Haas Awards Honor Four Outstanding Staff

Haas staff were celebrated at a spirited luncheon April 14, marking a year in which the school launched the new Berkeley MBA for Executives Program, became a university leader for Operational Excellence initiatives, and set records in Annual Fund giving and Executive Education revenues.

Dean Rich Lyons also honored four staff members with Outstanding Staff Awards linked to the school's four Defining Principles (pictured left to right): Anthony "Joe" Magliaro; Fani Garagouni; Pat DeMasters; and Sojourner Blair (not pictured).

Beyond Yourself: Anthony, "Joe" Magliaro, Interim Supervisor, Senior Financial Services Analyst

Magliaro has navigated many organizational challenges, including the successful transition of payables from the Berkeley Financial System (BFS) to BearBuy. He designed and led the BearBuy training efforts for both the Business Services Office as well as the financial support staff of the many Haas program offices.

"His unfailingly positive attitude and communication and diplomacy skills have greatly assisted Haas when addressing customer service issues with other departments as well as the central campus offices," said Lyons upon presenting the award at the Bancroft Hotel. "He tactfully but effectively argues positions that are often contrary to procedural norms and his devotion to ethics and professionalism has been a model for team members."

Question the Status Quo: Pat DeMasters, Director, Part-time MBA & Alumni Career Management

DeMasters was hired in 2006 to improve career services for a then-underserved group of students and has since developed numerous programs to meet the unique needs of the part-time MBA and alumni populations.

"With very constrained resources she developed a robust set of offerings by questioning assumptions at every turn," said Lyons. "She is highly student-centric and works toward a ‘yes,’ even when it means removing some obstacles." DeMasters was also hailed for empowering her staff to think outside of the box to deliver services using technology and other resources, which has resulted in an array of virtual services.

Confidence without Attitude: Sojourner Blair, Assistant Director, Undergraduate Admissions

Blair’s accomplishments this year included coordinating twice as many part-time readers, implementing a new admissions interview component with alumni, and managing a long-term project to move to a paperless admissions process. She also piloted online technologies, such as advising webinars, to reach a wider audience of prospective students and developed a new admissions evaluation tool to record and analyze real-time reader scores (without a budget).

"It’s not just what she gets done, but how she gets things done," said Lyons. "She confidently leads teams and works in collaboration. Her colleagues describe her as being confident without attitude."

Students Always: Fani Garagouni, Assistant to Jennifer Chizuk, Senior Assistant Dean and COO, and Alice Kubler, Assistant Dean, Budget and Operations

Garagouni consistently takes advantage of learning and development opportunities at Haas and Cal, improving not only her own skills, but her unit and the school in the process. She was responsible for the successful transition to a new Café operator.

"Her learning and development mindset serves as an inspiration to us all to approach work with openness and curiosity," said Lyons. "She seeks support and knowledge from her co-workers, but does not shy away from leading efforts."

 Said Garagouni, "When you work with Jennifer Chizuk and Alice Kubler, you’d better be a Student Always! Every day I learn lessons beyond what I could have imagined. Haas is an amazing environment."

Joe Magliaro, Fani Garagouni, Pat DeMasters
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