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 t ...

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

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 St ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

franchise the Boston Celtics.

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 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. 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, Steve Pagliuca, Robert Epstein, David Epstein, William P. Egan, and John Svenson, acquired the Boston Celtics through their company Boston Basketball Partners 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 t ...

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 awa ...

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 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 Admis ...

. 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 yea ...

in 1956 from Amherst College. He continued his education at Harvard Business School, 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 Amherst College 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
(

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H. Irving Grousbeck - Managing Partner & Alternate Governor
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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