Prospective Student Advising Team
The Center's Prospective Student Advising Team is a valuable resource to prospective students interested in the Haas School of Business and the Center for Responsible Business. Members of the team are available to share their experiences at Haas and answer questions about the Center, as well as questions regarding corporate responsibility and business education.
If you are a prospective student interested in learning more about the Center, please contact any of our eight advisors below to arrange a time to discuss life as an MBA at Haas.
David Bend
Haas MBA 2010
email: dave_bend@mba.berkeley.edu
Prior to Haas, David worked for the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s National Center for Environmental Innovation. His work at the Center focused on evaluating the environmental outcomes of EPA programs and building performance management capacity throughout the Agency. Before joining the EPA, David was a Teach For America corps member teaching seventh grade Texas History in the Rio Grande Valley. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Washington University in 2003. After Haas, David plans to work for, lead, and create companies that advance environmental sustainability.
Interests: energy efficiency, renewable energy, consumer products
Champa Gujjanudu
Haas MBA 2010
email: champa_gujjanudu@mba.berkeley.edu
Champa Gujjanudu is a MBA student at Haas and Co-President of the Net Impact Club. Prior to attending Haas, Champa worked as a Management Consultant at BearingPoint. She was initially based out of New Zealand and moved to the Bay Area for work and never left. She consulted to companies in various industries such as Financial Services, Healthcare and Technology in topics such as – new market expansion, process reengineering, strategic planning, procurement and sourcing with experiences in Asia Pacific and North America. As a consultant, Champa became disenchanted with corporate practices and their lack of investment in the environment and communities. She volunteered her time at several social impact organizations and realized that Consulting wasn’t what kept her up at night. While at Haas, she plans to pursue her interests in entrepreneurship, social impact, and environmental sustainability. Ultimately Champa hopes to help companies design sustainable, strategic social responsibility initiatives that demonstrate return on investment and eventually start her own consulting practice. Champa graduated with a dual degree from the University of Auckland in Computer Science and Business Information Systems.
Jesse Nishinaga
Haas MBA 2010
email: jesse_nishinaga@mba.berkeley.edu
Jesse Nishinaga is a MBA student at Haas and a LifeScan/Johnson & Johnson Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Graduate Fellow. Prior to business school, Jesse spent five years working as an inventory management specialist for the San Francisco-based specialty apparel retailer, Gap, Inc., where he recognized how his financial and operational responsibilities had a large-scale social, economic, and environmental impact on individuals and communities across the global supply-chain. During his tenure at Gap, Inc., he also served on a 2.5-year expatriate assignment in Tokyo, Japan, where he helped to lay down the foundation for the Gap Japan business by integrating two key functions into the local corporate infrastructure. Furthermore, while in Tokyo, Jesse co-founded Net Impact Tokyo, the first professional Net Impact chapter in Japan, to provide a platform for professionals in this region to share their innovative ideas and best-practices on making a positive impact on society through the power of business. Largely influenced by his Japanese-American heritage, Jesse hopes to pursue a career in CSR, specifically as it relates to the public role of private enterprise on issues ranging from education, healthcare, labor, and human rights. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Interests: Strategic corporate responsibility, integrated corporate philanthropy, supply chain CSR
Emily Smith
Haas MBA 2010
email: emily_smith@mba.berkeley.edu
Emily Smith is a MBA student at Haas and Co-President of the Global Initiatives Club. After receiving her degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University, Emily worked as a management consultant for Accenture in New York City. Emily’s consulting experiences ranges from IT, HR and strategic consulting for a variety of corporate clients. Emily then participated in Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP) where she consulted with a nonprofit organization in Africa. After her time in Africa, Emily came to Haas to study socially responsible business models. Emily is interested in pursuing a career in social enterprise and international development after graduating from Haas.
Katie Swinerton
Haas MBA 2010
email: katie_swinerton@mba.berkeley.edu
Katie Swinerton brings a background in corporate responsibility and sustainability consulting. Prior to Haas, she worked at Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), advising companies in the oil and gas, consumer goods and retail industries on projects focused on CSR and sustainability strategies, sustainable supply chain management, measuring the impacts of social investments, engaging stakeholders through online platforms, developing CSR reports, and engaging SRI research organizations and funds. Katie holds a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University. At Haas, Katie is a member of the GSVC organizing team and serves as the liaison between Net Impact and the Center for Responsible Business. Katie hopes to pursue a career that helps companies embed sustainability and CSR into core corporate business strategies.
Interests: Strategic corporate responsibility, sustainability, marketing
Kathryn Wendell
Haas MBA 2010
email: kathryn_wendell@mba.berkeley.edu
In her most recent position, Kathryn Wendell worked as a Junior Professional Associate in the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Department. She collaborated with government counterparts throughout Latin America to develop environmental projects addressing biodiversity conservation and climate change issues. Many of the projects involved forming public-private partnerships and bringing together multiple stakeholders—from indigenous groups to corporate leaders—to achieve the desired environmental and economic objectives. Prior to working at the World Bank, Kathryn helped to start-up the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association in Washington, D.C. to promote more business investments in developing countries. Kathryn was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador from 2002-2004. She organized a savings cooperative for women in her community while playing a leading role in developing Peace Corps Ecuador’s new small business initiative. Before Peace Corps, Kathryn worked as a loan officer for ACCION Texas, a microfinance organization that provides credit to low-income microentrepreneurs. Kathryn received an M.A. in Cultural Anthropology at Yale in 2002, and she graduated cum laude with honors from Dartmouth College in 2000. Her thesis research at both institutions focused on the impacts of mining companies’ social responsibility initiatives in the Andes region of South America.
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