Filipina one of Harvard Business School’s outstanding alumni

Sheila Lirio Marcelo. SUSAN YOUNG/Harvard Business Law School alumni website

MANILA, Philippines—A Filipina entrepreneur on Tuesday received the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award, the highest honor the school bestows, for her personal and professional accomplishments.

Sheila Lirio Marcelo, who was raised in Manila, is the founder and chief executive officer of Care.com, a website that specializes in finding care providers. She graduated magna cum laude for her economics degree from Mount Holyoke College and earned her master of business and juris doctor degrees in Harvard in 1998 and 1999, respectively.

She also shared the origin of Care.com, stating that the idea stemmed from her response to a family emergency when her father fell backwards on their stairs while carrying her son. She launched the website in 2006, providing professional help for people. The website presently caters to 11 million people across 16 countries and has been listed in the New York Stock Exchange this year.

Marcelo is also a trustee of the Philippine Development Foundation, a non-government organization aimed at spearheading science and technology development and innovation projects in the country and co-founder of WomenUp.

The globally-recognized business school bestows the awards in recognition of graduates who are “contributing significantly to their companies and communities, while upholding the highest standards and values in everything they do.”

Harvard Business School dean Nitin Nohria praised the alumni, stating that “these graduates set a very high standard for our students in terms of integrity, personal and professional achievement, and contributions to both business and society.”

“They are prime examples of what our students can accomplish in their lives and careers. They epitomize our mission of educating leaders who make a difference in the world,” Nohria said.

Marcelo’s co-awardees were Year Up CEO and founder Gerald Chertavian; Altiostar Networks co-founder Ashraf M. Dahod; founder and CEO of Providence Equity Partners LLC Jonathan M. Nelson; and chairman and CEO of Corning Incorporated Wendell P. Weeks.

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