Inspired by the faculty’s vision for a redesigned MBA curriculum that features an integrated global approach and experiential real-world learning opportunities for students, Roger Deromedi, MBA ’77, and his family recently established endowed and expendable funds to support the Center for Global Business and the Economy (CGBE).
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Roger Deromedi, MBA ’77
As chairman of Pinnacle Foods Corporation and a former CEO of Kraft Foods Inc., Deromedi is keenly aware of the impact of globalization on today’s increasingly complex business environment in which companies of all sizes and types now routinely contend with operations and employees dispersed around the world. He understands that a rigorous academic environment for management education must incorporate global perspectives into both the classroom and the research undertaken by faculty.
“I wanted to invest in the future of the Center for Global Business and the Economy because of the strong need for more global- minded business leaders,” Deromedi explains. “During my 30 years in the global food industry, I was continually confronted with managers caught in the paradigm of their own local view.”
The center is a natural hub for a wide range of activities, encompassing research, teaching, and community engagement that help instill global awareness as a key component of the managerial mindset in all Stanford GSB students. Faculty affiliated with the CGBE collaborate with colleagues on campus, including engaging in multidisciplinary programs and research with the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
The center supports student programs, faculty research, and the development of new courses and cases that tackle issues such as solutions for alleviating global poverty, strategies for multinational firms, and the economic impact of globalization.
The center also provides a forum for debate and creates experiential programs that offer students and faculty firsthand opportunities to translate theory into practice. The center’s Global Management Program coordinates the Global Experience Requirement in the newly redesigned curriculum, the Global Management certificate option within the MBA degree, and the Global Management Immersion Experience summer internships.
It also provides students with international career resources. Gifts that support centers—like this one from the Deromedi family—are critical in helping achieve the school’s goals to foster collaborative opportunities on international issues that affect society at large.
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