Haas Innovations Shine in Big Ideas @ Berkeley

Grand Prize Winners, Cashify

A team of Haas Undergraduates won the Big Ideas @ Berkeley grand prize and two other Haas teams took first place in their categories, all emerging from an original field of 160 teams and 550 students across 75 majors and 5 UC campuses.

Cashify, a team made up Shuonan Chen, Justin Chu, both BS 13, and Virgina Chung, BS 12, took home $7,500 for winning the Financial Literacy category and $5,000 in grand prize money for their plans to develop an online “edu-tainment” platform designed to teach new students about finances.

As part of the Cashify curriculum, users will complete tasks for points that can be put toward purchases, such as campus supplies or event tickets. “We’ve all seen fellow students really struggle with their finances,” said Chu. “Our goal is to reach as many minds as possible and make learning about personal finances accessible, fun and useful.” (Read more about Cashify in this post on the Undergraduate Student Blog.)

Emmunify, First Prize in Maternal & Child Health category

Emmunify, a team made up of MBA students Sanat Kamal Bahl, Anandamoy Sen, and Erik Krogh-Jespersen, all second-year students in the Evening & Weekend MBA Program, and members from the Schools of Information and Public Health, won first place in the Maternal & Child Health category and took second in the grand prize competition. Their venture simplifies the immunization process for villagers and health workers in rural India through SMS text and voice messaging technology and has the potential to decrease the number of preventable child deaths. (Read about this team’s win in the UC Berkeley Digital Health Hackathon.)

AMASS Media, with Haas team members John Chang, Clayton Yan, and Hannah Yang, all BS 12, and Carolyn Kao, BS 14,  won in the Creative Expression for Social Justice category. AMASS will connect nonprofits with amateur and early-career videographers seeking to build portfolios to create a way for both to advance their agendas and bring greater public awareness to social justice issues.

Now in its sixth year, Big Ideas @ Berkeley aims to encourage student engagement with the world, helping them develop innovative projects with the potential to solve pressing societal problems in communities at home and abroad. The competition is made possible through the generous support of key donors, including the Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation.

Cashify photo L. to R.: Judge Andrik Cardenas, Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership; Haas Undergrads and Cashify team members Justin Chu, Shuonan Chen, and Virginia Chung; Team Mentor David Williams, UCB’s Financial Aid and Scholarships Office; and Judge Andrew Rudd, chair of the Rudd Family Foundation.

Emmunify photo: Emmunify’s Berkeley MBA students are Sanat Kamal Bahl (far l.), Anandamoy Sen (3rd from r.), and Erik Krogh-Jespersen (far r.), all MBA 14. They are pictured with their Public Health partners Jessica Watterson, Professor Julia Walsh, and Emily Murphy.

Student Teams Compete for Capital in Pitching to the Stars

By William Rindfuss, executive director of strategic programs and Lecturer, Haas Finance Group

Team Blue was feeling good following its investment strategy pitch…

They executed back-tests instead of back-flips, sought “alpha” instead of fame, and competed in suits rather than…  what they wear on that show.

MBA teams in the Haas Investment Fund course pitched their investment strategies to a panel of judges on May 6^th, competing for allocations of capital from a dedicated fund that the teams will now use to execute those strategies.  HIF is the finance experiential learning course in the Innovative Leader curriculum, in which students explore their own areas of unique insight, anticipate catalysts for change in those areas, and train on portfolio analytics tools — all to develop unique investment strategies. In working as members of teams they also develop the capabilities of framing problems and opportunities, experimenting to learn, managing complexity and uncertainty, and influencing beyond authority.

The three judges — including a hedge fund manager and a former chief investment officer and with two Berkeley MBAs and two PhDs among them – were a bit unnerving before the competition but then wholly inspiring during the presentations.  Feedback was equal parts praise and constructive suggestions, with a particular focus on prospects for achieving true “alpha” — or market-beating returns — through the strategies, while closely evaluating and managing risk.

