Onehaas

From her early days at Accenture to her current position at Amazon, Caroline Lee has centered her career around people. In this premiere episode of The Crossroads Series, she sits down with Sophie Hoyt to guide us through her life and imparts lessons we can all learn from. With a background in recruiting, Caroline shares with us the mantra that helped her unlock her own strengths, tells us how to ensure everyone knows about our own “superpowers,” and teaches us about the importance of setting up clear boundaries between professional and personal life. She even takes us through her journey to become *drum roll please* an American Ninja Warrior.Episode Quotes:On Recruitment: "When you get the hire in, you're changing a life. I don't know if recruiters realize it or not because sometimes, you're just turning numbers. You've got requisitions, and it's not ever fast enough for the poor hiring manager, but at the end of the day, you're changing the life of someone. And I think that's

In celebration of International Women's Month, Sean Li, together with special co-host Keitha Pansy, welcomes Emilie Cortes, a full-time MBA class of 2002. She is the Treasurer at Compton Foundation and the Chief Financial Officer at Toniic.Emilie shares how being a "secret genius" paved the way for a finance career and how her love for mountaineering helped launch her entrepreneurial path.She also talks about how she got into the global impact investing ecosystem when she joined Toniic, a nonprofit organization with a powerful mission aligned with her passion.Emilie also explains the articles she co-wrote with fellow Haas alum Tracy Gray, which focused on community foundations and five action items that people can apply in their organizations, especially those focusing on gender equity or racial justice.Episode Quotes:"Somebody calls me the secret genius because I don't look the stereotypical image of what a smart person looks like. I like that triple threat because people have low expecta

Today, Sean Li and guest co-host Kellie McElhaney, a popular Haas lecturer and founding Director of the Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership (EGAL), chat with our special guest, Monica Stevens. Monica is a full-time MBA class of 1996 and currently the Senior Vice President of Wells Fargo Merchant Services. She is the first black woman on the Haas board and the Chair and Founder of the Haas Alumni Diversity Council.Monica takes us back to her early years growing up in a middle-class family, her exposure to many different cultures and mindsets, and her involvement in many international activities and government, particularly in school.She also narrates her time at the Navy, her early career path, and why she joined and quit Haas the first time before coming back years later. She then became the first African-American to win the Raymond E. Miles Alumni Service Award for her community service to Haas.Monica shares her thoughts on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and the community and across d

We welcomed Keitha Pansy from the full-time MBA class of 2002. She is currently the Managing Director at the Women of the World Endowment. WoWE provides institutional financial support to accelerate gender lens investing and promote impact for women and girls.Keitha takes us back to her background from studying accounting at Howard University to finance at Haas and why she decided to get her MBA. She also walks us through her 15 years of blended experience within financial services working with different big companies like JPMorgan and BlackRock.Keitha also talks about the year she traveled to different places to reflect and enjoy life for a moment. Finally, she shares how she got into impact investing and co-founding WoWE.Episode Quotes:Why she chose Haas - "When I stepped foot on the campus, it just felt right. I'm finding my tribe. It's just that easy for me. I had paired up with a first-year who took me up into the Berkeley Hills, and there was this beautiful view. And it's so vibrant in m

Today, in celebration of Black History Month, we chat with Jason Atwater from EMBA class of 2019. He is the Head of Inclusion & Diversity in Ancestry and co-founder of Black Roots, an employee resource group that champions black employees and customers to enhance Ancestry’s business. He also became the VP of Diversity and Inclusion for Berkeley Haas Executive MBA Program.Jason walks us through his career from being a sales engineer to digital marketing before pivoting into inclusion and diversity, which is his true passion.He lets us on the challenges he met while building Black Roots in Ancestry and offers advice on how other people can create a similar group within their companies. Jason also shares where to find helpful resources when starting a resource group and effectively position similar initiatives within a company.Episode Quotes:On why he chose to go to Haas - "The positioning of the Haas program, the focus on leadership, the focus on ethical responsibility, and the pillars, all of that just

In this episode, we chat with Henry Chesbrough, who coined the term "open innovation." He is the educational director of the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation at Berkeley Haas. He earned his BA in economics from Yale University, an MBA from Stanford, and a Ph.D. in business administration from Berkeley Haas. His research focuses on technology management and innovation strategy. Henry talks a little bit about his background from Michigan to Yale, then Harvard to Haas. He then explains the term "open innovation," a distributed innovation process that involves flows of knowledge into and out of organizations. He shares the three cycles that can lead open innovation to closed innovation and its risks and limitations.Episode Quotes:"Open innovation is an entry point into the domain of corporate innovation. The idea is that not all the smart people work for you. In fact, most smart people work somewhere else. No matter how big you are, no matter how good you are, you can't do it all al

