Author: Haas News

Prof. Sara Beckman Honored at First Haas Pecha Kucha on Design, Nov. 5

| by Haas News

What do you get when you invite an eclectic group of leading design thinkers to answer an open-ended question, but give them a disciplined, haiku-like format? A pecha kucha – the lively antidote to the dreaded "death by PowerPoint."

The Haas community is invited to its first event modeled on the pecha kucha concept on Nov. 5 as part of a California Management Review (CMR) reception to celebrate Senior Lecturer Sara Beckman's 2009 Accenture Best Paper Award. The event, titled "Dimensions in Design: The Evolving Role of Design in Business," is co-sponsored by the Dean's Speaker Series. It begins at 5:00 p.m. in the Bank of America Forum, followed by the pecha kucha from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in Andersen Auditorium.

A pecha kucha (pronounced "pe-chak-cha," from the Japanese word for "chit-chat") allows presenters exactly 20 PowerPoint slides, paced at 20-second intervals, for a total of 6 minutes, 40 seconds. When Beckman found out she and co-author Michael Barry of Stanford were to receive the award for their CMR article "Innovation as a Learning Process: Embedding Design Thinking," she decided that rather than giving another talk on her work, it would be more fun for students to hear top designers address the subject.

"I knew this format would appeal to my design friends," says Beckman, who has experimented with mini-pecha kuchas before. "They can't just pull a presentation off the shelf, and they like that challenge. It forces them to be creative, allows them to show off a little, and even creates a bit of competition."

Among those who answered Beckman's challenge to participate in the pecha kucha:

  • Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk
  • John Edson, president of design firm Lunar
  • John Jamieson, Clorox's lead design and innovation manager
  • Barry Katz, humanities and design professor at the California College of the Arts and an associate professor in the Stanford Art Department
  • Peter Lawrence, chairman of the Corporate Design Foundation
  • Lara Lee, principal at Jump Associates and a former designer for Harley-Davidson
  • Peter Merholz, president of Adaptive Path
  • Elizabeth Windram, senior user experience designer at Google

Beckman gave them no further parameters than to talk about what business should know about design — and to stay within the format.

"We've a got a wide collection of people: web designers, hard-core product designers, design firms, engineers, and a design history professor," Beckman says. "I'm expecting a widely divergent set of presentations."

Since a Tokyo architecture firm developed Pecha Kucha Night in 2003 for young designers to showcase their work, the phenomenon has spread throughout the world and is gaining popularity for business presentations.

The event is free and open to the public. Follow the event live via Twitter at #haasdesign.

Faculty Spotlight: Thinking Outside the Box Office

| by Haas News

While production, marketing, and creative may claim most of the glory in the entertainment industry, it is distribution that is often misunderstood and is changing the landscape, Haas School lecturer and media insider Jeff Ulin writes in a new book.

In The Business of Media Distribution: Monetizing Film, TV and Video Content in an Online World, Ulin draws upon 20 years experience as a media executive to reveal how different media distribution markets — including television, video, and game-changing online and digital delivery applications — work together and independently to finance and maximize profits on productions. Endorsed by Variety newspaper, the book includes perspectives from studio, network, and online executives, and relates economic theory, best practices, market history, and current trends.

Ulin has worked as a media executive, attorney, lecturer, and entrepreneur. Half of his 20 years in the business have been at Lucasfilm, where he headed worldwide distribution for all markets (theatrical, video, TV, online), managed franchise sales for Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and managed the release of Star Wars Episode III. He also helped manage Paramount and Universal’s overseas video distribution venture.

Ulin currently serves in an "of counsel" capacity to Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati and teaches the course Media and Entertainment: Economic, Policy, and Strategy at the Haas School. His book was published at the end of September by Focal Press.

Haas Ranked #1 by Economist

| by Haas News

The Haas School of Business was ranked the #1 business school in the US and #3 in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit in a survey of full-time MBA programs that was published online today at http://www.economist.com/business-education/.

Haas previously ranked #6 in the world and #4 among US schools.

The ranking is based on a survey of MBA students and on data provided by participating business schools.

The online business education page featuring the ranking also featured Professor Oliver Williamson as the Haas School’s newly minted Nobel Prize winner.

