Haas Welcomes New Board Chair and Members

Michael Gallagher, BS 67, MBA 68, has become the new chairman of the Haas School's advisory board, the Haas Board, and five distinguished business leaders have joined the board.

The new members of the Haas Board are Scott Galloway, MBA 92; Stephen Newberry; John Riccitiello, BS 81; Arun Sarin, MBA 78, MS 78 (Engineering); and Hsioh Kwang Wu. The 35-member board plays a critical role advising the dean on school strategy.

Gallagher, the retired CEO of Playtex Products, becomes chair after serving on the Haas Board since 2002. He has served as CEO of North America for Reckitt and Colman, a consumer products company based in London. He was also the president and CEO of Eastman Kodak’s subsidiary L & F Products, a maker of household cleaning goods. Before taking on top executive management roles, Gallagher held pivotal brand management positions with the Clorox Co. and Proctor & Gamble.

Galloway is the founder and chief investment officer of Firebrand Partners, an operational activist investment firm. He is also a clinical associate professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business and serves on the board of the New York Times. Galloway founded and served as chairman and CEO of Prophet Brand Strategy, a brand consulting firm based on principles developed by Haas Marketing Professor Emeritus David Aaker. Galloway also founded Internet gift retailer RedEnvelope and later served as the company's chairman.

Newberry is president and CEO of Lam Research, a longtime corporate partner of the Haas School. Newberry currently serves on the boards of Lam Research, Amkor Technology, and SEMI, a semiconductor trade association. Prior to joining Lam, Newberry spent 17 years at Applied Materials, where he held various positions of increasing responsibility, including assignments in manufacturing, product development, sales and marketing, and customer service.

Riccitiello is the CEO of Electronic Arts (EA), the world’s leading independent video game developer and publisher, where he also worked as president and chief operating officer. He previously served as president and CEO of Wilson Sporting Goods and president and CEO of the bakery division of Sara Lee Corp. Riccitiello also has held management positions at Clorox, PepsiCo, and Häagen-Dazs International. He left EA in 2004 as president and COO and co-founded private equity firm Elevation Partners. He returned to EA as its chief executive officer in 2007.

Sarin has been a leader in shaping the wireless industry as the head of AirTouch, Accel-KKR Telecom, and most recently as CEO of British-based Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile phone company. At age 35, Sarin became the youngest officer at Pacific Telesis, serving as vice president of corporate strategy. In 1994, he was instrumental in creating the Pacific Bell spin-off AirTouch, of which he was named president and CEO. In 1999, Sarin played a key role in the merger of AirTouch and the British company Vodafone and was named the CEO of US/Asia Pacific for Vodafone AirTouch. He stepped down as CEO of Vodafone in 2008.

Sarin was named the 2002 Haas School Business Leader of the Year and served as a member of the Haas Board from 2001 to 2003.

Wu is an advisory board member of the Haas School’s Asia Business Center. He is the founder, executive chairman, and CEO of Straco Corp., a developer and operator of tourism-related businesses, such as the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium, one of the world’s largest indoor aquariums. Wu is a council member of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the standing committee of the Chinese Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment.

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