Welcome from Dean Maggie Winslow, Ph.D.

Presidio Graduate School was founded in 2003 with the mission of providing a very different business education—one that was based on stewardship of the planet, building community, and promoting equitable human well-being. We could see that business as usual was creating unequal prosperity and ecological destruction. Alongside other members of the founding faculty, we reframed the traditional business experience by creating classes that not only taught business fundamentals, but that also taught students how to disrupt, reimagine, and innovate for a better world.

Presidio was the first MBA program in the U.S. to focus on sustainability, soon joined by the Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree program. Our founding mission is still the focus of everything we do. For us, this means all of our programs are intrinsically linked to addressing environmental sustainability and social justice in a variety of industries and sectors. Our students acquire foundational knowledge and skills that help them understand how to navigate in their industry, while also receiving powerful education that equips them to challenge and help rebuild systems and norms that don’t serve the greater good.

While many other management programs are now incorporating sustainability into their curriculum, we remain ahead of the curve with our deep focus on climate change, anti-racism, materiality assessment, and designing for social impact.

When you come to Presidio, you will join a passionate community of students, faculty, administrators, and alumni who share your dedication to finding solutions to our world’s most pressing problems. Students learn from visionary scholars and practitioners, get real-world experience through our experiential learning program, and build a network of people committed to advancing sustainability and social justice. Faculty teach, inspire, and co-create alongside one another and in classrooms full of students dedicated to making a lasting impact.

Presidians are leaders, innovators, and world changers. This is evidenced by the positions our alumni hold—from the Senior Manager for Social Responsibility at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco to the founders of EOS Climate. Our students are making a real difference in the world.

As Presidio continues to grow and multiply our impact through our faculty, students, and graduates, we invite you to join us on a journey to address some of the most important and complex challenges humanity faces so that, together, we can build a flourishing future for all.