“I remember Dean Kim Clark greeting us on my first day at HBS,” says Yat-Pang Au. “He said, ‘This will be a transformative experience in your life.’ Fifteen years later, I can confirm the truth of that statement.”

Au came to HBS after studying engineering and information networking. “I was a linear thinker,” he says. “After being exposed to the case method and a diverse group of peers, I began to think more broadly and understand the importance of relationships in business.” 

A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Au attributes his success as a real estate investor and CEO of Veritas Investments to his HBS experience. “I saw opportunities for growing the business but wasn’t sure how to capitalize on them,” says Au who purchased his first building in Silicon Valley in 1996 and later founded Veritas in 2007. “I appealed to several faculty for help at my 10th Reunion, and Howard Stevenson responded.”

Stevenson, the Sarofim-Rock Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, introduced Au to principals of a major hedge fund who not only advised him but also invested in Veritas and helped propel the firm to its current status as the largest owner of apartments and ground floor retail in San Francisco.

Au believes alumni should give to HBS “in appreciation for what the School has done for us,” so he has established a bequest to create the Yat-Pang and Helina Au Fellowship Fund. “The School worked with me to manage the unique tax situation my real estate holdings presented,” he says.

He chose to support financial aid because “I am a big believer in people, and I want to encourage HBS graduates to go into real estate, which is a durable, atypical, and entrepreneurial career.” Ultimately, Au hopes recipients of the fellowship will benefit from the HBS experience as he has: “It has opened doors that I didn’t even know existed.” (December 2015)

Learn how you, too, can give back by naming HBS as a beneficiary of your will, trust, or retirement plan.

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