Today, we chat with Marco Gottini, a Berkeley Columbia Executive MBA class of 2011. He is an IT executive with more than years of international experience in IT strategy, IT operations, and management consulting. He is currently a Managing Partner at Bizal, portmanteau for Business (Biz) Alignment. He is also a board member of the Berkeley Haas Los Angeles chapter.In this episode, Marco shares his younger years growing up in an Italian family who owns a winery, packing his belongings and moving to LA, his career in the IT industry, and deciding to go to business school as a challenge.He also narrates starting Bizal, explains what business alignment is all about, and the importance of having a business framework and clear business goals.Episode Quotes:On alumni engagement - "It was just so amazing to see happy people having great experiences. So, it wasn't just about the school. It wasn't just about allegiance. It was about having a good time with people that are technically your family."On hav

In today's episode, our new host Kenny Vaughn chats with Stephanie Fujii, former Assistant Dean of the Berkeley Haas School of Business and former Executive Director of Admissions. She has spent her career in human capital and leadership development, with more than 12 years of experience in nonprofits and higher education, selecting and developing future leaders. First, Stephanie shares the impact of COVID, professionally and personally. She talks about the most significant things she learned about herself and how stepping away from her previous life led her to have faith in herself.She also talks about her time as the Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Admissions for the MBA program, the Haas culture and why it's essential to embody all four defining principles, and why investing in culture is vital in any organization.Steph then shares where her passion for people and their stories came from, her dream of becoming an actor, and acting in theatres in her college days.Finally, she offers some wo

In this episode of OneHaas alumni podcast, we chat with Rhonda Shrader. She is the Executive Director of the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program and the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program for the Bay Area Node. Her previous experiences include founding and being an early stage member of startups in biotech, behavioral health, retail, non-profit, and AI.Rhonda shared her story from Harvard to startups and then eventually to MBA. She also narrated her consulting career in healthcare.Next, we talked about Lean Transfer, the class she teaches at Haas, her role as the Executive Director of the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program and the I-Corps program, and how these programs can help startups.Finally, she shared her advice on how to build and work with school or business partners.Episode Quotes:On the importance of spending time with the school community - "It's important. It's not scalable, but people need to know that you care, and that's the way to build a community.""A

In this OneHaas Undergrad episode, we are joined by Patrick Pan, a Fortune-100-bred and startup-tested leader in global strategy and consumer marketing. He is currently the Vice President of Stealth Venture, online education and media platform, and serves as the President of the Berkeley-Haas Alumni Network of Los Angeles.Besides being a frequent speaker on international growth, e-commerce profitability, customer intelligence, and brand narratives, he is also a certified rescue diver who occasionally surveys coral reefs around the world on marine conservation projects.Patrick talks about his MBA experience at London Business School, his passion for traveling, and his experience with early-stage start-ups and adapting to market shifts and trends. He also shares some of the most pivotal moments in his life that greatly impacted his career and what he loves about Berkeley.Episode Quotes:"As globalized as we can become, it doesn't necessarily take away the uniqueness of each market. People don't behav

On our third episode of the OneHaas Alumni High Impact Teaming (HIT) Series with Dr. Brandi Pearce, we have a conversation with Haas alumni Amy Fan. Amy completed the dual degree program with an MBA and MPH in 2019.During her time at Haas, she also launched her start-up, TwentyEight Health, a women’s health platform to provide reproductive and sexual health care, with a focus on providing access to underserved communities.  Amy’s experience growing up in Canada with public healthcare and her professional experience years working as a management consultant and for a start-up team providing direct consumer skincare, fostered a client centered and equity lens that she has brought to the design of TwentyEight Health.  Listen to how she has leveraged her experiences to design and build her team with intention and lead during this challenging time.Disclaimer: The views shared in this episode are Amy’s personal opinions and reflections and not necessarily those of her employer.Episode Quotes:"Haas has created th

