Rishi and Akshata

Dean DeMarzo: Now I have the pleasure of introducing our speakers, Akshata Murthy and Rishi Sunak. As you will hear more about shortly, Akshata and Rishi, both members of the class of 2006, met right here at the GSB. Throughout their lives and careers, they have been dedicated leaders in the private and public spheres.

Akshata has spent over a decade investing in early stage, consumer focused British companies, and currently leads the office of Akshata Murthy and Rishi Sunak, which promotes initiatives to drive positive impact in the UK. She is a trustee of her alma mater, Claremont McKenna College, and sits on the board of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Rishi has spent the last decade in the UK government, where he was Chancellor of the Exchequer before becoming the country's fifty-seventh prime minister. He was the first British Asian prime minister and the youngest person to take on the role in two hundred years. He is currently a member of Parliament and serves as the William C.

Edwards Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Together, they have journeyed from Stanford to 10 Downing Street and beyond. Please join me in welcoming Akshata Murthy and Rishi Sunak.

Rishi Sunak: Okay, Dean DeMarzo, thank you for your very kind words of introduction and for giving us the honor of joining you all today. Now, we've all just rightly applauded the faculty and staff for their brilliant work and your friends and family for their love and support. But last, and by no means least, class of '25, you made it.

So congratulations. It's time to give yourselves a massive round of applause. Akshata Murthy: Now, we remember our own ceremony so well. It was actually the first time our parents met.

So it's wonderful to return in slightly less stressful circumstances. Stanford was transformational for us. I came here from India via Los Angeles, and Rishi from the UK.

It opened our eyes to a whole new way of thinking, and it's informed everything we've done since. It also changed the course of our lives because this is literally where we met, in the Schwab Courtyard, to be precise. Now, who needs admissions algorithms when, as our then admissions director, Derek Bolton, who's here with us today, has since told us he could see we were meant to be together

Before we had even met, just from reading our admissions essays alone. So thank you Stanford. Twenty years and two daughters later, forget about being the best business school in the world.