Gregory M. Avis, Class of 1980

A founding partner of one of the nation’s leading private equity firms and member of the Board of more than thirty companies, you have devoted considerable time, talent, and finances to serving many overlapping communities. You have served as President of the Board of the San Jose Repertory Theater. As head of the Board of the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley you have led its merger with the Peninsula Community Foundation to create the third-largest community foundation in the country. As a Board member of Family Service Mid-Peninsula you facilitated its merger with a complementary agency. You have brought similar vision to your service on the Board of the James Irvine Foundation, which improves the lives of California residents through programs for the arts, at-risk youth, and citizen involvement. With barely a glance at the clock, you serve also on the Board of the National Outdoor Leadership School and of your alma mater and are involved with land conservation in Montana. Most extraordinarily, you also teach sophomore math at Eastside College Preparatory School in East Palo Alto, almost all of whose students will be the first in their families to attend college. A tough but respected teacher, you have been involved with the development of each of your students and of the school as a whole, helping it constantly grow in effectiveness and, in particular, leading the effort to introduce performing arts into its curriculum and to design and build its first performing arts center. The tiredness we feel just contemplating all this activity is surpassed only by our pride.