Class of 2016

The Class of 2016 as chosen by The Alumni Society advisory board and highlighted in our 2016 magazine.

Ruben King-Shaw Jr.

Ruben King-Shaw Jr. is proud to be Panamanian—and that doesn’t make him any less proud to be American.

José Pacheco

Every single workday, José Pacheco sees the future. As the codirector of the master of engineering degree in advanced manufacturing and design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Pacheco doesn’t have to look far to see the inception of tomorrow’s innovations.

Isaura Gaeta

The late 1970s were the cowboy days for Silicon Valley. White men dominated the tech industry, but one young Latina named Isaura Gaeta, a 1982 Stanford University graduate with a master’s degree in engineering, worked her way into the field.

Claire Burns

If you’re averse to it, constant change can feel chaotic. But if you’re hardwired for it, perpetual transformation is an opportunity.

Javier Olivan

Soaring thousands of feet into the air can teach you something about taking a risk. Javier Olivan would say his fearless approach to life began in the mountains of his tiny Spanish town, where he paraglided as a kid.

Fidel Vargas

It was Christmastime in 1987, and Fidel Vargas was stranded. The oldest of eight children from Baldwin Park, California, was a freshman at Harvard University, and he had no way to get home from Boston, Massachusetts.

Heather von Zuben

Imagine committing yourself to a discipline for seven years. Imagine investing time, money, and intellectual energy in a plan for your future.

Tom Castro

Tom Castro didn’t grow up dreaming of a career in radio. “I wasn’t one of those kids who always had a microphone in his hand,” he says.

Talita Erickson

Talita Erickson doesn’t see limits. She’s a business school graduate who is fluent in three languages, can practice law in both the United States and Brazil, and holds two executive positions at an international corporation.

Magda Yrizarry

Years ago, Magda Yrizarry shuffled through the mail sent to her Cornell University address.