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.”

Linked In: Broadening Access to the Game of Golf

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Working as an engineer in the oil and gas industry, Amara Aigbedion, MBA 13, received frequent invitations to golf with her (mostly) male co-workers. Not knowing the game, Aigbedion declined, but she noticed that missing a day on the links with clients meant missing out when “Others were out there making the lasting relationships important in business.”

So, when Aigbedion got to Berkeley-Haas last year and noticed Tilden Regional Park close by, she made the time to learn. She joined a large number of classmates in the “Tee It Up” lessons offered by the park’s golf course and says, “ I quickly got to know my fellow MBA teammates  and recognized the importance of being out there.”

“I had never had exposure to golf until those lessons,” Aigbedion adds. “And I have noticed that this is true for many women, minority, and international students.”

To remedy this, Aigbedion, VP of Diversity for the MBA Association, teamed with the Women in Leadership and Sports Management clubs to offer a Saturday morning golf clinic. The event quickly sold out, with more than 35 students signing up to learn the basics of putting and driving.

The outing was one in a series of “Beyond the Circles” events organized by Aigbedion. “These are designed to get people out of their comfort zone and regular social circles or cliques,” Aigbedion says.  Last year’s events included pottery and cooking lessons.

Due to demand, Aigbedion says that  she may offer another golf clinic. She timed this one so participants could sign up for the fall session of Tee It Up as follow-up and believes that several students will. Simply put, “It’s an important networking tool in the business world.”

Berkeley MBA Students Escape from Alcatraz

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By Guest Blogger Dennis Ducro, MBA 13

As happens so often in business school, an ordinary conversation can lead to great adventures and impact. When Federico Acabbi, MBA 12, mentioned he had heard stories of an Alcatraz Crossing swim,  I took the hint.

As co-president of Redwoods at Haas, I work to bring the natural beauty of California closer to our MBA students, and to challenge them. This event fit into Redwoods’ calendar, and the first edition of “Haas Escapes from Alcatraz” was born. It promised not become a walk in the park…the Bay is extremely cold, the currents are strong, and the island lays 1.5 miles out in the open water.

Eighteen MBA students immediately signed up for the challenge, and the team could be spotted regularly in the swimming pools on campus in the months preceding the event. Both amateur and former professional swimmers had made this their goal for the end of the academic year, before heading out to internships and full-time roles.

On Sunday April 29, at 6:45am, the time had come! The team boarded a boat that brought them to a deserted Alcatraz Island, and at 7:00am they jumped in the water! Classmates, a gorgeous sunrise, and views of the impressive Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco accompanied the students during their swim. Their white caps read: “No One escapes?! Challenge the Status Quo!” referring with a smile to one of the four principles that define Berkeley-Haas.

All of us made it to shore, and the supportive community that had showed up to cheer could read a great sense of achievement from the exhausted, but happy faces. Two students even swam without any wetsuit, which is truly unbelievable since the thermometer indicated 51F for the water. The shower, sauna, and brunch with friends were well deserved (as was the afternoon nap).

Top row left to right–Julie Miller, Sebastiaan Verhaar, Hans Lintermans, Dennis Ducro, Federico Acabbi, Mark Stolze, Brandon Piper, Bernie Murphy, Gene Boyle.; Two in the middle–Tycho Moencks and Ismael Ghozael;Bottom row left to right–Gustavo Ribeiro, Suresh Krishnamoorthy, Boris Kopinitsch, Jaime Szigethi, Dan Stotts, Ariel Dekovic

Look out for next year’s edition!

Haas Achieves: A Video Year-in-Review

Congratulations to the full-time MBA classes of 2012 and 2013. In just one year you have accomplished an extraordinary amount, from organizing conferences and international treks to winning case competitions. We are so proud of all you achieve at Haas–and have captured what we could (i.e. some, certainly not all!) in this Haas Achieves video. We know you have many achievements yet to come and wish you the best.

Video produced by Tritone Media

Winning Approaches: University of Michigan Renewable Energy

The Winning Team: Dave Hirsch, Rohan Ma, Dan Stotts, Josh Lich, all MBA 13

The Competition: Renewable Energy Case Competition, University of Michigan, Feb. 2nd.

