Lam-Larsen Distinguished Lecture Series - with Lenny Mendonca and Chris Larsen

On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, join us for the Lam-Larsen Distinguished Lecture Series event featuring a thought-provoking discussion on "Public Policy and Corporate Strategy in the Age of AI and a Changing World" with Lenny Mendonca, Senior Partner Emeritus at McKinsey & Company and former Chief Economic Advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom, led by Chris Larsen (B.S., '84), Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Ripple, Inc.

The event will be held at the Seven Hills Conference Center, 800 Font Blvd., located on the San Francisco State University main campus.

Event Program:

• Noon: Socializing and networking 
• 12:30 p.m.: Fireside Chat with Lenny Mendonca, led by Chris Larsen (BS, ‘84)
• 2:30 p.m.: Program concludes

Registration is required by Nov. 27th at 1 p.m. to attend this event.

Lenny Mendonca Biography

Lenny Mendonca was the Chief Economic and Business Advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom of California and Chair of the California High Speed Rail Authority. He is a Senior Partner Emeritus of McKinsey & Company and a Lecturer on Inequality at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Lenny founded McKinsey’s U.S. state and local public sector consulting practice. He also oversaw their knowledge development, Chairing the McKinsey Global Institute and the Firm's communications, including the McKinsey Quarterly. He served for a decade on the McKinsey Shareholder Council (its Board of Directors) and retired from McKinsey in 2014.

Lenny is the Chair of Fidelity Charitable and Vice-Chair of Western Governors University. He was formerly the Chair of New America, Children Now, co-Chair of California Forward, and co-founder and Chair of Fusecorps. He was the Vice-Chair of Common Cause. He is the Chair Emeritus of the Bay Area Council and their Economic Institute and was vice-chair of the Stanford GSB Advisory Council. He was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development. He has served on the boards of UC Merced, The Educational Results Partnership, The College Futures Foundation, California Competes, The Opportunity Institute, Commonwealth Club, National Association of NonPartisan Reformers, Measures for Justice, Rebuild Local News, and The Guardian.org. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He served on the Board of Trustees for Junior Statesmen of America, and the Advisory Boards of Y Analytics, QB3, the Haas Center at Stanford, Third Sector Capital, The CA Community College Chancellor's Office, and the Public Policy Institute of California.

Lenny received his MBA and certificate in public management from Stanford University. He holds an AB, magna cum laude, in economics from Harvard University.

He lives on the Half Moon Bay coast with his wife, Christine. They raised their two daughters, Allie and Rebecca, there and are the founders and owners of the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company and The Inn at Mavericks. He is also the Founding Chair of the Coastside News Group (Half Moon Bay Review and Pacifica Tribune).

Chris Larsen Biography

Chris Larsen is Executive Chairman of Ripple’s board of directors. He is a co-founder and former CEO of Ripple, a blockchain company he co-founded in 2012. Chris is a pioneer in blockchain and cryptocurrency technology, creating a global decentralized network called RippleNet that uses the digital asset, XRP, to facilitate payments across borders and financial networks. Prior to Ripple, Chris co-founded and served as CEO of Prosper, the first peer-to-peer lending marketplace, and E-LOAN, a publicly-traded online lender that helped democratize lending and finance. During his tenure at E-LOAN, he pioneered the open access to credit scores movement by making E-LOAN the first company to show consumers their FICO scores. 

In 2019, San Francisco State received the largest digital donation ever to a U.S. university courtesy of Chris, his wife Lyna Lam, and Rippleworks, the nonprofit organization he co-launched in 2015. The donation established the Lam Family College of Business as a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Chris earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Business Administration from San Francisco State University.

Reasonable accommodations: This event welcomes persons with disabilities and will provide reasonable accommodations upon request. Please send an email to Paul Glanting at pbg@sfsu.edu at least 7 days before the event to request reasonable accommodations and include the event name in your email.