of the mission and each other. Tragically, the death of two squadron mates in a low-level training accident in the fall of 2017 drove home that point for me. Experiencing the aftermath of that accident reinvigorated my devotion to service that I pledged when I first entered the Navy at my swearing-in at the Naval Academy over ten years ago. Flying fighter jets off aircraft carriers is dangerous, but I believe it is essential that this profession has innovative leaders like those cultivated at the GSB. I strive every day to bring a piece of the GSB experience to my colleagues and profession.

I remain committed to taking the leadership lessons, analysis techniques, and perspectives of the GSB to the Navy. In small ways, I have opened eyes to the adoption of technology, improved processes, and varying attitudes toward the carrier aviation profession. Over the next several years of my flying commitment, I intend to incrementally improve the Navy’s flying community by filling the gaps left through a decade of underfunding and program mismanagement. My dream is to lead a series of tactical and personnel changes desperately needed to keep Naval Aviation at its peak.

The Edward Milton Jacquet Fellowship has done more than financially enable my nontraditional post-graduation career. Your donation and your support for my career represent a link between civilians and military during a time when the “civil-military gap” grows wider. It represents Stanford’s support for the long-term success of the U.S. military, which delicately holds the position as the most trusted institution in American government. Again, I thank you for your support, and I hope to share more of my experiences with you as I move farther along in my time in the Navy.

– Kenny Healy, United States Navy, VFA-131, GSB MBA ’16

Following eight years of intensive service and 2,500 flight hours in the Israeli Air Force, I joined the GSB MBA program with a passion to learn about leadership and practically everything else business-like because I had no experience in a for-profit organization.

I formed deep friendships and understandings in the GSB veteran community. As an allied veteran, I found much needed common language, advice, and soft skill learning to ease the transition. Being a veteran is rough, and transition into civilian society is a shock to many.

Spending the first years of your adult life in the military is a life changer, and it’s something I proudly carry on further. Spending your graduate years in the GSB is just the same (even though, at times, one has less sleep), and the connection between the two leads to the type of thinkers that can really change the world, because they have lived to see the ugly and beautiful parts of our planet and society.

I graduated to start my own venture ceno.fun, which is shattering the dogmas of early education and expanding the minds of children, while clearing the path to my childhood dream of designing learning games.

Thank you for the ongoing support of the veteran community and please support veteran-owned ventures.

– Itamar Orr, Israel Air Force Veteran, GSB MBA ’18

I am the third child and youngest son of a South American immigrant who traveled from Peru to the United States, fell in love with a young enlisted career Marine, and pursued the American Dream of creating more opportunity for their children, all of whom served in the military. My brother followed my father’s footsteps and enlisted in the Marine Corps, and my sister served as an officer and retired from the Air Force. In addition, my grandfather and many uncles served in the Marine Corps as well. As such, it would be understatement to say that I am fiercely proud of my military service and am deeply patriotic – it’s in my DNA. However, sole exposure to the military made my own transition very challenging, as military service, to include the Naval Academy, was the only career path I had been exposed to.

After serving ten years in the Navy, as both a Surface Warfare and SEAL Officer, my calling as a father pulled me away from military service and into the beginning stages of transition to the private sector. With the good fortune of being admitted to the Stanford GSB, I was well on my way. It was a tremendous honor to be accepted into the GSB Class of 2009, and I had high hopes to hit the ground running and to make my mark. However, with a young child, a misdiagnosed chronically ill wife and my own “issues,” transition was not easy. At the end of my first year, I found myself struggling in many areas, including a dismal financial situation, and I needed help. Humbly, if not reluctantly, I reached out to welcoming and helpful GSB staff, and in short order, I was blown away to be awarded the Edward Milton Jacquet Fellowship Award. This funding helped me in so many ways, including providing me the financial stability to get back on track and out of the hole I was in. My second year MBA experience dramatically improved and I was able to enjoy my family, expand and deepen my GSB relationships, and even lead the student-organized GSB Veterans Club.

Having been served by the GSB in such a gracious and generous way created in me a desire to give back. As such, it was The Edward Milton Jacquet Fellowship that inspired the creation of the Stanford GSB Veterans Club marquee and lasting event known as the Veteran Leadership, Service and Education Award, honoring Professor Jack McDonald (after whom the award is named). This event has become a tradition on campus that continues to positively impact the entire Stanford Community. I am so thankful to the Jacquet family and to be a small part of the legacy that they have fostered.

– Tarey M. Gettys, United States Navy Veteran, GSB ’09

(Note from editor: Tarey is too modest and humble to authorize me saying this, but he is the Navy SEAL featured in the famous movie Navy Seals: Bud/S Class 234.)

During most of my undergraduate days at MIT, a large banner was prominently displayed on a dormitory with the caption, “ROTC Equals Death!” This banner represented a not uncommon perception of young men and women willing to serve in the military in the late 80s, early 90s. Following my military career in the U.S. Air Force I attended Stanford GSB as an early award recipient of the Edward Milton Jacquet Memorial Fellowship. In contrast to my MIT experience, it was heartwarming to start my GSB career with this fellowship, a recognition of my military service. From a contextual standpoint, this was long before “Thank you for your service” became a common catch phrase in American society. For me, this award remains a reminder of the brotherhood of veterans serving and supporting other veterans. I should point out that it was a bit of destiny to receive the award, as I held assignments at Kirtland AFB (NM), Kelly AFB, and Lackland AFB in line with Col. Jacquet’s career.

As for many other recipients, the kindness and generosity of Ernest Jacquet impacted our career paths, and for that I am grateful. Because of his family’s generosity I was able to earn both an MBA and MSE in Engineering during my tenure at Stanford, setting me up for many technical leadership roles post Stanford.

– Ian Blasch, U.S. Air Force Veteran, GSB MBA/MSE ’00

In 2003, I was serving as a Marine on the front lines during the Iraqi invasion. I witnessed poor farmers in southern Iraq being forcibly recruited by Saddam’s fedayeen. These farmers were being given this choice: watch their children starve or fight the Americans. It was then that I began to realize that violent extremists exploit the conditions of extreme poverty to further their cause. After that awakening, I served another combat tour, and after numerous additional heart-breaking incidents, decided that I wanted to transition out and start a company that could fill what I believed to be a growing gap in the U.S. National Security Strategy.

In August 2006, with the help of the Jacquet Fund, I enrolled at the Stanford Graduate School of Business to learn how to build a scalable organization that could address extreme poverty in areas that others were not reaching. I was humbled as over thirty of my classmates, inspired by my story, rallied around me and began helping me build out the model and raise money. I used the coursework to do the blocking and tackling of building out the organization in a way that could scale and endure. Six faculty members provided seed funding, mentorship, and advice. I graduated in June 2008, and in September moved to a remote village in southwest Kenya to launch Nuru International, an innovative new organization that eradicates extreme poverty in highly fragile areas to help stop the spread of violent extremism.

Under the advisement of one of my professors at the GSB, I started Nuru in Kenya and Ethiopia, areas that, while fragile, were not under direct threat by a violent extremist group, to test the viability of Nuru’s approach. After creating strong local organizations in Kenya and Ethiopia, Nuru launched a new project in northeast Nigeria in former Boko Haram and ISIS caliphate territory in 2018. To date, we have impacted the lives of over 130,000 people – helping them lift themselves out of extreme poverty permanently. Our goal over the next ten years is to serve an additional 1.7 million people in the Sahel region of Africa who are at risk of falling under the control of Al Qaeda, ISIS, or other similar groups.

– Jake Harriman, U.S. Marine Corps Veteran, GSB MBA ’08

Note from editor: Please watch Jake’s video on YouTube