Annual Fund Collects More than $2 Million

| by Haas News

A total of 4,141 donors gave $2.4 million to the Haas Annual Fund in fiscal year 2009, which ended June 30.

Of those donors, 3,873 were Haas School alumni, representing 12.5 percent of the school's total alumni. The average gift size was $585.

In addition to individual donors, corporations and other organizations gave $47,270 to the annual fund during the last fiscal year.

The Haas Annual Fund supports a variety of purposes in the Dean's Office, including support for graduate and undergraduate programs and other initiatives to benefit the Haas School.

While the Annual Fund didn't reach its goal in fiscal year 2009, the results demonstrate the support of alumni even during the most challenging economic times.

Berkeley-Columbia Gala Raises $14,000

| by Haas News

Lunch with Dean Rich Lyons and a barbecue with Senior Lecturer Paul Tiffany, PhD 83, were among the items that helped raise more than $14,000 at the Berkeley-Columbia Gala in September.

The fifth annual gala, held at the Claremont Hotel, attracted the highest attendance ever for the event.

The biggest-ticket item at the auction fundraiser was Tiffany's barbecue dinner and pool party for 20 guests at his Santa Rosa home. The item prompted a bidding war between the Berkeley-Columbia classes of 2010 and 2011, with the class of 2010 winning with a bid of $3,100.

The final bid on the dean's lunch for three at Chez Panisse more than doubled last year's bid, thanks in part to a lively performance and prodding by organizer Steve Hartman, BCEMBA 06. Hartman apparently outperformed a similar show by Lyons himself last year.

The live auction, which raised $8,200, also featured two one-week vacations — on Florida's remote North Captiva Island and in a 16-person cabin near Big Bear Ski Resort. The silent auction, which raised $5,845, included dinners with Columbia professors and getaways in Napa and Berkeley.

Undergrad Competition Tests Merger Strategies

| by Haas News

A team of Haas undergraduates won the 12th annual Investment Banking Case Competition by proposing the immediate sale of Alameda-based tech firm Wind River to semiconductor giant Intel.

Three finalist teams presented their cases to a panel of judges Oct. 6. The winning team consisted of Wynne Chyou, BS 10 (Business and Bioengineering); Jordan Xu, BS 11 (Statistics); Yi Yu, BS 11; and Yew Khor, BS 11 (Material Science and Engineering).

The team based their decision on Wind River’s hold on 18 percent of its software optimization market, its involvement with Google’s Android software for mobile devices, and a growing interest among hardware companies in buying software companies. The team recommended a sale price of $10 per share to $11.50 per share.

The recommendation affirmed Intel's actual acquisition of Wind River, a software optimization firm, in July for $11.50 per share.

“I learned a good amount about valuation techniques, the tech industry, and general M&A strategies, but something I wouldn't be able to learn without this type of case competition is what 'team synergy' is really about,” says Chyou. “Each member brought a unique strength to the group in order to cover all bases.”

The competition was judged by Wind River CEO Ken Klein and CFO Ian Halifax; Lev Finkelstein, a vice president in Goldman Sachs' investment banking division; Nick Giovanni, a managing director in Goldman Sachs' investment banking division; and Haas Lecturer Steve Etter. The competition was hosted by Goldman Sachs and the Haas Undergraduate Program.

State Controller, PG&E Chief Diversity Officer to Headline Diversity Conference, Nov. 6

| by Haas News

John Chiang (bottom), California state controller, and Bill Harper, chief diversity officer at Pacific Gas & Electric (top), will give keynote speeches at the fifth annual Haas Diversity in Business Conference on Nov. 6 at the International House.

The theme of the conference is "Diversity: From Buzzword to Action." Conference co-chair Michelle Florendo, MBA 10, explains, "We would like to challenge students to think about diversity beyond recruiting and retention and consider how the skill of being able to manage differences and leverage differing perspectives is essential to a future business leader’s success."

Florendo is co-chairing the conference with Haas undergraduate Leoni Podoan, BS 10.

The conference will feature a panel discussion on best practices in recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce. It also will include interactive workshops addressing the role of diversity in everyday management topics such as communications, team and group dynamics, and innovation.

