STERN ALUMNI IN TECH New York is home to one of the largest, most vibrant technology hubs in the country. IBM Watson is headquartered in Astor Place, just down the street from Stern, and many of the world’s largest tech companies have either their headquarters or a major presence here. The City is also fertile ground for start-ups. Annual venture capital investment rivals that of Silicon Valley. This robust activity—combined with access to the world’s largest banks, private equity firms, and hedge funds—earned New York its Silicon Alley nickname. Being an integral part of this vibrant community gives Stern an access and insight advantage. “New York is one of the most innovative cities in the world, and it’s the greatest time in our history as a business school to really leverage our tech ecosystem,” said Dean Sundaram. “Integrating with industries through our alumni, advisory boards, experiential projects, conferences, and competitions keeps us closer to the future needs of business and gives us an incredible insight into the best educational and career opportunities in tech.” As the fourth industrial revolution rages on, Stern continues to build on its impressive capability in tech education and research, complementing its recognized strengths in finance, management consulting, and entrepreneurship. Stern is fast becoming the ideal training ground for new generations of students across disciplines who see the school in a new light, as an institution steeped in tech as a natural outgrowth of its finance roots—students like Nicole Imbriaco, who are drawn to Stern for its innovative programs and potential to transform and prepare them for a world of opportunities driven by tech. “By developing both a broader business background while merging technology-focused skills, I believe this program will provide me with a unique skill set that can be applied to a variety of industries,” said Imbriaco. “My ideal role after this program, whether in the field of cancer research or some other health and wellness career, would be utilizing the combination of business, analytics, and technology-focused skills to contribute toward making a difference.”
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STERN BUSINESS / FALL 2018
Jeff Teper (BS ’86)
CORPORATE VICE PRESIDENT
Microsoft Office Spearheaded development of Microsoft Office SharePoint
Is part of Stern’s Tech
MBA Advisory Board with 13 other industry leaders
Has a passion for
finding ways emerging technology can help customers
STERN valedictorian Jeff Teper joined Microsoft in 1992 and now leads design, product, and engineering for Microsoft Office 365 services focused on content collaboration, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Stream. Known in the industry as the “father of SharePoint,” Teper spearheaded the development of SharePoint from start to finish. “It was incredibly exciting to make the initial product pitch to Bill Gates, build a team, and iterate through a few releases to build the fastest business Microsoft had grown to $1 billion at that time.” The Office product has evolved to the point where Teper’s team has been looking at integrating new technologies. For instance, Microsoft recently announced a mixed-reality world with
b y M A R I LY N H A R R I S
SharePoint Spaces. Teper explained that, “With SharePoint in Office 365, we have the leading intranet product but we wondered what intranets would look like with mixed-reality and how we could make it easy to create a scene in seconds. This reinforces our overall focus on innovation in content collaboration from documents to websites to mixed reality. We’ve been stunned at the level of interest since the first public demo.” To stay on top of where the market is going in a changing world, Teper said, “You have to learn every day, since there are constantly new waves of technology and new business models enabled by them. To stay current, I read a lot, talk to a variety of people in the industry, and try to use as diverse a range of products as possible.”
