NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New York University Stern School of Business announced the establishment of The NYU Stern Venture Fellows Program with $1 million from technology executive and alumnus David Ko (BS ’93) and his wife Jennifer Ko. With this generous gift, Stern MBAs will have the opportunity to apply to this new immersion program in lieu of a traditional summer internship and benefit from financial support, mentorship, workshops and access to NYC and Silicon Valley tech companies. The launch of this program coincides with David’s appointment to Stern’s Board of Overseers and extends the commitment to education that he and his wife initiated in 2012 with the establishment of the Jennifer and David Y. Ko Family Endowed Undergraduate Scholarship at NYU Stern.
“We are grateful to the Ko family for their generosity and to David for his decision to get more deeply engaged with his alma mater and help us continue creating innovative new student experiences,” said Peter Henry, Dean, NYU Stern. “The NYU Stern Venture Fellows Program is an extraordinary opportunity for MBA students who come to Stern to set their entrepreneurial ambitions and dreams in motion.”
Incoming full-time MBA students will apply in Fall 2016 for consideration to become the first NYU Stern Venture Fellows. The program will commence in Summer 2017 under the administration of Stern’s W.R. Berkley Innovation Lab and Office of Student Engagement. It will provide each Fellow with a $10,000 stipend, a prototyping fee, workspace and access to a multi-week summer program featuring a “Silicon Valley Immersion Week” that includes company visits and access to VCs, mentors and Stern alumni. Fellows will continue to receive mentorship support in their second year at Stern and can opt to earn course credit through a faculty-supervised independent study in which they can focus on their start up.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to help Stern MBAs transform their ideas into viable businesses through the resources that will be available to them from the NYU Stern Venture Fellows Program,” said Ko. “My goal is to provide aspiring entrepreneurs with early, firsthand access to leaders in the Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley tech communities and help them get a jumpstart.”
About David Ko
David Ko is the president and chief operating officer of Rally Health, a digital health company that makes it easy for consumers to take charge of their health and health care needs. Rally’s online and mobile solutions are currently available to nearly 30 million people. Prior to joining Rally Health, David was COO at Zynga, the video game developer that pioneered the social gaming industry with Farmville and Words with Friends. At its peak, Zynga had 100 million daily active users. Previously, he worked at Yahoo! where he was SVP of Yahoo!'s audience, mobile, and local businesses, with oversight of Yahoo! media properties including Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! News, and Yahoo! David, his wife Jennifer and their two young daughters live in Palo Alto, CA.
About New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business
New York University’s Stern School of Business, located in the heart of Greenwich Village, is one of the nation’s premier management education schools and research centers. NYU Stern, whose faculty includes three Nobel Laureates in Economics, offers a broad portfolio of programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels, all of them enriched by the dynamism, energy and deep resources of one of the world’s business capitals. Visit www.stern.nyu.edu and follow NYU Stern on Twitter: @NYUStern.