Both keynote speakers are passionate advocates of diversity in business. Chiang, the son of immigrant parents, has pushed for more diversity on corporate boards. Last year, he asked CalPERS, the nation's largest public
pension fund, to consider a new initiative to address corporate board diversity. Subsequently, the CalPERS board
accepted a report stating that companies with more diverse boards perform better than those with less diverse boards. CalPERS said it will use the findings to encourage portfolio companies to demonstrate better performance and better corporate governance.

As chief diversity officer at PG&E, Harper works with PG&E leaders to ensure that there is a singular focus on promoting an inclusive culture and shared responsibility for diversity and inclusion throughout the company. Harper is responsible for ensuring the company coordinates and leverages its numerous diversity-related efforts, including its industry-leading diversity supplier program, recruitment and training efforts, employee associations, community outreach programs, and customer diversity services. He has more than two decades of experience leading procurement and sourcing initiatives.

The Haas Diversity in Business Conference is open to Haas students and alumni and the business community. For more information visit the Diversity Conference website.

See Latest Technologies, Win Prizes at Tech Expo, Nov. 6

| by Haas News

Technology companies will show off their hottest innovations, offer promotions, and talk with students Nov. 6 at the eighth annual Technology Exposition hosted by UC Berkeley's Business and Technology Association (BTA).

The expo will run from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Pauley Ballroom. In addition to company booths, the event will feature drawings for prizes such as GPS locators, laptop jackets, and a wide array of software every half hour.

Products on display will range from databases to videogames. Participating companies include Microsoft; Adobe Systems; and ASUS, which makes laptops, motherboards, and other products.

In addition to seeing cutting-edge technologies, students will have the opportunity to talk with company representatives about their products and gain an inside look at each company's culture and structure.

BTA is a Haas-sponsored organization whose mission is to bridge the gap between the fields of technology and business.

Admission to the expo is free. More information is available at the Tech Expo website.

Haas Discontinues Undergrad Summer Program

| by Haas News

In response to student needs, the Haas School Undergraduate Program will no longer require incoming business majors to take summer courses before starting at Haas in the fall.

Instead, the two upper-division business courses that students were previously required to take in the summer will be integrated into the regular academic year. In the past, all 350 incoming business students were required to take these courses during the second six-week summer session.

With undergraduate fees forecast to rise substantially over the next year, this action will remove a financial burden for undergraduates. Students will no longer have to pay for a summer session of courses, housing, or relocation expenses and will have more room to pursue summer income opportunities.

While the summer program helped build community among incoming Haas students, the Undergraduate Program is studying a number of other ways to help develop such camaraderie. Possibilities include a longer orientation and specialized experiential programs. More details will be provided as plans are finalized.

Prof. Oliver Williamson Wins Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences

| by Haas News

Hundreds of Haas School faculty, staff, and students toasted Professor Oliver Williamson today after he was named a winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

Williamson shares the prize with Elinor Ostrom of Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Both were recognized for their analyses of economic governance. The prize was announced in Sweden this morning by the Nobel Prize Economics Prize Committee. It is the fifth economics Nobel for UC Berkeley and its 21st overall in fields including physics, chemistry, and literature.

"It's undeserved I suppose," Williamson, 77, one of the world's most cited economists, told a crowd of more than 300 people packed into the school's Bank of America Forum to celebrate with Williamson. "I would describe myself as a conscientious teacher who had a lot of students who were tolerant and went on to do good work."

Williamson's work involves a multi-disciplinary field that he mapped out to study how varying organizational structures for markets and institutions affect economic activity. He is credited with co-founding "New Institutional Economics," which emphasizes the importance of formal institutions, as well as informal institutions such as social norms, and how they affect transaction costs.

Williamson has described his own work as a blending of soft social science with abstract economic theory. His insights have influenced everything from electricity deregulation in California to investment in Eastern Europe to human resource management in the technology industry.

Before making a toast to Williamson in the BofA Forum, Haas School Dean Rich Lyons said he "could not do justice" to the depth and scope of Williamson's contributions to the field of economics. "I don’t know how I'm going to contain myself," Lyons said. "I couldn't be more proud of the Haas School. I couldn't be more proud of Oliver Williamson. Olly, well done."

Williamson's son, Oliver Williamson Jr., visiting from Poland, handed his father the phone at 3:30 a.m., saying, "I think this is the call." The elder Williamson said he hopes this recognition "brings more attention and light to a field that has been largely overlooked in the world of economics."

