Brian Richardson, MBA 08, communications manager, policy, at Internet giant Google, will be the second speaker in the new Diversity Speaker Series at Berkeley-Haas on Thursday, Oct. 28.
Richardson, former president of Q@Haas, will speak on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues at 12:30 p.m. in Cheit Hall Room C220.
Before joining Google last year, Richardson worked for himself as an independent management consultant with clients including Equality California, American Democracy Institute, and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. During the 2004 presidential election, he was director of specialty media for the Democratic National Committee, in charge of party communications for all community-based media, including LGBT, Asian American, and youth.
Richardson worked as a press secretary in the U.S. Senate for Sen. Mary Landrieu of Lousiana for a year, during the levee breaks following Hurricane Katrina and subsequent rebuilding of New Orleans. Before that, he taught for Teach for America for two years in New Orleans.
The new Diversity Speaker Series, which launched in September, is sponsored by the MBA Association and spearheaded by VP of Diversity Mariya Nomanbhoy, MBA 11.
“The series covers issues of diversity as they relate to Haas and to business in general,” says Nomanbhoy. “It is meant to educate attendees on current diversity issues and to keep these issues on the forefront of our minds as we navigate the business world.”
The first event in the series in September featured a presentation by Alan Lock, MBA 11. Lock set a Guinness World Record for becoming the first visually impaired person in history to row across the Atlantic Ocean. Lock and his rowing partner rowed across 3,000 miles of open ocean in a 24-foot rowing boat on a voyage that took 85 days. He undertook this feat to raise funds for a sight-related charity.
Lock, who served in the British Royal Navy, has lost much of his sight due to a degenerative eye condition. He next plans to mount a five-man polar expedition in fall 2011.