Team Blue pitched a multi-manager strategy that capitalizes on areas of experience and insight among the teammates, identifying potential price catalysts through fundamental analysis and selecting a portfolio of under-covered small-cap stocks.  Team Gold focused on the semiconductor and biotech spaces, gearing buy/sell decisions off an aggregator of mentions in online media — following extensive testing of this data.

One member of Team Blue who found it “extremely valuable to be in a professional setting pitching our investment ideas,” said the feedback was “concrete and actionable, and will definitely make our portfolio perform better over the next six months.”

…while members of Team Gold were feeling even better at the post-pitch celebration, here with judge Minder Cheng.

A member of Team Gold added that it was “invaluable that the judges had direct experience with our specific type of strategy and could pass lessons on to us.”

In the end, the judges admired both strategies almost equally, and allocated the fund 55/45 between the two teams.  After some adjustments based on the insights and suggestions of the judges, the teams will implement their strategies starting this month and will continue to monitor and manage their positions until December. The three judges were Minder Cheng, MBA 89, PhD 94, a former chief investment officer at BlackRock; Joel Drescher, MBA 05, co-head of equities and a portfolio manager at Symphony Asset Management; and Stephen Malinak, global head of investor analytics at Thomson Reuters.

This one-year, three-unit course is cross-listed between the Full-time and Evening & Weekend MBA Programs and is led this year by Finance faculty member Bill Rindfuss.

First-year MBA Students to Second-years: You are HAASome!

A wave of appreciation is sweeping through the full-time Berkeley MBA program; Some 80 small bears were given by first-year students to thank second-years who have had an impact on their time at Haas. Noa Elan, Jasen Bell, and Anthony Valente, all MBA 14, were behind the ursine appreciation campaign, which came with a “You are HAASome” tag.

“We really wanted to thank second-years and, at the same time, build their commitment to staying engaged with the school and our own commitment to being involved with the upcoming class,” says Elan. “They went beyond themselves to help us and we will do the same.”

Sarah Morra, MBA 13, received a bear from first-year student Ellen Vanderwilt. “At Haas, your work never goes unnoticed,” says Morra. “Your classmates make sure you feel appreciated: anything from a hug after class, to a nomination for a scholarship award, to receiving this Haasome Bear from Ellen.”

Robbie Lizares prepares to part with his bear

Robbie Lizares, MBA 14, gave a bear to Minnie Fong, MBA 13. “We were both the only ones from the Philippines in our classes, so it was natural for me to seek her out,” says Lizares.  “Meeting her was like finding a piece of home…someone who understood me well in a very different place.”

Says Elan, “I joined Haas because I saw the four Defining Principles in every aspect of the school and have only realized, now that I am here, that it’s a stronger force that I could have imagined. The culture and atmosphere have really made me flourish.”

Student Energy Innovations Advance in DOE Competition

Alex Wooten, David Hirsch, and Paul Maa in Shanghai representing their venture, [Temporary Energy]

 

Berkeley MBA students are on two teams advancing to the regional finals of First Look West (FLoW), a national clean energy business challenge. Their ideas for bringing solar energy into low income homes and more easily finding ways to make buildings energy efficient will go head-to-head with 22 other competitors at USC on May 7.

Tom Spooner, and Jonathan Lim, both MBA  14, are part of BEEMS, an interdisciplinary Berkeley team pitching Building Energy Efficiency Mapping Services. The startup is based on licensing a an indoor mapping technology developed at UC Berkeley and, according to Spooner, “offers a fast, cheap, and effective service to assess energy efficiency opportunities in existing buildings.”

David Hirsch, Paul Maa, and Alex Wooten, all MBA 13, make up [Temporary Energy], focused on “making solar as easy as renting furniture.” With guidance from solar and energy experts at Berkeley and Haas, the team plans to improve access to solar for low income households by removing such barriers to entry as expensive permitting.

Temporary Energy recently became the first team from Berkeley-Haas to participate in China Europe International Business School’s (CEIBS) Innovate China case competition. Participation offered networking with investors, students, and government officials, as well as a visit to a special economic zone outside of Shanghai to learn about incentives for businesses there.