The Team: Dave Hirsch, Josh Lich, Rohan Ma, and Dan Stotts, all MBA 13.

The Outcome: First place.

The Field: Fifteen other teams, including those from Columbia, Tuck, Fuqua, and Kellogg.

The Challenge: To move a Michigan utility closer to achieving 20% of electricity generation from renewable energy technology. The team analyzed the cost-effectiveness of both renewable  and conventional energy generation; conducted risk and extraneous cost assements, and developed a risk-minimizing strategy that included analysis of tax implications.

The Winning Approach: Diversification. “We suggested a solution similar to diversifying a stock portfolio that would minimize the risks associated with renewable energy,” says Stotts. Also, a dose of reality.” We emphasized that there is no ‘magic bullet,’ but rather a combination of best-practices to employ around locational diversification, smart grid, energy storage, and market integration. Behind these recommendations, we provided robust financial modeling the corroborated our story.”

Won Because: Judges praised the team’s thorough and consistent approach. Stotts says the team’s two “quants,” Ma and Hirsch, exhaustively researched the inputs to the financial models that eventually led to the final costs presented. “The judges, industry experts, could see our costs were logical and realistic,” Stotts says” Additionally, the team’s strategy was specific to the market in which it operated and highly applicable.

The H Factor: “There’s no question that Berkeley-Haas has a vibrant energy community,” says Stotts. “The access that we, as first-years, have received through BERC, the Energy Institute, and experiential learning really provided an intuition from which we could think through the problems.” The team also credits the Leadership Communications course with helping deliver a confident presentation.

Defining Principles at Work: “Everyone left their egos at the door in order to facilitate collaboration,” says Stotts. The team took a Students Always approach by believing they could learn from each other and incorporating peer feedback to arrive at a more refined message. “Our maturity and authority on the subject matter also showed the Confidence without Attitude” that was behind our teamwork.”

Why it Mattered: “These are important problems and this is the preeminent energy case competition in the U.S. We wanted to represent Haas and leverage our respective backgrounds to develop solutions.”

ZZZ Factor: Every spare moment from receiving the case on Jan. 27 to presenting solutions on Feb. 2. was spent on the case. The night before departure, the team worked until 2 a.m., then left to pack for 6 a.m. flights. Copious amounts of caffeine and 80′s pop via Spotify kept them going in those final hours.

Winning Approaches: UT Austin Real Estate Challenge

L. to r., and top to bottom: Mogabgab, Kepler, Eder, Simmons, McEachron, and Romero take on a market in turmoil

The Competition: Real Estate Challenge, UT Austin, Nov. 2011.

The Team: Full-time students Christian Eder, Josh Mogabgab, Derek Simmons, Nicholas Romero, and Tyler Kepler, all MBA 12; evening student Charlie McEachron, MBA 12.

The Outcome: Second place (second year in a row).

The Field: Haas came in ahead of Stanford, MIT Sloan, Wharton, and Yale.

The Challenge: How to buy a partner out of a joint venture involving three office buildings.

The Winning Approach: The Berkeley team used rights embedded in the joint venture agreement to buy its partner out of the deal.

Defining Principles at Work: “We learned to think about deals from the perspective of each party at the table—developer, investor, counter-party, lender—and evaluate each of their incentives to push a potential transaction forward,” says Romero of a Students Always approach.

The Motivation:  “We’re interested in how the built environment shapes urban areas,” says Kepler. “There is still tremendous opportunity to think creatively about real estate finance-related issues leftover from the recent financial crisis.”

Fuel of Choice: Take-out Thai food, Cut Copy mixtapes, Peet’s coffee, and Tony Romo jokes.

Demonstrated Prowess 2011-12: Education, management of organizations, marketing, entrepreneurship, and real estate.

• First-place: MIT EdTech Competition, Babson SF Rocket Pitch Competition
• Second-place: UT Austin Real Estate Challenge, Vanderbilt Human Capital Case Competition, Babson SF Rocket Pitch
• Third-place: Carlson Elite Eight Brand Management Case Competition

Winning Approaches: MIT EdTech Competition

The Competition: MIT EdTech Case Competition, Nov. 2011.

