Leading investor and Stanford GSB volunteer tabbed to give address.
Theresia Gouw | Photo courtesy of Theresia Gouw
Theresia Gouw, MBA ’94, cofounder of Acrew Capital and one of Silicon Valley’s leading investors, will deliver the commencement address at the Stanford Graduate School of Business diploma ceremony on June 12, 2022.
“It’s inspiring to see Theresia’s commitment to entrepreneurship and education,” said Jonathan Levin, Philip H. Knight Professor and Dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business. “She exemplifies leadership in a new era for business.”
Prior to founding Acrew in 2019, Gouw was a managing partner at Accel Partners and at Aspect Ventures. In 2021, she launched Acrew’s Diversify Capital Fund aimed at diversifying the capitalization tables of leading tech companies while also providing ownership opportunities for tech executives of color. As part of that effort, Acrew established its Crew of Leaders, a group of more than 500 diverse executives devoted to recruiting diverse talent and providing strategic direction to founders.
Gouw has worked with a number of successful founders and their companies, including Trulia (TRLA), Imperva (IMPV), Astro (Slack; WORK), HotelTonight (ABNB), and LearnVest (Northwestern Mutual), and also led investments in companies such as Cato Networks, Deserve, Exabeam, Ketch, Observable, and Solv Health.
Earlier in her career, Gouw was vice president of business development and sales at Release Software, and she also worked at Bain & Company and Silicon Graphics, where she was a product manager.
Gouw serves as treasurer for the corporation of Brown University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering. She is chair of the board of Donorschoose.org, and is a co-founder of First Close Partners, a firm that invests in venture capital funds owned and operated by general partners from underrepresented communities.
A longtime volunteer leader at Stanford GSB, Gouw has worked with the MBA Admissions Office, the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, and Stanford Women on Boards. She was a member of the Advisory Council from 2013 to 2019, and a member of the GSB Trust from 2011 to 2013. She has also co-taught a course on venture capital with finance professor Ilya Strebulaev.
She was named to Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women list, has been recognized nine times on the Forbes Midas List, was named one of the 40 Most Influential Minds in Tech by Time magazine, and was named to the Carnegie Corporation’s annual Distinguished Immigrants List.
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