Berkeley-Haas was also well represented in the 2012 FLoW competition, with Will Greene, MBA 13, and his teammate Will Regan, a Berkeley Physics PhD candidate, winning the $40,000 third prize for Xite Solar, which has developed a new class of solar cells that could make solar a major source of energy production.

Testing Limits in an Escape from Alcatraz

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On Saturday, April 27, 27 Berkeley MBA students tested their limits with a swim through cold bay waters from Alcatraz to San Francisco. Here’s what it was like to take the plunge:

By Guest Blogger Minnie Fong, MBA 13

It’s 7:00AM, and it’s a cold, foggy, San Francisco morning. We huddle at the Fisherman’s Wharf, with wetsuits up to half of our body, warm jackets to protect our torso, and loud dance music to pump up our spirits courtesy of Bri’s “jammy” pack. Today was D-day: a culmination of two months worth of hard work and training for many of us.

 We sign ourselves in, get numbers on our hands, and listen to a short briefing. We try to protect our skin from chafing with body glide, use wax as ear plugs to protect our inner ears from the cold water, and give each other hugs both to warm up and pass on encouragement. Before we know it, we are getting on the boat, and heading out to Alcatraz.

 At 8:00AM, we were ready. One last briefing – instructions to aim for Fort Mason and Ghirardelli Square – and then the big jump. One by one, we climbed up the steps, held on to our goggles, and jumped off the boat and into the icy water.

 Surprisingly, the water wasn’t as cold today. Perhaps it was because the weather outside was really cold, so the shock wasn’t too bad. Maybe it’s because this is actually my fourth time in the bay already, and my body has gotten used to the cold. Or maybe it’s the adrenaline keeping us pumped. Whatever it was, as soon as you get in the water, you just swim.

 One arm in front of the other, breathing in between: I begin to hit a rhythmic stride. At first I’m surrounded by my peers, then everyone begins drifting apart. Before I know it, it’s just me and my little head, bobbing up and down the bay. I know the support boats and kayaks are around, but there are moments when I look up, and don’t see anyone else beside me. I begin to feel so tiny in the middle of everything. The waves are strong, and I swallow a mouthful of salty water every once in a while. Then I start thinking of sea otters. And jellyfish. And sharks. So I keep going. Because I can. Because I need to. Because I am stronger than I think I am.

 As I keep swimming, I feel the skin on my neck start to sting. Chafing. #$%*. Lauren said this will look like a hickey afterwards.

 The next time I look up and stop to take a break, a voice on a boat provides me with a little reassurance. You’re doing great, sweetheart. Just a little bit longer. You’re almost there.

 I begin to see the walls to the Aquatic Park in the distance. Finally.

 And as I swim to shore on the last stretch, I see my classmates who finished ahead, huddled together and celebrating. As I get closer, I realize that the noise I hear is them cheering for me.

 I finally get close enough to stand up, run to shore, and get swept off my feet by my classmate to celebrate the fact that I finished.

 We all did.

 Despite all the fear and uncertainty we felt this morning mixed with our excitement, we realized today that we are stronger than we think we are.

 And this, once again, is a reminder of why I love Haas. Because two years ago, I would never have thought that I would have the strength and courage to swim across the freezing, shark-infested bay.

 Today, a month before graduation, I found myself swimming across the San Francisco Bay, truly embracing one of Haas’ defining principles: Question the Status Quo.  But pushing myself further than I would ever have imagined was only possible because I swam today with supportive classmates in front of me, ready to provide anything from swimming tips, encouragement, good cheer, warm hugs, and the occasional celebratory lift to make sure we all cross the finish line. Together.

Congratulations to: Alia Al Kasimi, Levent Besik, Ben Buchanan, Borja Carol, Samir Das, Minnie Fong, Suresh Krishnamoorthy, Gerald Matthe, Elsita Meyer-Brandt, Dominik Sanya, Carla Vazquez, and Andrew Wisnewski, all MBA 13, and to Caroline Bas, Gustavo Brandileone, Pablo Cuaron, Stephanie Curran, Yuval Gez, Chao Li, Luis Lopez Nieto, Bri Treece, Yoni Shiran, Christine Tringale, and Nikita Zhilin, all MBA 14, and to partners Marina Brandileone, Rudy Ramirez, and Sebastiaan Verhaar.