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau said, "We congratulate Oliver on this well-deserved honor for his groundbreaking work in economics. … This award showcases the faculty excellence that resides at UC Berkeley and the level of contribution this institution makes to the country and the world."

The Edgar F. Kaiser professor emeritus of business, economics and law at the Haas School and a professor of economics in UC Berkeley's College of Letters and Science, Williamson is the author of several books, including an economics classic, Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications (1975), and 10 years later, The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting. The latter is said to be the most frequently cited work in social science research.

In describing Williamson's work, the Nobel committee said he "has argued that markets and hierarchical organizations, such as firms, represent alternative governance structures which differ in their approaches to resolving conflicts of interest. The drawback of markets is that they often entail haggling and disagreement. The drawback of firms is that authority, which mitigates contention, can be abused.

"Competitive markets work relatively well because buyers and sellers can turn to other trading partners in case of dissent. But when market competition is limited, firms are better suited for conflict resolution than markets," the committee continued. "A key prediction of Williamson's theory, which has also been supported empirically, is therefore that the propensity of economic agents to conduct their transactions inside the boundaries of a firm increases along with the relationship-specific features of their assets."

Williamson is the Haas School’s second Nobel Prize Laureate. In 1994, the late John Harsanyi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in game theory, a mathematical theory of human behavior in competitive situations that has become a dominant tool for analyzing real-life conflicts in business, management, and international relations. He shared the award from with fellow game theorists Reinhard Selten of Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitaet in Bonn, Germany, and John Nash of Princeton University.

Read the news release

Download photos from the press conference

Read the Nobel Committee announcement

View Williamson's faculty bio page

Hear from the Haas School's Nobel Laureate on his work

Previous Nobel Prize Winner: John Harsanyi

Professor Oliver Williamson answers press questions after winning the Nobel Prize (Peg Skorpinski photo)

Prof. Henry Chesbrough, PhD 97, Receives Leading Through Innovation Award

| by Haas News

Haas School Professor Henry Chesbrough, PhD 97, who has pioneered a new business paradigm called "open innovation," has been selected as the first alumnus to receive the school's new Leading Through Innovation Award.

Chesbrough has been selected to receive the new award in recognition of his pioneering scholarly efforts in open innovation, innovation in the services sector, and the processes of industrial research and development. The new annual award is being established this year to celebrate Haas alumni who have achieved excellence as innovative leaders and embody the principles of the school's Leading Through Innovation strategy, thus serving as exemplars to others in the Berkeley-Haas community.

"Henry Chesbrough has been a leader in developing new theories about innovation and has been especially successful in helping put these new ideas to work — the definition of Leading Through Innovation," says Dean Rich Lyons. "In so doing, he has created stronger links between our school and the business community. His work is also having a positive impact on our society as a whole."

Chesbrough is executive director of the Center for Open Innovation at Haas and author of two books: Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology (2003) and Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape (2006). In his books, Chesbrough argues that companies should use global connectivity to their advantage by seeking external ideas and technologies beyond their own walls while sharing internal ideas they can’t use with other firms.

Chesbrough also founded the Berkeley Innovation Forum – a group of 30 companies in a wide range of industries that meets twice a year to exchange ideas, experiences, and knowledge about innovation management.

Currently Chesbrough is researching his third book, which centers on the services sector. One of his subjects is Spain's quirky El Bulli restaurant, lauded as one of the world's best – and most experimental – restaurants in the world. Its menu relies on the research of an outsider: Herve This, a French chemist who pioneered molecular gastronomy, making possible such creations as slinky-shaped spirals of solidified olive oil, liquid ravioli, and frozen chocolate air.

While Chesbrough began his research with a Silicon Valley focus, he says his theories extend across all sectors, from consumer goods to pharmaceuticals. Although many companies are still unfamiliar or resistant to open innovation, Chesbrough finds particular satisfaction in the fact that more and more of his students are going on to jobs with “open innovation” in the title.

“Students call me and say they are doing exactly what we talked about in class. They are the ones putting it into practice," he says. “Then it comes full circle when I invite them back to talk about it, to keep us current."

In addition to teaching MBA students, Chesbrough in a faculty member in the UC Berkeley Center for Executive Education's Open Innovation and Corporate Entrepreneurship Program.

