Wharton Magazine had the pleasure of attending the October festivities that celebrated the 10th anniversary of Wharton|San Francisco. (Please watch the videos of our interviews of alumni and current Executive MBA students.)
Commemoration of this historic event has not stopped. On Dec. 7, Wharton|San Francisco hosted a roundtable forum that put on fill display the knowledge and impact of the Wharton community in Silicon Valley.
The roundtable brought together School alumni and students who are entrepreneurs and investors on the West Coast to gain their perspectives on the state of the Silicon Valley business environment. Participants included Rob Coneybeer, WG’96, of Shasta Ventures; Jon Soberg, WG’09, of Blumberg Capital; Joanne Medvitz, WG’12, of Pop Outerwear; Andrew Trader, W’91, WG’99, of Maveron; Len Lodish, the Samuel R. Harrell Professor, Vice Dean of the Program for Social Impact, and Leader and Co-founder of the Global Consulting Practicum; and Doug Collom, Vice Dean of Wharton|San Francisco.
The roundtable highlighted Wharton’s prominence in the greater San Francisco business community, and how Wharton has become an overall West Coast phenomenon. Since the campus opened its doors in 2001, more than 700 students have graduated. Alumni of Wharton|San Francisco programs have received more than $1 billion in venture capital or acquisition funds, been promoted to C-suite positions, and launched companies in the Bay Area, Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, Arizona, Texas, Utah and elsewhere.
“The past decade has seen tremendous achievements by Wharton|San Francisco graduates, and this impact has gone beyond the Bay Area to permeate the Western region and entire Pacific Rim,” Collom said.
The campus’ impact mirrors the global reach of the Philadelphia campus, which makes sense. Students enrolled in the MBA for Executives Program at Wharton|San Francisco experience the same rigorous curriculum, top faculty and high-caliber peers for which Wharton’s traditional full-time MBA program in Philadelphia has become known.
The event was one of the last to take place at Wharton | San Francisco ‘s original campus: the Folger Building. On Jan. 2, Wharton moved into its new, expansive space in the Hills Plaza.