Five Things: Women in Leadership (WIL) Conference

Keynote speaker Heidi Roizen

1. Leadership: Co-chairs Ruth Duggan and Jane Wong, both MBA 13.

2. The mix: Among the more than 400 attendees was a nine-year-old, who asked speaker Heidi Roizen, venture partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, “How do you get better at your job?”

3. Themes: What paths are you driven to bend? Is dreaming big and being a leader selfish?

4. Inspiration: Amanda Pouchot, founder of Levo League, an online community of professional women, challenged the audience to “ask for more” on Equal Pay Day (which was April 9), and Roizen shared war stories from the male-dominated VC world of the 1980′s, then inspired the audience by sharing how she negotiated a four-fold increase in compensation.

5. Perspective: “Today gave me a lot to think about.”–comment from male attendee.

Five Things: Business of Healthcare Conference

Conference Co-Chairs Tara English and Darya Rose with Steve Burrill

Each year, more than 1,000 students, academics, and industry professionals build knowledge and expand networks at conferences organized entirely by Berkeley MBA students. This series will take a look at recent conferences, starting with the Business of Healthcare:

1. In charge: Co-chairs Tara English, Darya Rose, both MBA 13.

2. In attendance: A mix of about 30 percent students, 50 percent professionals, and 20 percent academics/other. People from more than 120 different organizations come, split evenly between small companies and large ones that include Kaiser, Genentech, and UCSF.

3. Questions: How are companies helping consumers manage complex healthcare decisions? How are organizations changing business models to adapt to increasing consumer choice? And who will consumers ultimately choose to meet their healthcare needs?

4. Answers: Keynote speakers Steve Burrill, CEO of the life sciences financial services firm Burrill & Co.,and  Ken Shachmut, EVP  & CFO of Safeway Health, a company founded upon the supermarket chain’s experience in controlling healthcare costs, were joined by attendees, and a host of experts in tackling healthcare’s big questions.

5. Food for Thought: 85% of people who look at their genetics with @23andMe (a personal genomics co.) choose to share their data. An Assumption that people cling to privacy is wrong.

Career Advancement: VP of Product Management, FreeWheel

FreeWheelin’ VP Nick Ionita shows off the Blue and Gold

Student: Nick Ionita, MBA 13

Working as: Vice President of Product Management at FreeWheel, a B2B software company that provides advertising and revenue management tools for premium entertainment companies delivering their content online (ESPN, MTV, CNN, etc).

The path: Ionita joined FreeWheel as a product manager and was promoted to product director just before starting the Berkeley MBA Program. “When I joined, FreeWheel had about 20 people – we’re now up to 170 globally. While earning my MBA I was promoted to VP of Product Management and joined the company’s executive team. My experience at Haas played a very big role in that.”

Thrilled to: “Work with major media companies who are expanding their traditional television businesses online.” Ionita’s role has grown from product strategy and development to playing a larger role in the organization’s operations. “Start-ups face some unique management challenges when they start to grow.  Maintaining a loose, open culture while beginning to layer in the organizational process and structure required to continue scaling is a difficult balance.”

FreeWheel because: “Five years ago I was working as product manager at a large media company in Chicago. Every visit to SF for industry conferences made me realize that we were just sitting on the sidelines reacting to what was happening out here. I knew my next step had to be relocating to the Bay Area and I created a short-list of requirements: 1) Join something early stage where I had opportunity to be impactful, 2) learn from an experienced founding team, and 3) help solve a problem that I believed in. It was important to me that I join something that would help move an industry forward.”

Networked: “Working in the Bay Area you meet Haas alums at companies big and small. I constantly leveraged my Haas network for introductions to clients and partners as FreeWheel was growing, and now get many of the same requests from other alums building companies in the space.”

Inside FreeWheel: “I recently hung a poster above my desk (there are no offices) that says ‘Work like a Captain, Play like a Pirate.’  I think that sums up the work culture here perfectly.”

