Harold Irving "Irv" Grousbeck (born July 20, 1934) is an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Stanford Business School The Stanford Graduate School of Business (also known as Stanford GSB) is the graduate business school of Stanford University, a private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective business schoo ...

, and co-owner of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

franchise the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

Career

Grousbeck is one of the directors of Stanford Business School’s Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. He came on the faculty at Stanford in 1985 first as a visiting lecturer and in 1986 as a lecturer. In 1996, he was named a consulting professor. Prior to Stanford, Grousbeck had been a visiting lecturer at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

from 1981 through 1985. He teaches a number of topics relating to entrepreneurship and issues faced by entrepreneurial companies and individuals. Grousbeck co-founded

Continental Cablevision MediaOne Group, Inc. (Comcast MO Group, Inc.) was created by US WEST Inc, one of the original Baby Bells Regional Bell Operating Companies, acquisition of Boston-based Continental Cable and combined with its previously acquired Atlanta-based Wom ...

(later

Media One MediaOne Group, Inc. (Comcast MO Group, Inc.) was created by US WEST Inc, one of the original Baby Bells Regional Bell Operating Companies, acquisition of Boston-based Continental Cable and combined with its previously acquired Atlanta-based Wom ...

) in 1964 with his college roommate,

Amos Hostetter, Jr. Amos Barr Hostetter Jr. (born January 12, 1937) is an American businessman, who was the founder, chairman, and CEO of Continental Cablevision. With an estimated net worth of around $3.5 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 538th richest pers ...

He served as its President from 1964 through 1980 and was chairman from 1980 through 1985. In 2003, Grousbeck together with his son

Wyc Grousbeck Wycliffe "Wyc" K. Grousbeck (born June 13, 1961) is an American entrepreneur who is the majority owner and Governor of the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics. Career Grousbeck was born in Worcester, Massachusetts and graduated from ...

, Steve Pagliuca, Robert Epstein, David Epstein,

William P. Egan William P. Egan is an American venture capitalist. He is the founder and general partner at Alta Communications, a venture capital firm, and Marion Equity Partners, a private equity firm, both based in Boston, Massachusetts. Egan also founded Alta ...

, and John Svenson, acquired the

through their company

Boston Basketball Partners Boston Basketball Partners L.L.C. is an American local private investment group formed to purchase the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The executive committee consists of the four members of the managing board, Wyc G ...

LLC for $360 million. Grousbeck is credited with originating the concept of a Search Fund to make

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

investments in 1984. In 1996, Grousbeck co-founded the

Stanford Center for Entrepreneurial Studies Stanford University has many centers and institutes dedicated to the study of various specific topics. These centers and institutes may be within a department, within a school but across departments, an independent laboratory, institute or center ...

(CES) alongside Charles Holloway. Grousbeck serves on the board of a variety of companies and non-profit organizations including Alta Colleges,

Asurion Asurion, LLC is a privately held company based in Nashville, Tennessee, that provides insurance for smartphones, tablets, consumer electronics, appliances, satellite receivers and jewelry. In 2014, the company operated in 14 countries and had 4 ...

and Carillon Assisted Living. Previously, he has held various positions with

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, commonly known as the Hewlett Foundation, is a private foundation, established by Hewlett-Packard cofounder William Redington Hewlett and his wife Flora Lamson Hewlett in 1966. The Hewlett Foundation aw ...

Children's Hospital Boston Boston Children's Hospital formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2012 is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children's hospital located in Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical Sch ...

, the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education,

Newton-Wellesley Hospital Newton-Wellesley Hospital (NWH) is a community teaching medical center located in Newton, Massachusetts on Washington Street. It is affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. Founded in 1881, part of its ca ...

, the New England Eye Bank and Menlo School.

Education

Grousbeck is from

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an acade ...

and attended high school at

Deerfield Academy Deerfield Academy is an elite coeducational preparatory school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schools in the United States. It is a member of the Eight Schools Association, the Ten Schools Admissi ...

. He received his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1956 from

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

. He continued his education at

, where he received a

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as account ...

He was also awarded a

Doctor of Humane Letters The degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (; DHumLitt; DHL; or LHD) is an honorary degree awarded to those who have distinguished themselves through humanitarian and philanthropic contributions to society. The criteria for awarding the degree differ ...

from his alma mater

in 2000 and from

Menlo College Menlo College is a private college specializing in business and is located in Atherton, California. Campus Menlo College is situated on 45-acre (0.18 km2) campus in Atherton, California, 25 miles southeast of San Francisco and 20 miles nort ...

in 2015.

Publications

*''New Business Ventures And The Entrepreneur'', with Howard H. Stevenson and Michael Roberts, 1998,

References

External links

Harold Irving Grousbeck, Faculty Profile
(

)
H. Irving Grousbeck - Managing Partner & Alternate Governor
(

)
Irv Grousbeck: Finding One's Way on the Entrepreneurial Path

ESPN story

Fellowship of the Ring
(Boston.com) {{DEFAULTSORT:Grousbeck, H. Irving 1934 births Living people American sports businesspeople Amherst College alumni Boston Celtics executives Boston Celtics owners Businesspeople from Massachusetts Harvard Business School alumni Private equity and venture capital investors Basketball people from Massachusetts