More on Chesbrough

Computing and Media Services Reorganizes

| by Haas News

To deliver more seamless technology and support services, Haas Computing Services and Media Services have been restructured into a new integrated organizational unit, Chief Information Officer Lyle Nevels announced Oct. 1.

The new unit is called Enterprise Computing and Service Management (ECSM), which Nevels oversees. The reorganization included broadening the role of CTO Zane Cooper to cover computing and media services technology architecture, changing the management reporting structure, and realigning support staff to best match individual skills against customer needs.

The goal of the restructuring is to create an even more strategically driven, services-focused, and trusted organization, says Nevels.

Former Yahoo! Marketing Chief Offers Mentoring

| by Haas News

David Riemer, former vice president of marketing for Yahoo!, has been appointed to serve a second year as a Haas School executive-in-residence and is particularly interested in mentoring more students, Dean Rich Lyons announced.

Riemer is available to talk with students during regular office hours, from noon to 2:00 p.m. every Tuesday in F555. He is also available by email at [email protected].

During his first year as a Haas executive-in-residence, Riemer helped dozens of students with business ideas, class projects, case competitions, and the Global Social Venture Competition. He also has provided career advice and helped students with networking efforts, among many other things.

In addition to mentoring students, Riemer's role as executive-in-residence involves giving guest lectures and coaching Haas@Work participants.

Outside of Haas, Riemer recently founded two companies: Box Out Industries to advise startups, especially in the consumer tech and Internet space, and a theater production company.

Riemer began his marketing career as an account executive at J. Walter Thompson in 1985 and later became President of JWT/West. He entered the Internet industry in 1998 as senior VP of marketing for Quokka Sports, an Internet sports network. He went on to work for Yahoo! in several senior marketing roles from 2002 to 2008, leading marketing for virtually all of the company’s products across its customer base of 500 million users.

More information about Riemer is available on his Haas faculty webpage.

Haas to Honor Financier and Philanthropist Richard Blum, BS 58, MBA 59, at Gala

| by Haas News

Haas School alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends are invited to celebrate the school and honor 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Richard Blum, BS 58, MBA 59, at the annual Haas Gala on Friday, Nov. 6, at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

The black-tie-optional event will start with a reception at 6:30 p.m., followed by dinner, award presentations, and for the first time, live music and dancing.

The evening will honor Blum in recognition of the enduring support, exceptional service, and strong leadership that he has shown to the Haas School and UC Berkeley. Blum, a Haas board member, is chairman of Blum Capital Partners and founder and chairman of the American Himalayan Foundation. He also founded UC Berkeley's Richard C. Blum Center for Developing Economies and is a past chair and current member of the UC Board of Regents.

"Dick Blum is an exemplar of the type of leader that Berkeley-Haas strives to produce," says Dean Rich Lyons. "A pioneering businessman, he invested in Asia decades before others, but didn't stop there. He also dedicated himself to improving the lives of people in remote regions of Asia through his philanthropy and hard work."

During the gala, Haas School Professor and alumnus Henry Chesbrough, PhD 97, also will be recognized as the first recipient of the school's new Leading Through Innovation Award. (See related article on Chesbrough and the award.)

In addition, the Haas School will honor members of the Haas Leadership Society; Martha Gerhan, BCEMBA 03, recipient of the Raymond E. Miles Alumni Service Award; Filip Nowak, BS 08, winner of the UC Berkeley Young Bear Award; and HAN Shanghai, winner of the Haas Alumni Network Chapter of the Year Award.

To attend the Gala, RSVP by October 23 at the Gala website.

Infosys Consulting Chief to Talk on Leadership and Networking, Oct. 20

| by Haas News

Stephen Pratt, CEO and managing director of Infosys Consulting, will speak on “Leadership and Networking from the CEO Perspective” on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 1:00 p.m. in the Wells Fargo Room.

Pratt’s talk is part of the annual Career Management Conference for first-year full-time MBA students and is being co-sponsored by the Dean’s Speaker Series. The entire Haas community is invited to attend, with seats available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Pratt, who also serves as the head of consulting solutions for Infosys Technologies, has more than 20 years of experience in business consulting. He was part of the founding team of Infosys Consulting, now the consulting subsidiary of Infosys. Consulting magazine listed Pratt among the top 25 consultants in the world in 2003 and 2005.