Best advice: “At work I made sure to discuss courses I was currently taking or planning to take and how I believed those were lining up with career goals I was setting. People (including your boss) don’t know what you’re learning and how that’s applicable to what you’re doing day to day unless you talk about it. Make your MBA work for you now, don’t wait until you’ve got your diploma.”

Just another Wednesday in the Berkeley MBA Program

Guest Blogger Kyle Rudzinski, MBA 14

A Day in the Life at Berkeley-Haas

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At Berkeley-Haas, we’re “overwhelmed by opportunity.” Every day is filled with something new.  Something different. Some way to grow. There’s nothing special about the day chronicled below. Just a another Wednesday in beautiful northern California.

6:00 a.m.     Wake up to “Suit and Tie.” Get the day going right.

6:02 a.m.     Eat a Berkeley breakfast. Yes, it involves granola and fresh, local, organic, non-GMO fruit.

6:24 a.m.     Head to Hearst gym’s rooftop pool. Way behind on training for the Berkeley-Haas swim from Alcatraz in April.

8:00 a.m.     Berkeley breakfast part two. Plug into the world… meaning spending way too much time on Flip Board and Facebook. Check out the day’s calendar.

8:27 a.m.     Watch Khan Academy video on macroeconomics. Finish macro readings. Feel up to speed.

9:18 a.m.      Bike to MBA Lounge. Meet classmates Samantha and Aisha (from Canada). Refine and prepare our macroeconomics presentation.

10:03 a.m.   Scurry to the Bank of America forum to dispense “invaluable” career advice to Paul, an undergrad leader of the Net Impact club.

10:19 a.m.    Remember I had no clue what I wanted to do at 22. Send Paul a follow up email reaffirming he’s headed in the right direction because, well, he has a direction.

10:20 a.m.    Collaborate with Professor Omar Romero-Hernandez and my Tesla Motors consulting team–Shelley and Eileen from the Goldman School of Public Policy, Vu from the graduate Chemical Engineering program, and Bart (from Belgium), a fellow MBA–on our carbon neutrality strategy.

11:09 a.m.    Slip into Strategic Corporate and Social Responsibility class just before it starts. Thankful for “Berkeley Time” (classes start 10 minute after the hour).

11:17 a.m.    Listen to Kellie McElhaney, founder of the Center for Responsible Business, connect sustainability and value creation in branding. A positive message to achieve positive CSR ends.

12:30 p.m.    Chat about my summer internship projects with Alumna Kimberly Petska of Dow.  Feel encouraged that big companies make scalable, positive impacts on the planet–and that I have a summer offer.

12:48 p.m.    Get inspired by Salman Khan at the International House with 400 classmates. The Khan Academy founder shares his dream and results to change education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere.

1:43 p.m.     Pledged to donate to the Haas Social Impact Fund, a fund in which students promise to give 1 day’s summer internship salary to support classmates interning with nonprofits. Received free CREAM* for the pledge. Great trade. * CREAM serves ice cream between two fresh baked, warm cookies. The store on Telegraph Ave has a line around the block all the time.

1:55 p.m.     Review that macroeconomics presentation one more time. Head to class.

3:17 p.m.     Nail the presentation. Sam and Aisha demonstrate unflappable poise. Every day my classmates impress.

4:05 p.m.      Catch up on emails. Hang out with classmates Kate and Richard (from Australia) in Bank of America Forum. Brad (second year MBA) stops by to set up a carpool to drive us to the Design and Innovation Strategy Club’s tour and happy hour at Stanford’s D-School on Friday.

4:37 p.m.     Chris Curtin, Senior Vice President for Marketing Strategy and Innovation at HP regales us with HP’s re-branding strategy and tagline, “Make it Happen.”

5:56 p.m.     Chat with Chris about HP’s sustainability and marketing integration alongside Professor William Pearce (former Chief Marketing Officer at Del Monte and Taco Bell).

6:02 p.m.     Reflect on no more first semester FOMO (fear of missing out) as I’ve found my own groove at Berkeley-Haas. Tonight I’m skipping the Berkeley Energy & Resources Collaborative, Entrepreneurs Association, and Marketing Club happy hours and a presentation at Haas on Social Bond Markets because other opportunities abound.

