Dave Christensen ’85
Co-president and COO
Nearon Enterprises

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A long-term gift to the school

“What attracted me to SOM when I was applying was the approach of combining private, public, and not-for-profit sector backgrounds,” he says. “I had spent a few years down in South America as a health and welfare services missionary, and a little time in Washington, D.C., and I had syndicated some real estate. So SOM was ideally suited to my background.”

Christensen has benefitted, he says, from what he learned in classrooms at SOM, from the power of a Yale degree, and, especially, from the relationships he formed at the school. In fact, in 1993, he and classmate Greg Chabolla went into
business together; in the years since, they have grown Nearon Enterprises, a private real estate firm in the San Francisco Bay Area, by over a factor of five.

Christensen’s support of Yale SOM stems, in part, from a desire to pass along the positive impact that it had on him. “My experience there added to my life, and I know it came about because others were willing to support the school,” he says. “I want to help provide a place where others will be able to have experiences like I did.”

"I think everyone wants to feel that they’re part of something bigger than themselves,” he adds. “I think that SOM has an important place in the world for educating leaders of the future, and that’s why I contribute.”