Business Leader of the Year In late January, the HBS Association of Northern California (HBSA/NC) presented Arthur Rock with its Business Leader of the Year Award. The HBSA/NC annually recognizes a highly successful individual who has made a significant impact on the community. In presenting the award, Donald G. Nelson (MBA ’69), event chair, said that Rock “truly embodies the fulfillment of the HBS mission: He is a leader who has made a difference in the world.” Rock used the occasion to announce his gift to HBS. Pictured above are Bruce Erickson (MBA ’73), president, HBSA/NC; Nayla Rizk (MBA ’84), chair, HBSA/NC; Toni Rembe Rock; Rock; Dean Clark; Ann Peckenpaugh (MBA ’80), HBSA/NC Executive Committee; Nelson; and HBS professor Howard Stevenson. Photo by Richard Morgenstein Click for larger photo

Legendary venture capitalist Arthur Rock (MBA ’51) has made an unprecedented $25 million gift to HBS to support faculty, research, and course development in entrepreneurial studies at HBS. Rock’s gift, which will establish The Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, is the largest ever directed toward supporting an academic program at HBS.

“This very important gift supports an area of intense interest among our students and alumni,” said Dean Kim B. Clark in announcing the gift. “All of us in the HBS community are forever grateful to Arthur for his generosity and help as we guide the School to meet the demands of the new century. We are proud to rename South Hall — the building that houses our entrepreneurship faculty — The Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, in his honor.”

“Harvard Business School has long been at the forefront in understanding the many facets of the entrepreneurial process — from the intricacies of finance to the art of leadership,” said Rock. “I am delighted to be able to do something that supports those efforts both now and for the future.”

Over the years, Rock, considered a founding father of the venture capital industry, helped form numerous start–ups that went on to become 20th–century success stories, including Intel, Teledyne, Scientific Data Systems, and Apple Computer (see sidebar for details). His service to HBS is long–standing: In 1981, he and his classmate, Fayez Sarofim, funded the first professorship at HBS in the field of entrepreneurship (which has been held by Howard H. Stevenson since its inception). From 1997 to 2002, he served as founding chairman of the advisory board of the School’s California Research Center.

“Arthur Rock epitomizes the mission of Harvard Business School,” said Dean Clark, who stressed the importance of Rock’s professional example as well as his achievements. “We are dedicated to educating leaders who make a difference in the world. Through his foresight, wisdom, and sheer hard work, Arthur has helped make possible products such as microprocessors and computers, which in turn have helped companies create hundreds of thousands of jobs and change our lives, in the work–place and at home.” Rock has also supported numerous arts organizations in the San Francisco area. He is president of The BASIC Fund, which provides scholarships to Bay Area inner–city children to attend private schools.

The proceeds from the Rock gift to HBS will be used to support a wide range of faculty projects in entrepreneurship, provide fellowships for MBA and doctoral students, and underwrite entrepreneurship–related publications and conferences. “It’s really an amazing opportunity and responsibility that Arthur Rock has placed in front of us,” comments HBS professor William A. Sahlman, who (along with HBS professors Howard Stevenson and, more recently, Myra M. Hart) has played a central role in directing the growth of the entrepreneurship faculty in recent years. “It causes us all to reflect on the past, as well as the future. What are the unanswered questions, and how can we attack them? Now, thanks in large part to Arthur’s generosity, we have an unbounded agenda.”

By investing resources in the School’s entrepreneurship program, Rock is once again involving himself in what might be considered a growth business. “In the past half–decade or so,” says Michael J. Roberts, executive director of Entrepreneurial Studies at HBS, “the School has dramatically increased the resources that are available to support entrepreneurship.” Today, the entrepreneurship group exceeds thirty faculty, which makes it the second–largest unit at the School. In addition, there are numerous professors from other disciplines at HBS who study the topic. The entrepreneurship group runs a first–year course called The Entrepreneurial Manager, sixteen elective courses, the Business Plan Contest, summer fellowships in entrepreneurship, and a wide range of research projects and publications. “Arthur Rock’s gift,” adds Roberts, “will help make these activities permanent and give us the chance to set our sights even higher. This is a very, very exciting moment in the evolution of this whole field of study.”

— Jeffrey L. Cruikshank (51st PMD)

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