Haas alumnus Paul Rice, MBA 96, founder of Fair Trade USA, and serial entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki will share their experiences and knowledge with the Haas community as the business school’s newest executive fellows.
“We are thrilled to bring Paul and Guy back to our campus as executive fellows,” says Haas School Dean Rich Lyons. “Both have blazed their own paths as innovative leaders and will enrich our school with their insights.”
The Berkeley-Haas executive fellow is considered a part-time, professional faculty position. It was created in 2007 for respected executives and thought leaders to serve as advisers to the dean, faculty, and staff. Students also are exposed to the trailblazing ideas and expertise of Haas executive fellows through their participation in various events and programs throughout the school year.
Other Haas executive fellows include Twitter co-founder Biz Stone; IDEO General Manager Tom Kelley, MBA 83; and John Hanke, MBA 96, a serial entrepreneur who founded and led Keyhole, which later became Google Earth.
With 11 years of experience working with impoverished farmers in Nicaragua and less than a month’s tuition in his bank account, Paul Rice was an improbable MBA candidate when he arrived at Berkeley-Haas in 1994. But he used his business school training to accomplish his audacious goal: building a Fair Trade movement in the U.S. similar to what he had seen in Europe. Since building a business plan at Haas, Rice has gone on to turn Fair Trade USA into one the most successful and fastest-growing social enterprises in the nation, certifying around $1.5 billion worth of imported products last year.
Guy Kawasaki is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and was one of Apple’s first evangelists in the early 1980s. After leaving Apple, Kawasaki ran a Macintosh database company; wrote for Macworld and Forbes; started a software company called Fog City Software; and created the emailer and a listserv called LetterRip. He also started an angel investor matchmaking service called Garage.com, now known as Garage Technology Ventures, and founded Alltop, an online magazine rack. A longtime friend to Haas who has previously visited as a speaker, Kawasaki is the author of Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions.