Edited by Julia Hanna; photographs by Susan Young

MORE ON THE RECIPIENTS

Read more about the 2025 recipients, and learn about past recipients.

ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS SITE

MORE ON THE RECIPIENTS

Read more about the 2025 recipients, and learn about past recipients.

ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS SITE

The recipients of the 2025 Alumni Achievement Awards, whom Dean Srikant Datar recognized during the HBS graduation ceremony on May 29, 2025, are:
● Bonnie R. Cohen (MBA 1967)
● Vittorio Colao (MBA 1990)
● Deborah A. Farrington
● Jeremy Grantham (MBA 1966)
● John Rice (MBA 1992)

Trustee, DC Public Libraries Chair, DC Library Foundation;
Under Secretary of State for Management, 1997–2001

Early days: “My dad was an HBS alum and said the MBA program had just opened to women. I told him I had no interest, but he said, ‘Do me a favor, just take the exam.’ I was stunned by the ratio of men to women when I arrived.”

Road less traveled: “Most of my roles divide into finance and management, although my career path has not been a traditional one. The common thread is that I like a challenge. And I like to learn new things.”

Answering the call: “I’d been at the Department of Interior under Secretary Bruce Babbitt for four years when Madeleine Albright asked me to be Under Secretary of State for Management. I wasn’t sure, but then I thought, the first woman Secretary of State? I should do it.”

Crucible: “After the 1998 terrorist bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, we worked to balance protection and openness—creating secure buildings without turning US embassies into fortresses.”

Open to all: “I’ve served as finance chair of the DC Public Library because libraries are one of the most democratic institutions that exist. Anyone can come in—young, old, rich, poor. I put a book on hold and when it arrives, it’s kind of magical.”

The big L: “For me, leadership means making decisions even when they’re hard and nobody else wants to, and doing it with integrity. I can compromise on issues, but not on the integrity of what we decide to do.”

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Vice Chairman of EMEA, General Atlantic; Italian Minister for Innovation, Digital Transition, and Space, 2021–2022

Sticking point: “After college, my military service was with Italy’s Carabinieri, a sort of cross between the police, the FBI, and the army. The experience really taught me how to serve citizens with firm friendliness and safely lead a group with very different skill levels in unfriendly or even hostile environments.”

Important read: “I fell in love with telco and media as a consultant at McKinsey. When I read The Death of Distance [1997] by economist Frances Cairncross, it helped me see how the internet would create huge change and potential in those sectors.”

At Vodafone: “Our acquisitions and big sale of Verizon are always mentioned, but creating a truly global, multinational telco that respected different local cultures with accountability was a big achievement for our team. It’s the subject of an HBS case by Tsedal Neeley.”

Public service: “When Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi phoned and asked me to join his government, I had two hours to decide, but it was a no-brainer. When you’re given the opportunity to serve your country with an exceptional leader, in a moment of crisis, everyone should say yes.”

That spark: “After I left Vodafone I talked to more than a hundred organizations before deciding on General Atlantic. I like the growth moment of companies. You get to work with entrepreneurs. It’s energizing, and it satisfies my curiosity.”

High gear: “I’ve always been a mediocre but very resilient athlete. Cycling is a great exercise that teaches discipline, forces you to administer a plan, and takes you to beautiful places with friends.”

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Cofounder and Managing Partner, StarVest Partners LP

Finance 101: “When I was 10, my father took me to the New York Stock Exchange. It was chaos. People were throwing paper at each other and yelling. I thought, ‘This looks like fun.’ ”

Life skill: “HBS taught me how to command respect in front of a group. How do you listen? How do you add to a story someone is weaving, strengthen it, and provide your own view in an effective fashion that people will listen to and remember?”

Silver lining: “When I was fired from Merrill Lynch, my first reaction was disbelief. I’d run a division at a young age and worked all over the world. I realized I wanted to be a larger fish in a smaller pond, and working for smaller firms provided the blueprint for starting StarVest.”

Opportunity knocks: “My sectionmate Bill Mirbach called and said he was working at a little company that was putting accounting on the internet. He said, ‘Larry Ellison is the first investor.’ I told him I’d be right out.”

ROI: “We invested in NetSuite in 2000, when the company had about $100,000 in revenues. I joined the board and was lead director from the company’s IPO in 2007 to its acquisition by Oracle in 2016 for $9.4 billion.”

Sweet spot: “I love venture capital because it’s about identifying talent and the next new thing that people won’t be able to live without. No two companies—or leaders—are the same, which makes it a fun and fascinating challenge.”

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Cofounder and Chairman, GMO;
Founder, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment

Thanks, Mom: “When I was 16, I took my savings to the bank and bought some shares of a neighbor’s scaffolding company. At 25, I sold the shares to my mother to help pay for business school. Very soon after that the company went bankrupt ... so my mother was the fall guy.”

Full voice: “I was completely silent my first six weeks at HBS. Finally, I raised my hand for a case on ethics. Our section was quite aggressive, but defending your point was wonderful practice. By the end, everyone felt more confident, which is hugely important in business.”

Pivot: “After HBS I was in management consulting for 18 months, which was a mistake. I asked my classmates how they were getting on, and the people working in the stock market were having much more fun than anyone else.”

What matters: “After a few years of donating funds to conservation organizations, we realized that you could protect all the land you wanted, but if you didn’t address climate change, it would all be washed or burnt away.”

In perpetuity: “We started the foundation in 1997 and began investing in green tech in about 2008. It’s an exciting, fast-moving industry that includes all manner of fascinating, necessary, and—I hope—very profitable opportunities.”

Forward motion: “Leadership involves the ability to create a loose-limbed organization capable of generating genuinely new ideas. At GMO, we tried to move quickly, to be the shock troops. Now we’re doing the same at the foundation. We need to feel everything we do is important—that if it works, it will be a game changer.”

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Founder and CEO, Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT)

Inheritance: “My dad was an economist at the Federal Reserve and my mother worked in the field of education policy—she’s often referred to as the mother of the Pell Grant. Thanks to that exposure, my sister, Susan, and I knew our career journeys would be focused on impact and community.”

Prep work: “The skills and relationships I developed at HBS, Disney, and the NBA have been critical to becoming a successful social entrepreneur.”

Taking the plunge: “When I was deciding to leave my corporate career to start MLT, one of the biggest gifts my mother gave me was reminding me that if everything failed, I could always come home to the room I grew up in.”

Mission-driven: “MLT accelerates economic mobility by expanding career opportunities for individuals and improving employer practices to create inclusive, meritocratic workplaces where everyone can thrive.”

Stats: “Today, we work with 3,000 predominantly low- and moderate-income college students each year to help them achieve economic mobility and partner with more than 200 major companies on their talent strategies. MLT employs 300 people and has developed 1,000 senior leaders, with 15,000 alumni following in their footsteps across the corporate, nonprofit, and startup arenas. Ninety-eight percent of MLT‘s undergraduate fellows secure jobs with an average starting salary of more than $90,000, and 50 percent of the minority students at the top US business schools completed MLT’s MBA prep programs.”

Got game: “I developed some of my closest friendships playing pick-up basketball at HBS, many of whom have been pivotal to MLT’s trajectory.”

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