John Ocampo ’79 credited a little luck and a lot of hard work for his life’s journey, from growing up in the Philippines to immigrating to America to becoming a tech CEO in Silicon Valley.
He believed technology to be the great equalizer, making donations with his wife and business partner, Susan, to enhance STEM education at Santa Clara to help more people achieve success.
Ocampo was 16 when he started at Santa Clara University, where he received a full-ride scholarship and studied electrical engineering. Just three years before, his mother, Rosa, had moved him and his five siblings to the Bay Area after their father died in the Philippines.
“My mom was the ultimate entrepreneur. She packed everybody up, and off we go to this distant land, not knowing what the outcome was going to be,” he said. “That was a bigger risk than any risk I’ve taken.”
It was also Rosa who encouraged her son to study engineering, noting his creativity and inclination to tinker. “I thought I was just having fun,” he remembered.