Podcast Ep. 21 Laura Francis Stanford MBA ’95 meets Aislin Roth MBA ’25

Today, I’m joined by Laura Francis from the Stanford MBA Class of 1995 and Aislin Roth from the Class of 2025.

Laura is the CEO of SI-BONE (Nasdaq: SIBN), a global leader in the medical device industry. She recently joined the board of Bruker Corporation (Nasdaq: BRKR), a life science and diagnostics company, and was previously a board member for Shockwave Medical (Nasdaq: SWAV) prior to its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. She also serves as an executive board member of the Medical Device Manufacturers Association, advocating for the future of the medtech industry and mentoring the next generation of industry and medical professionals. Prior to SI-BONE, Laura held executive roles with both public and private life science companies, including Auxogyn (now part of Progyny, Nasdaq: PGNY), Promega Corporation, and Bruker Corporation. Earlier in her career, she was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company and began her professional journey as an Audit Manager with Coopers & Lybrand, now PricewaterhouseCoopers.

 

Aislin is a second-year MBA student at Stanford GSB, originally from Toronto, Canada. Before business school, she worked as a consultant at BCG and as Director of Strategy and Special Projects at Life House, a venture-backed hospitality technology startup. She also completed a pre-MBA growth equity internship at Georgian, investing in high-growth technology companies. After graduation, Aislin will join KKR’s private equity operations group in Menlo Park, helping portfolio companies drive operational improvements and growth. She is passionate about building companies from the inside, blending strategic insight with hands-on execution, and is drawn to the intersection of leadership, transformation, and long-term value creation.

 

Together, we explore what it takes to grow companies—from venture-backed startups to public markets and private equity ow  nership. We talk about the challenges and rewards of CEO leadership, the new career pathways emerging for operators like Aislin, the evolving conversation around women in leadership, and the choices we all make between work, life, and purpose along the way.

Chapters

00:00 Women in Leadership: The Journey to CEOship

13:33 Navigating the Public Company Landscape

22:38 Balancing Career and Family: A Personal Perspective

31:07 The Gender Dynamics in Business Leadership

32:39 Navigating Career and Personal Life

33:24 The Stanford Experience: Expanding Horizons

35:58 Cultural Exposure and Diversity in Education

37:16 Travel and Life Experiences

40:08 Leadership and Purpose in Business

46:48 Work-Life Integration: Balancing Career and Personal Goals

52:46 The Impact of Technology and AI on Work

58:14 Purpose-Driven Leadership in Today's World

Join the Podcast Series
Stanford MBA: From Baby Boomer to Gen Z | Class of ‘95 Meets Class of ‘25

Each of these episodes will feature a different pair of Stanford MBA people -- one from the class of 1995, and one from the class of 2025.

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