The Team: Full-time students Gordon Chan and Kawai Lai, both MBA 12, Mike Ciccarone and Flora Kuo, both MBA 13.

The Outcome: First place.

The Challenge: Marketing and CSR strategy recommendations for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on a new online tool that helps parents to help children with schoolwork. “The aim was to reach especially those parents who may be low income and lack access to technology,” says Chan.

The Field: Included Harvard, Stanford, and Duke.

The Winning Approach: A holistic view addressing parents and school districts as separate segments. Also, a creative presentation featuring mock-up of a parental awareness video (pictured above).

The Motivation: “There have been many broken promises in education reform, but I truly believe that technology has the potential to deliver in its promise to improve education,” says Lai of her interest in the ed tech space.

Defining Principles at Work: “We actually had other competitors tell us that our team came across as confident–yet approachable,” says Kuo.

ZZZ Factor: Six hours of sleep over two days.

Fuel of Choice: Caffeine and shrimp chips.

The Berkeley-Haas first-place winners of MIT EdTech Case Competition: Kawai Lai, MBA 12; Mike Ciccarone, MBA 13; Gordon Chan, MBA 12; and Flora Kuo, MBA 13.

Demonstrated Prowess 2011-12: Education, management of organizations, marketing, and entrepreneurship.

• First-place: MIT EdTech Competition, Babson SF Rocket Pitch Competition
• Second-place: UT Austin Real Estate Challenge, Vanderbilt Human Capital Case Competition, Babson SF Rocket Pitch
• Third-place: Carlson Elite Eight Brand Management Case Competition

Vetted

Dan Kanivas (right), MBA 12, with Lt. Col. Eric Kail, his battalion commander in Korea

Joel Gutierrez, of the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA Program, says his military experience has given him the ability to “tolerate a lot of multiple tasks and prioritize,” as well as “a great sense of humor to lighten the atmosphere when things get tense.” Gutierrez, BCEMBA 12, is one of a group of veterans at Berkeley-Haas with not only combat training  in common, but an interest in rounding out leadership skills they’ve honed in the military with those they are gaining in Berkeley MBA programs.

Blake Coleman, of the Evening & Weekend MBA Program, just returned from a flying trip for the Navy, and says Haas has “greatly broadened my spectrum of experiences.”

“The business-school approach to problem-solving often comes from a very different angle than the rigid approach taken by the military,” explains Coleman, MBA 13. In his Equity Valuation and Negotiation classes, for example, he has learned a more flexible approach to problem-solving and, particularly from Negotiations, that many problems have multiple solutions. As a military aviation man, Coleman feels he brings a mindset of having a goal, being objective, and “attacking the complex questions posed in class.”

Dan Kanivas, MBA 12, is finding that his U.S. Army background, including the time he spent in Korea and Iraq, is helping him find his leadership style. “The most effective leaders in the Army did not rule with an iron fist and they were well liked,” Kanivas (pictured above) says. “Even in the Army, you would invite dissent. But then, once the decision was made, everyone had to march to that step and follow along.”

Kanivas was a summer intern for the Prudential Capital Group in San Francisco, and even though there is no direct connection between fixed-income investing and the military, Kanivas says, “the interpersonal skills I learned in the Army are huge. You have to convince the customers to trust us and our team.”

All appreciate the welcome they’ve found at Berkeley-Haas. “Veterans need to know that UC Berkeley, and especially Haas, are very receptive to veterans and the military,”says Gutierrez.

A number of the vets connect through the Haas Veteran’s Club, which recently participated in a panel with undergraduate veterans to discuss the graduate application process. The club hopes to soon bring its 30 members together in a mixer with Berkeley Law veterans.

As for what veterans bring to Berkeley-Haas, Dean Lyons reflects on how those who bring the military spirit of service to their studies align well with the school’s four defining principles: Question the Status Quo, Confidence Without Attitude, Beyond Yourself, and Students Always.

