Mountain River Partners

mountain river partners logo
Menu

About MRP

Our Purpose

We believe that investment experience can accelerate and strengthen an education, and that work-study jobs will prepare international students for employment upon graduation. More importantly, work-study jobs allow students to stay in school because they can pay for their basic needs while still taking classes.

Our goal is to provide jobs in work-study and in the work services industries so that students can learn the skills to become leaders in their economic and social communities upon graduation. 

decorative image

Our Story

 

Mountain River Partners was inspired by the global online education program called BYU-Pathway. Since its launch in 2009, BYU-Pathway Worldwide has grown to provide spiritually based online degrees at an affordable price to tens of thousands of students. However, 90% of the students who enroll each year “pause” their education before finishing their degrees. When asked the reason, the most common student response was “hunger”. Staying in school was unsustainable with no income for basic needs. 

The answer to this problem was jobs. When CEO of Sandbox Industries Matthew Downs and Co-founder and Partner of Francisco Partners, Ben Ball, saw the need for jobs, they decided to hire Pathway students as interns for their own investment firms. Finding success, they wanted to expand the program to additional companies and students. They partnered with NYU Stern Professor Monica Stallings to establish the non-profit 501(c)3 Mountain River Partners the extend internship opportunities to as many as possible. 

Our Approach

We match students from developing nations who are pursuing online degrees with employment opportunities in professional sectors such as Finance or Healthcare. We find and generate opportunities and also pay the wages for an initial period of time. If employers are satisfied, they assume the responsibility of the wages. We believe in these students enough that we’ll support them so you can come to believe in them too. 

Our Team

Monica Stallings
Monica Stallings
President
Matthew Downs
Matthew Downs
Managing Director
Benjamin H. Ball
Benjamin H. Ball
Managing Director
Greg Zippi
Greg Zippi
Internship Coordinator

Monica Stallings

President
Monica Stallings

Monica Mullick Stallings has been an adjunct professor in the Management & Organizations department of NYU Stern School of Business since 2014. She teaches both undergraduate and MBA courses including: Leadership in Organizations (MBA); Consulting Corps (MBA); Management & Organizations; and Case Analysis. She earned her PhD from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania She graduated from Dartmouth College and Phillips Exeter Academy.

Best Tip
“Think carefully about your social media boundaries and then stick to them without exception.”
Contact

Matthew Downs

Managing Director
Matthew Downs

Matt Downs is a Managing Partner and Co-CEO of Sandbox Industries. Matt is a member of the Board of Directors of Lumeris, Sempre, Solera Health, and Somatus.
Prior to Sandbox, Matt was a venture investor with Highland Capital Partners, and worked for Morgan Stanley in its M&A group.  Matt holds a BA from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Best Tip
“Preparation precedes inspiration.”
Contact

Benjamin H. Ball

Managing Director
Benjamin H. Ball

Benjamin H. Ball is a Founding Partner of Francisco Partners which is a private equity investment firm focused on structuring investments in the information technology markets. Prior to founding Francisco Partners in 1999, Mr. Ball worked for TA Associates, Genstar Capital LLC, AEA Investors,and also for Bain & Company. Mr. Ball received his M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business and his A.B. from Harvard University. He formerly served on the board of directors of AKQA, CrossMatch Technologies, EF Johnson Technologies, MetaSwitch Networks, Mitel Networks, NP Test, Source Photonics , WatchGuard Technologies, WebTrends and XcelleNet.

Best Tip
“You never have a second chance to make a first impression.”
Contact

Greg Zippi

Internship Coordinator
Greg Zippi

Greg Zippi has spent more than three decades leading sales and marketing teams in nine different startup and growth-stage software companies. The largest, and first, software company he ever joined was Oracle Corporation which had annual revenues of $53 Million when he became a member of the team in 1986. Following his time at Oracle, he’s worked with nine companies, three of which went public, and five were sold to larger enterprises.
Mr. Zippi teaches courses in Professional Sales, Sales Management, and High Tech B2B Sales with an emphasis on early to mid-stage growth organizations. He earned his MBA from Brigham Young University.

Best Tip
“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”
Walt Disney
Contact