And now Michael Choo.
Michael who ?
Choo, a 28-year-old associate at New York private equity shop WL Ross & Co., was chosen last month from among 420 applicants for one of four trusteeships traditionally reserved for Stanford grads. Choo, less than a year out of business school, received an undergraduate degree in public policy from Stanford in 1996 and has been an active fundraiser for his alma mater. The other three seats went to graduates with a little more life experience -- they finished their studies in 1971, 1974 and 1984.
Last year the school encouraged younger alumni to throw their mortarboards in the ring with an e-mail campaign notifying 30,000 graduates from the classes of 1991'98 about the open slots on the 33-member board. Stanford officials don’t know if anyone younger than Choo has ever served on the board, but a spokeswoman says Choo is surely “among the youngest.” His five-year term begins next month.
Choo, who spent a few years as a Goldman Sachs analyst between Stanford and Harvard Business School, doesn’t view himself as an unproven rookie on a board filled with accomplished execs: “I’m just interested in helping to grow the endowment and helping to make Stanford as competitive as it can be.”