Clubbing

One official week in and full-time MBA students have already been clubbed: They’ve worked through a Zynga case with the Digital Media and Entertainment Club (DMEC),  attended an “Energy Boot Camp” held by the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative (BERC), and heard Bain & Company perspective on the smartphone ecosystem, thanks to the Haas Consulting Club. Here is just a sampling of what’s happened in just a couple of weeks on the club scene–and what’s coming up:

A number of DMEC club officers, fresh off of summer internships at Zynga, came to Haas during O-Week to work through a Zynga Career Workshop with new students. Along with alumnus and Zynga Product Manager Matt Salazar, MBA 11, they gave an overview of the product management role and how games are designed. First-years then pitched game ideas for prizes. 

Zynga COO Marcus Segal addresses Digital Media club event

Those game industry contacts were leveraged once again the first week of school, when Zynga COO Marcus Segal addressed DMEC’s first speaker series class. Brain Guenther, MBA 12, serves as VP of Marketing for both DMEC and the Haas Technology Club (HTC) and says to watch for career treks to prominent digital media and technology companies, the annual DMEC >play conference, and a new case competition from HTC sponsored by VMWare.

BERC greeted students with an energy boot camp, where a crowd of people turned out to hear VC and legal perspectives on technology, policy, and business aspects of clean energy. BERC’s annual lecture on Sept. 1 features Samir Kaul of Khosla Ventures and UCB alternative energy Professor Chris Somerville, who will discuss a regulation, the role of large corporations in cleantech startups, and financing and deployment of clean technology.

The Haas Consulting Club welcomed some 80 people at each of their first two events: A management consulting primer and a discussion by Bain & Company consultants on the smartphone ecosystem wars. Watch for Consulting 101 on September 1, when a panel of 2nd-year students will discuss their internship job search and work experiences. “Interviews for management consulting start early and resume drop deadlines are coming up soon,” says Co-president Jarom Feriante. “The Haas Consulting Club has a lot of members who are serious about executing interviews successfully, and the time to start preparing is now.”

From Marketing to Latin American Business to Design and Innovation Strategy, if you’d like to go clubbing, visit the Berkeley MBA Campus Groups web page to learn more.

Digging In

Berkeley MBAs Bury the GSB in Golden Shovel Competition

It seems the Golden Shovel has grown mighty comfortable at Berkeley-Haas. The prized trophy from the NAIOP Real Estate Challenge will reside at Haas for the fourth consecutive year, after a Berkeley MBA team defeated Stanford GSB in the annual regional challenge on May 4. Evening and weekend student Charlie McEachron, MBA 12, full-time MBA 12s Dan Byrnes, Tyler Kepler, and Derek Simmons, and Environmental Design student Michael Song teamed up to win both first place and the audience choice award.

Team advisor Craig Davey, MBA 12s Charlie McEachron and Tyler Kepler, Environmental Design student Michael Song, MBA 12s Dan Byrnes and Derek Simmons, Livermore Mayor Marshall Kamena, and Competition Chair Dennis Williams

This year’s challenge was to present a multi-use development plan for three sites in Livermore, Calif. and victory was no easy feat: To determine feasibility of city-proposed uses or to propose alternate uses, the team consulted with more than 100 experts. “The Cal network served us well,” says Byrnes, “opening doors to very powerful people who certainly had other things to do besides help us with our student project.” Work lasted for two months and culminated with a 200+ page proposal, a rigorous Q & A with the jury, and presentation to an audience of 300.

“Livermore On Broadway”—victory, fully rendered

The team’s “Livermore On Broadway” combined high-density residential and mixed-use retail. “The judges were particularly impressed with our ability to understand the city’s financial motivations and constraints, and those of the three sites, and to propose a plan that addressed these in a difficult capital markets environment. Having an incredibly gifted architect on our team certainly didn’t hurt,” says Byrnes. “Everybody brought unique strengths to the table and it really showed in the end.”

This year’s win brings the lifetime Golden Shovel score to Cal 13, Stanford 9.

Who makes you proud to be Berkeley-Haas? Tell us in the comments below or share your stories with vgilbert@haas.berkeley.edu.