Co-founders from Chiron and Scharffen Berger Chocolate, a Goldman Sachs managing director, and the chief strategy officer of Pandora are among the business leaders sharing their experiences with students this fall in the classroom and at club gatherings.
Students in the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA Program heard from Pandora Founder and Chief Strartegy Officer Tim Westergren on Friday, Sept. 23, as part of the program’s speaker series. The Executive Leadership course taught by Frank Schultz (BCXMBA 256) provides access to additional executives beyond those enrolled in the program, including Dean Rich Lyons, Erik Blachford, executive chairman of Terrapass and former CEO of Expedia, and, still to come, former California State Controller Kathleen Connell, whose talk is open to students from outside of the course with prior permission from the instructor.
Undergraduate courses will welcome speakers from large for-profit firms such as Goldman Sachs as well as NGOs. Amjad Noorani of Pakistan’s The Citizens Foundation, the single largest non-governmental education system in that country, will speak in Shashi Buluswar’s Strategic Management in the Global Social Sector course (UGBA 192N-2) on Oct. 20. Goldman Sachs Managing Director Nick Giovanni will talk with Rada Brooks’ Financial Accounting (UGBA 102a) students.
“Technoscold” Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur, will discuss the consequences of blurred boundaries between fact and opinion in Evan Elliot’s Business Communication section (UGBA100). And students in Jennifer Walske’s Introduction to Entrepreneurship course (UGBA96-1) will take inspiration from Chiron Co-founder Edward Penhoet; John Scharffenberger, co-founder of Scharffen Berger Chocolate and co-CEO of Hodo Soy Beanery; and Earthbound Farm Co-founder Myra Goodman.
In Brand Management (EWMBA 262-1), students in the Evening & Weekend MBA Program will hear from marketing and brand executives from such companies as Cisco, Clorox, Apple, and Kaiser Permanente. Full-time MBA students with an interest in private equity and venture capital are gleaning insights from VCs including Noah Doyle, MBA 96, of Javelin Venture Partners and Jonathan Ebinger of Blue Run Ventures in the Private Equity Speaker Series course (MBA 294.4)
Student clubs are adding speakers to this already robust cast of leaders coming to campus this fall. The General Management & Strategy Club (GM&S) hosts Brocade CEO Michael Klayko on Oct. 20 for its Bi-Annual GM&S Executive Spotlight event. The Berkeley Real Estate Club is welcoming developers that include Pat McDowell of McDowell Properties.
Alumnus Alan Lock, MBA 11, already has returned to campus this fall to speak to the Haas Leadership Club in early September about his planned Polar Vision trek to the South Pole. Meanwhile, the Haas Marketing Club is hosting a speaker series with executives from Market Edge Associates on Sept. 28. And Net Impact will bring another alumnus, Kelly Mason, MBA 07, senior manager for marketing and communications at Omidyar Network, to speak on Oct. 13.