Infosys, Indian's second-largest IT services firm, has been voted the “Most Admired Indian Company” in the Wall Street Journal’s annual Asia 200 survey for 10 years in a row. The outsourcing firm was ranked #25 this year in BusinessWeek’s InfoTech 100 listing of the world’s best performing technology companies.

Before joining Infosys, Pratt worked for 12 years as a senior partner at Deloitte Consulting, where he was the top-selling partner for two years and founded the customer relationship management practice.

A light lunch will be served at the event. For more information, contact Meg Fellner.

Haas School Alumnus and Friend Don Fisher Dies

| by Haas News

Don FisherDon Fisher, BS 51, chairman emeritus and founder of Gap Inc., passed away Sunday, Sept. 27, at the age of 81, following a long battle with cancer. Fisher was a long-time member of the Haas Board, which advises the dean on strategic and policy innovations, and recently served as the board’s chair.

“Don believed that education is the single most important social responsibility we have,” said Dean Rich Lyons. “Don was always there for me — with advice and deep perspective. His legacy will be part of Haas forever. We will miss him greatly.”

Don and wife, Doris, Fisher gave $5 million to establish both the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Planning and the Fisher Center for the Strategic Use of Information Technology at Haas. They made several generous gifts to the Haas School’s building campaign. The Doris and Don Fisher Gate, the western entrance to our Haas campus, was named in their honor. They also gave generously to several UC Berkeley causes, most prominently the Athletics Department.

Don and Doris Fisher opened their first Gap store in 1969 on San Francisco’s Ocean Avenue. They built the company into one of the world’s leading apparel retailers, with other brands and stores including GapKids, Banana Republic, and Old Navy. Fisher retired as Gap’s chairman in 2004, the year the company’s sales peaked at $16.3 billion. He remained a member of the board with the title chairman emeritus.

Fisher served on the board of trustees of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and was a director of the Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco, as well as a governor of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He was a member of the California State Board of Education and a director of EdVoice, KIPP Charter Public Schools, and Teach for America.

Since 2003, the Fishers have hosted the San Francisco Haas Alumni Celebration at Gap headquarters every spring, inviting the Haas community to hear thought-provoking conversations with leading-edge speakers and to enjoy the Fisher’s renowned collection of modern art, part of which is on display in the building.

In recognition of his professional achievements and support of the Haas and Berkeley , Fisher was honored in 1986 as the Haas School Alumnus of the Year and was named the California Alumni Association’s Alumnus of the Year in 2007 — the highest honor given to a graduate of UC Berkeley.

He is survived by his wife, Doris, also a great friend to the Haas School, and their three sons and ten grandchildren.

Design Eye for Tech Program: Sara Beckman Leads MOT

| by Haas News

Senior Lecturer Sara Beckman has been named the new co-faculty director of the Management of Technology (MOT) Program, a partnership between Haas and the College of Engineering.

MOT, which focuses on the use of technology to obtain competitive advantage, brings MBA and engineering students together in the classroom. Beckman's charge at MOT includes exploring new opportunities and integrating the program more tightly with the Haas School's "Leading Through Innovation" emphasis on developing leaders who know how to put new ideas to work.

"The extension of MOT toward this broad concept of innovation opens up exciting new directions for the program's future," says Dean Rich Lyons. "Professor Beckman's vision and expertise will be of great benefit to the school and the program."

Beckman's efforts pioneering the study of product development and design thinking in the MBA curriculum were a key factor that led BusinessWeek to name Haas one of the world's top design schools in the world.

Beckman will be joined by Professor Shmuel Oren, who will serve as the faculty director for the College of Engineering. Beckman and Oren are taking on responsibilities previously held by Haas Professor Rashi Glazer and Professor David Dornfeld from the College of Engineering.

MOT Executive Director Andrew Isaacs will now serve as the program’s director of new programs, including studying a major new initiative within MOT. He will also continue to teach in MOT, which is now part of the new Institute for Business Innovation at Berkeley-Haas, under the leadership of Professor Michael Katz.

Gubernatorial Candidate and Former Haas Dean Tom Campbell to Speak, Nov. 4

| by Haas News

California gubernatorial candidate and former Haas Dean Tom Campbell will return to Berkeley Nov. 4 to give a talk titled "Political Leadership in a World of Suspicion."

