At UC Berkeley Haas 2026 commencement, grads urged to be ethical leaders

UC Berkeley Haas undergraduate, full-time MBA, and evening & weekend MBA students in the Class of 2026 were urged to be ethical leaders who aspire to accomplish “difficult, ambitious, even wildly improbable things” at commencements last week.

Undergraduate Commencement

“Be the first in and the last to leave,” commencement speakerAdam Foroughi, BS 01, CEO & co-founder of AppLovin, told about 300 graduates of the Spieker Undergraduate Business Program. “Teach yourself the business as fast as possible. Ask as many questions as you can, consume as much knowledge as you as you can, and make as many connections as you can. Trust me. You do that and you will get noticed and it will help you in ways you can’t even predict.”

The class, which graduated last Wednesday morning, included students in the M.E.T. (Management, Entrepreneurship & Technology) Program, the Global Management Program (GMP), and the Robinson Life Science, Business, and Entrepreneurship Program.

Mohammad Khalil was the student speaker.

Undergraduate Program Awards

Faculty

• Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching: Professional faculty member Mohammed Nadeem
• Cheit Award – Graduate Student Instructor: Alexandra Dogaru
• Inclusive Teaching Award: Professional faculty member Steve Etter
• Berkeley Haas Culture Legend Award, given at the dean’s discretion to individuals who embody our Defining Leadership Principles and whose extraordinary dedication merits the school’s deepest recognition: Professional faculty member Steve Etter

Students

• Departmental Citation: Sophia Wang
• Defining Leadership Principles Awards:
  • Question the Status Quo: Guang Yang
  • Confidence Without Attitude: Allison Michelle Li
  • Students Always: Sandy Ha Vy Nguyen
  • Beyond Yourself: Erick Jose Mendes

Photos by Noah Berger.

Full-time and Evening & Weekend MBA Commencement

“If you ever doubted that you could accomplish difficult, ambitious, even wildly improbable things, today is your proof you can do anything,” Haas Dean Jenny Chatman told the full-time and evening & weekend MBA students who graduated last Saturday afternoon. The class included the inaugural cohort of MBA/MCS (Master of Climate Solutions) students who earned master’s degrees in business from Haas and climate solutions from the Rausser College of Natural Resources.

Fernando Mendoza, BS 26, surprised the crowd by attending commencement to receive his undergraduate diploma from Dean Jenny Chatman. Mendoza, a quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders, missed undergraduate commencement on Wednesday because of his required participation in the Raider’s pre-season training.

Commencement speaker Yamini Rangan, MBA 03, CEO of HubSpot, told students that “the choices that will define your career have nothing to do with the technology and everything to do with who you choose to be. What the world needs now is what the world has always needed. Leaders who care, leaders who grow, and leaders who give, and that is you—Berkeley MBA class of 2026. Go Bears!”

Michele Obermeyer was the EWMBA speaker Sabrina (Bean) Rodriguez was the FTMBA speaker.

EWMBA AWARDS

Faculty

• Cheit Awards for Excellence in Teaching
  • Weekend MBA class: Associate Professor Gautam Rao
  • Evening MBA class: Assistant Professor Park Sinchaisri
  • Graduate Student Instructor: Chiara Motta

Students

• Defining Leadership Principle Awards
  • Question the Status Quo: Divine Adesida
  • Confidence Without Attitude: Timothy Nguyen
  • Students Always: Ruth Boyd
  • Beyond Yourself: Jennifer Woo
• Berkeley Leader Award, given to the student who embodies all four of our Defining Leadership Principles: Wyatt Middleton

FTMBA AWARDS

Faculty

• Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching: Associate Professor Omri Even-Tov
• Cheit Award for Graduate Student Instructor: Jacob Moore
• Inclusive Teaching Award: Professional Faculty member Jon Metzler

Students

Academic Achievement Award: Benek Reyhan Cragg

• Defining Leadership Principle Awards
  • Question the Status Quo: Scout O’Beirne
  • Confidence without Attitude: Esa Tilija
  • Students Always: Colton Hess
  • Beyond Yourself: James Wang
• Berkeley Leader Award, given to the student who embodies all four Defining Leadership Principles: Gonzalo Vasquez Neyra

Photos by Brittany Hosea-Small.