CalBusiness

The full-time Berkeley MBA program launched the year with an orientation that included guest speakers Deborah Gallegos, MBA 95, CIO for the City of New York, and Peter Georgescu, former CEO of Young and Rubicam.

Jacob Taylor, CTO and co-founder of SugarCRM, and Zack Urlocker, vice president of marketing for MySQL, were among the executives to address the growth potential of Open Source at the September 29 Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum.

The opportunities for business growth in three of the world's fastest growing economies were the focus of a special Haas School conference, "Investing in Emerging Markets: China, India, and Russia," held on October 7. Robert Barr, Executive Director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology (center), moderated a panel on intellectual property protection with panelists Steven McCracken, vice president and general counsel with Callaway Golf; Chris Israel, coordinator for international intellectual property enforecment for the US Department of Commerse; Esther Kepplinger, director of patent operations for Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati; and Hannes Farnleitner, former federal minister of Economic Affairs for Austria.

An October 14 Haas School Teach-In on Hurricane Katrina drew a stellar line-up of panelists, including Professor James Wilcox, and Michael Lebsack, lieutenant commander with the United States Coast Guard, who assisted with recovery efforts. Acting Dean Richard Lyons sponsored the event, which also featured Haas School faculty members Severin Borenstein, Tom Davidoff, Dwight Jaffee, Karlene Roberts, and Nora Silver.

Barclay Simpson, BS 66, here with Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, was honored at the Haas School's Business Leader of the Year at the fourth annual Haas Gala, held on October 21. Dean Emeritus Earl "Budd" Cheit caught up with fellow former deans, William Hasler and Raymond Miles. Professor Janet Yellen, on leave to serve as the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, was the keynote speaker.

George A. Strait, Jr., award-winning journalist and assistant vice chancellor for public affairs at UC Berkeley, gave the opening keynote on "Why Diversity Matters" at the Haas School's first-ever "Diversity in Business" Conference on October 28. Dr. Freada Kapor Klein, founder of the Level Playing Field Institute, shared her experience linking employee needs with business strategy.

Last fall's lineup of speakers for the Management of Technology (MOT) lecture series explored how large organizations transform themselves by applying innovation and technology in a commercial setting. Louis Burns, vice president in charge of Intel's Digital Health business unit, spoke on "Health Care in the Age of IT" on November 9, while Scott Hubbard, director of NASA Ames Research Center, discussed "Advanced Science and Commercialization" on November 16.

Intuit Chariman Bill Campbell, who presided over an increase in Intuit's market value from approximately $700 million to nearly $3 billion, delivered the commencement address for the third graduating class of the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA Program on December 11.

Harmonic Devices, a Berkeley MBA and engineering team, won the global Intel+UC Berekeley Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge, held November 18 at the Haas School. The invitation-only competition featured ten finalists selected from five top business plan competitions from around the world and was sponsored by Intel Corporation and hosted by the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

Scott McNealy, chairman and CEO of Sun Microsystems, here with acting Dean Rich Lyons, spoke at the CIO Summit on November 2. The event was presented by the Haas School of Business at the Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco.

Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown spoke at a special dinner commemorating 15 years of success in the Young Entrepreneurs at Haas program on October 6.