The Stanford University Board of Trustees has elected two new trustees.

Bob Sternfels, BA ’92, will begin his five-year term on Dec. 1, and Sarah J. Friar, MBA ’00, will begin her five-year term on Feb. 1.

“It’s a great pleasure to welcome Bob and Sarah to the Board of Trustees,” said Board Chair Lily Sarafan. “Their forward-looking leadership, depth of insight, and deep commitment to Stanford’s mission will help guide the university through a pivotal era of discovery and impact.”

Sarah J. Friar

Sarah J. Friar is the chief financial officer of OpenAI. She was CEO of Nextdoor from 2018 to 2024, and during her tenure, she helped the company reach more than 92 million neighbors worldwide, taking it public in 2021. From 2012 to 2018, Friar was the chief financial officer at Square (now known as Block), which launched its initial public offering in 2015. Before joining Square, she was senior vice president of finance and strategy at Salesforce, held executive roles at Goldman Sachs, and worked at McKinsey in London and South Africa.

Friar serves on the boards of Walmart and Consensys and on the advisory boards of Operation HOPE and the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford. She previously served on the board of Slack. Friar also co-founded Ladies Who Launch, a non-profit that mentors and inspires women entrepreneurs and business owners.

At Stanford, Friar has served as co-chair of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab Advisory Group and in various volunteer roles for the Graduate School of Business (GSB), including on its management board. Friar and her husband, David Riley (MBA ’00), are longtime supporters of the GSB.

Friar grew up in Northern Ireland and earned her Master of Engineering degree in metallurgy, economics, and management from the University of Oxford in 1996. She earned her MBA from Stanford, where she graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar in 2000. She was also awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire award (OBE) from Queen Elizabeth II for services to entrepreneurship.

Friar lives with her husband and two children in Ross, California.

Bob Sternfels

Bob Sternfels is the global managing partner of McKinsey & Company and chair of the firm’s board of directors. He joined McKinsey in 1994, and in 2021, approximately 700 of the firm’s senior partners elected him as its global managing partner. He was re-elected in 2024 for another three-year term. Sternfels is the 13th partner to lead McKinsey since its founding in 1926. Sternfels’ experience covers global business and societal issues, with particular focus on leadership development, economic growth and resilience, and cross-border collaboration.

Sternfels serves on the boards of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, FCLTGlobal, Rhodes Trust, U.S.-China Business Council, and With Honor. He is an active member of the Asia Business Council, Business Roundtable, International Advisory Council of Singapore’s Economic Development Board, Partnership for San Francisco, and Tsinghua SEM Advisory Board. Sternfels also serves as co-chair of the First Chance Campaign at Concordance. He was awarded the Foreign Policy Association Medal in recognition of his contributions to global leadership and international affairs.

Sternfels earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and history from Stanford in 1992 and his master’s degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar in 1994.

Stanford has long been a “second home” for the Sternfels family. Both Sternfels and his wife, Ashley, competed as student-athletes for the Cardinal – he in varsity water polo and she in cross-country and track. Their three children attend Stanford, and the family’s game-day tailgate remains one of Sternfels’ favorite pastimes.

Sternfels and his wife live in Mill Valley, California.