6:13 p.m.     Head to Berkeley Law with classmates Lindsay and Steffanie to pick up Jan (from Trinidad and Tobago) for dinner.

6:14 p.m.    Tiny puppy on campus briefly derails our journey.

6:17 p.m.     Stop. Breathe. Admire the beautiful sunset over the Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. Smile because living the California life is good.

6:29 p.m.     Eat authentic Latin America cuisine at Platano in downtown Berkeley with nine classmates. Plan our itinerary for a Spring Break trek to Cuba. Thank you, Berkeley-Haas independent study opportunity.

8:02 p.m.     Stroll to Haas Pavillion to meet Haasies for the Cal-Stanford basketball game (Go Bears!). It’s the first basketball game for classmates Vivek (from India) and Sandra (from Bulgaria via England). Exciting game.

9:38 p.m.     Brand management teammate Zeke (from Argentina) reminds me I need to finish demand forecasting for our team paper on a pharmaceutical case.

10:58 p.m.    Rush home. Turn in the assignment 2 minutes before deadline.

11:03 p.m.    Receive pearls of wisdom from MBA/MPH roommate Ashlee on the Southwest Airlines and Zara cases for legendary professor Terry Taylor’s operations class.

11:08 p.m.    Briefly catch up with my other roommate, Katie (we’re working on our third degree together after undergrad at University of Virginia and Langley High. Virginia’s well-represented at Haas!) and neighbors Jenn and Sakshi.

12:07 a.m.    Write this blog. Go to bed happy because it’s the people at Haas, my friends and classmates, that make it matter. Plus, tomorrow’s another day.

Backstage: Salman Khan’s Meet-up with MBA Education Club

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The student-led spirit at Haas recently resulted in a Dean’s Speaker Series event featuring Khan Academy founder Salman Khan, whose simple YouTube tutorials to help young cousins with homework exploded into a “one-world schoolhouse” with 3,900 lessons viewed more than 230 million times.

With an introduction made by Bryan Wong, MBA 14, Co-presidents of the Berkeley-Haas Education Leadership Club (ELC), Erica Butow and Tom Pryor, both MBA 14, took on the initial outreach and legwork to connect with Khan. The Dean’s office then helped to make the talk a Dean’s Speaker Series event—attended by more than 400 people. (Catch Khan’s lecture in the Haas video room.)

Butow introduced Khan before the lecture and says, “While I was thinking on what to say, I started to wonder how this was possible. How was I able to come from Brazil, from a non traditional background, and suddenly be there introducing Salman Khan to the Haas Community?”

“Thinking about it, I got to the core of what I am passionate about,” says Butow. “All of this was only possible because one day I was given opportunities and these opportunities opened doors, including Haas. As with most of us at Haas, I want to make sure I don’t forget about those who are not given the same chances.”

Khan stayed after his lecture to meet with members of the Education Leadership Club in a more intimate setting, an experience called “amazing” by ELC member Mike Ciccarone, MBA 13.

“At one moment, Sal Khan was trying to describe the way in which he thought virtual education might impact the labor market, and you could tell he was going into ‘teacher mode’ like in his videos,” says Ciccarone. “He asked for a piece of paper to diagram on and I was lucky enough to be sitting next to him. He drew a few scribbles in my journal to illustrate his point, and only afterwards did I realize that I now had an original Salman Khan teaching aid. I’m thinking of getting the page framed.”

“For someone like me, who wants to build a career working in the education space and bringing the lessons learned at Haas to bear on the problems of education equality, getting to meet Sal Khan was nothing short of getting to meet a celebrity or a hero,” Ciccarone says.

Butow says Khan exemplifies the mission of the ELC. “We believe that in order to have the impact we want, we need to multiply the effect we could have on our own by empowering others who will empower others and so on. We believe education has the greatest potential to change lives and break the cycle of poverty.”

Adds Butow, “We are really thankful to Deans Lyons and grateful for being part of this incredible and student lead community that keeps opening doors for us.”