The Katherine Delmar Burke School Distinguished Alumna Award is given each year to an alumna who embodies the values at the heart of the school’s mission to educate, encourage, and empower girls. The recipient exemplifies a life of learning, service to community, individuality, and the ability to make a difference in the world.
Blair Rosenblatt Shane ’85 is a change agent and an entrepreneurial leader. While a Partner and CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) at Sequoia for more than six years, she led a mighty team of marketers focused on helping founders build legendary companies. Blair's unique experience makes her well suited to helping a partnership and portfolio made up of diverse, intelligent and driven individuals drive results. She left Sequoia in February 2020 to pursue her next big operating or leadership role. Prior to Sequoia, Blair was CMO and Associate Dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she revitalized its marketing function through, in the words of the school, "high energy, a real spark, dedication to delivering on her commitments, and a real love of the school." She joined Stanford from the Academy of Sciences where, as CMO, she reopened the museum in 2008 and introduced programs such as NightLife and variable pricing to rejuvenate attendance. Before that, Blair spent seven years at Charles Schwab where she was VP of marketing planning and integration.
Blair earned her MBA from Stanford University and BA in history from Johns Hopkins University. Following her undergraduate work, Blair founded the nonprofit Hands on San Francisco (now Hands on Bay Area) with the goal of motivating busy professionals to volunteer for community organizations in the Bay area.
In whatever job she is in, Blair is passionate about creating new possibilities and getting what may be perceived as impossible done. She lives in San Francisco with her husband Rick and is the proud mom of Zoe and Luke.
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Burke's Distinguished Alumna Award Recipients
2020 Blair Rosenblatt Shane '85
2019 Ebony Frelix Beckwith '91
2018 Mary Shen O'Carroll '90
2017 Zoe Duskin '97
2016 Robin Hauser '78e
2015 Erica Howson Fortescue '89
2014 Lareina Yee '87
2013 Nancy Bibbero Cherney '70
2012 Pauline Moffit Watts '66
2011 Rachel Skiffer '88
2010 Vendela Vida '85
2009 Jean Afterman ’75
2008 Ann Blumlein Lazarus ’67
2007 Dr. Mary Maillard Piel ’73
2006 Mary Lowrey Gregory ’71
2005 Dr. Bella Shen Garnett ’89
2004 Nancy Hellman Bechtle ’55
2003 Heather Martinez Zona ’81
2002 Elisa "Bambi" Escamilla Schwartz ’56
Burke's mission is to educate, encourage and empower girls. Our school combines academic excellence with an appreciation for childhood so that students thrive as learners, develop a strong sense of self, contribute to community, and fulfill their potential, now and throughout life.