New York University

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In 2012 I established a five-year Vanessa O’Brien SUMMIT scholarship as a way to celebrate my success in Mountaineering. I could think of no better educational institution to turn to than New York University – my own alma mater – whose diversity, global outreach and academic leadership are unparalleled.

What does Mountaineering have to do with running a Global Business?

As it turns out… just about everything. Both require leadership, teamwork, understanding risk, operations & logistics, respect for different cultures, drive and determination, decision making, goal setting, hard work and patience in order to achieve set targets.

NYU Notable Alumni – 10 Famous MBA’S from NYU Stern
Business Because, July 2021

Which famous MBA’s went to NYU Stern? NYU’s notable alumni Include world record-breaking mountaineers, pharma frontrunners, And CEO’s of top finance firms. Meet our 10 notable alumni across Entertainment, sports, finance and pharmaceuticals by clicking here.

About Vanessa O’Brien

Vanessa O’Brien is a British female mountaineer and an American female mountaineer (as a result of her dual nationality), explorer, aquanaut, astronaut, author, and public speaker.

Vanessa has an incredible six Guinness World Records: First x 2, Fastest, Deepest, Farthest and Oldest. Vanessa is the first woman to reach extremes on land, sea, and air (the Explorers' Extreme Trifecta) following her mission on Blue Origin's NS-22 to 107km. Vanessa was the first woman to reach earth’s highest (Mt. Everest 8,848m) and lowest points (Challenger Deep 10,925m), the fastest woman to climb the Seven Summits in 295 days, and the first person to reach nearest to and farthest from the earth's core (Challenger Deep and the summit of Chimborazo.) Vanessa is the first woman to complete the Four Poles Challenge, going the farthest north * south * east * west from the top of Everest to the bottom of Challenger Deep to skiing the last degree to the geographic North and South Poles. She holds the record for the oldest woman to summit K2, the second tallest peak, at 52 years old.

Vanessa became the first American or British woman to successfully summit K2, receiving Explorer of the Year by the Scientific Exploration Society (SES) in 2018. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and an Honorary Advisory Board member of the SES.

Vanessa summitted the highest peak on every continent, receiving a Guinness World Record for the fastest time a woman first achieved this goal (295 days.) Vanessa has skied the last 111 km to the north and south poles completing the Explorers Grand Slam in 11 months, the first woman to do so in under a year, and the 8th woman in the world. Vanessa ran the Boston Marathon in 2017, helping to raise money for the American Red Cross, has been shot testing bulletproof vests with a .38 long revolver at point blank range, and rode 200 mph with Mario Andretti at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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