Berkeley-Columbia Welcomes Biggest Class

Seventy-six new students — the most ever for the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA Program — began their coursework as the program's eighth class on May 19.

The new class is five students larger than the previous one. Thirty percent of the class lives outside the Bay Area, including as far away as Brazil. One student works all over the world on oil rigs for Schlumberger.

The students come from a wide range of companies and industries, including Chevron, Google, Lockheed Martin, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Wells Fargo Bank, and even Cal's rival, Stanford University. A small number of students work in government, including the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the US Navy.

The class also includes a husband-and-wife team. The couple, the parents of four children, have roots in both medicine and viticulture.

The husband is a pain doctor in Napa, while the wife is a retired dentist. They own vineyards and a winery. The wife manages their wine brand and also owns and manages a grocery store in Point Reyes Station.

The class averages 11 years of work experience, and its average age is 36.

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