Nikesh Arora x Brad Gerstner | Stanford AI Club & BASES

Stanford AI Club and BASES are excited to announce that Nikesh Arora, Chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks, and Brad Gerstner, Founder and CEO of Altimeter, will join us for a joint event in our ’26–’27 Speaker Series! Since joining Palo Alto Networks in 2018, Nikesh has led the company’s transformation into a global leader in AI and cybersecurity. Previously, he served as President and COO of SoftBank Group and spent a decade at Google, where he was the Chief Business Officer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT (BHU), an MS in Finance from Boston College, and an MBA from Northeastern University. Brad founded Altimeter in 2008, building a leading technology-focused investment firm across the public and private markets. His investments have included companies such as Snowflake, Uber, Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Nvidia, and he has supported more than 100 companies through their IPOs. Twice named to the Forbes Midas List, Brad is also the founder and architect of the Invest America Act, the Center for Heart Attack Prevention, and co-hosts the BG2 podcast with Bill Gurley. This event will be open only to currently enrolled Stanford students. Dinner from Mendocino Farms will be provided, along with merch for students.