Campbell will speak to the Haas community from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, in Andersen Auditorium as part of the Dean's Speaker Series. Registration for the event is required.

In his talk, Campbell will explore the many instances in which members of the public don't believe the stated reasons behind policy initiatives, thus undermining trust in the integrity of the political leaders. Campbell plans to cite such examples as the rationales for the war in Iraq and for staying in Afghanistan, the initiatives in California last May, the health care bill, and financial services regulation.

A former US congressman and California state senator representing the Santa Clara district in the South Bay, Campbell is now running for governor of California.

Campbell served as dean of the Haas School from 2002 to 2008; he took a one-year sabbatical during his tenure to serve as director of finance under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Since stepping down as dean, he has remained a professor at the Haas School but took a leave to teach at the Chapman School of Law in Orange, Calif.

During Campbell's deanship, Haas expanded several academic programs, increased fundraising to record levels, improved its showing in several major business school rankings, and launched several initiatives in socially responsible business and nonprofit management.

Prior to joining the Haas School in 2002, Campbell was a law professor at Stanford University Law School for 19 years. He was elected five times to represent the Silicon Valley area of California in the US Congress. Campbell also was elected as a California state senator in 1993.

For more details on the Dean's Speaker Series, visit haas.berkeley.edu/haas/about/deansspeakers.html.

Financial Reporting Conference Goes Global

| by Haas News

The move toward international standards in the face of a challenging economic climate will be the focus of the Haas School’s 20th annual Conference on Financial Reporting, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, at San Francisco’s Westin St. Francis Hotel.

International Accounting Standards Board Member Prabhakar Kalavacherla will give the morning keynote address. Dean Rich Lyons will give the opening remarks and present the Berkeley Award for Distinguished Contributions to Financial Reporting. The award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated courage, leadership, stewardship, or other meritorious performance in providing financial information useful to investors in making investment decision.

This year's conference, titled “Facing the Challenging Economic and Reporting Environment,” will center on preparing for the move to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the impact of the latest regulatory initiatives on US entities, and the challenges of financial statement disclosures.

The conference brings together hundreds of financial executives, standards setters, enforcement officials, and professional and academic accountants to stay current on regulatory changes, discuss improvements, and promote the advancement of quality financial reporting useful to investors.

Early-bird registration runs through Oct. 6, offering a $30 individual discount and a $50 per-person discount for groups of six or more. An academic discount is available for full-time faculty. Register at groups.haas.berkeley.edu/accounting. For a complete conference schedule, visit groups.haas.berkeley.edu/accounting/conferences&programs/20annual/#schedule.

Vote Online for Alums’ Coffee Recycling Firm

| by Haas News

Support Haas alumni Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez, both BS 09, by casting a vote for their startup BTTR Ventures, which sells mushrooms grown from coffee grounds and is a finalist in a BBC/Newsweek competition.

The pair's firm, BTTR Ventures (pronounced "Bette"r; stands for "Back to the Roots"), is one of 12 finalists in the World Challenge 09. Voting for the finalists begins today, Sept. 28, at theworldchallenge.co.uk. The global competition seeks to identify and reward projects and businesses that bring economic, social, and environmental benefits to local communities through grass-roots solutions.

BBC World News will profile each of the finalists, including BTTR Ventures on Oct. 10.

Arora and Velez had their entrepreneurial "Aha!" moment that blossomed into BTTR Ventures when they learned in a Haas School business ethics class that women in Colombia and Africa used waste pulp from coffee plants to grow mushrooms.

A “closed-loop” uber-green business model that provided jobs and nutrition “was so cool,” says Arora. “We wondered if we could adapt it to coffee-addicted urban America.”

The pair did just that, thanks in part to a $5,000 prize from Berkeley’s 2009 Bears Breaking Boundaries Competition. BTTR Ventures now produces 500 pounds of shiitake and oyster mushrooms a week. Whole Foods Market buys the entire stock, selling the edibles for $8 to $12 a pound at Northern California stores. Peet’s and other local coffee houses donate grounds, keeping tons of waste out of the landfill. And post-harvest grounds rich in protein and nutrients are donated to local nonprofit urban farms for compost.

“Nikhil and I truly believe that doing business and doing good do not have to be separate philosophies,” Velez says. “We were enlightened by mushrooms.”

Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora, both BS 09