In today's episode of OneHaas Undergrad series, we chat with Trae Guinn, Financial Planning and Analysis Manager at Sandler Partners. He is also the Chief Financial Officer at Shortstop Management, an organization geared towards professional baseball and fitness instruction. While here at Haas, he served as the VP of Human Resources and the president of the Haas Undergrad Black Business Association.Trae talks about his family, which is heavily involved in sports, how he developed his interest in finance and his career path after Haas, and some of the defining moments that impacted his life.He also shares his experience of being frequently stereotyped as an athlete and how he addressed stereotype issues when he became the Haas Undergrad Black Business Association president.Lastly, he shares his professional experiences and some of the valuable skills and qualities to move up in an organization, his passion for music, and his favorite thing about Haas/Berkeley.Episode Quotes:On breaking stereotypes - "B

Today, we have Robert Chatwani on our show. Robert was EWMBA student at Haas, class of '07. He was chief executive at eBay and Teespring before becoming the CMO of Atlassian, a collaboration software company that aims to unleash teams' power.Robert started his career in management consulting before going into performance marketing and consumer branding. He is passionate about international trade economics and for building early-stage and large-scale consumer platforms.He shares with us how he started Monkey Bin, an online marketplace that became a multi-party trading system for B2B barter, and how he eventually landed an entrepreneurial role at eBay where he stayed for 12 years.Roberts narrates his time at Haas, including his personal story with his best friend and co-founder, Sameer Bhatia, who was diagnosed with leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. It paved the way for them to launch a national marrow registration drive. He also shares the impact of this project on his life and how it broug

Today, we have Brandon White on the podcast. He's a full-time MBA, class of 2018. Brandon was assigned to the second infantry division in South Korea and served as a platoon leader and communications officer. He has also served the 11th signal brigade at Fort Hood, Texas, including two deployments to Afghanistan as an Executive Officer, Logistics Officer, and Company Commander. Brandon talks about his time in the army and all the leadership positions he had when he was there, what led him to Haas, and the impact of all the current global issues on his family and how they deal with it.He also talks about the core values he shares with his children and how the pandemic didn't stop him from venturing into entrepreneurship. Lastly, he shares some parting words to the Haas community on fighting racism and other -isms and leaving this world a better place.Episode Quotes:"You're not going to love everyone you meet. You're not going to love everyone you work with. Obviously, there are going to be

On our second episode of the OneHaas Alumni High Impact Teaming (HIT) Series with Dr. Brandi Pearce, we chat with Haas alumni Nandita Batra. She is a Strategy & Operations member of the ChromeOS Chief of Staff team, supporting Product leadership to define strategy, translate strategy into C-level narratives for internal & external audiences, and run business operations while aligning Product & GTM organizations. Prior to that, she was at Shutterfly and the Boston Consulting Group.We first hear about Nandita's unique background growing up in Australia and the US. And how having lived and worked in different places around the world have impacted her internal leadership and collaborative capabilities to build high impact cross-functional teams around the world.Disclaimer: The views shared in this episode are Nandita's personal opinions and reflections and not necessarily those of her employer.Episode Quotes:On growing up in two different countries – “Having spent my childhood between two coun

In this episode, Bree and Sean chat with Om Chitale, full-time MBA '18. Om is currently the Director of Diversity Admissions at Haas. He is also the founder of Teachers of Oakland, a non-profit storytelling organization that amplifies teacher voice in the Oakland community.Om shares with us his definition of self-permission and how it plays into people's professional journey. He talks about the concept of substitution that is critical to the idea of permitting yourself.He also shares his passion for education and diversity inclusion, his current role at Haas, and Teachers of Oakland.Episode Quotes:"Give yourself the permission to analyze. Are you still happy? Are you still on the path to the thing you want to do? And if you're not, give yourself permission to let go of that thing too."On the concept of subsititution - "We can let go of something, but it's really hard to let go of something unless we have something else to then latch onto.""We owe it to society to be the bes

Today, we chat with Hector Javier Preciado, EWMBA, class of 2011. He's a Sales, Strategy & Operations Executive who is deeply passionate about diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging. Currently, he works as the Chief Growth Officer in Alluma, a nonprofit organization that produces technical solutions for social problems.Hector shares his humble upbringing from Mexico to the US, immigrating with his big family to have a better life, and living in a neighborhood like Boyle Heights.Even though the opportunities weren't so great back then, education has always been a crucial part of Hector's life. With God-given gifts and talents, he took advantage of different programs that offered support for kids like him. He was able to pursue education and even had the experience of going to college campuses when he was 11 yrs old.Hector also narrates his purpose-driven career, his reasons for pursuing a business degree, and his experiences in Haas, including becoming the first Latino president of the EW

In celebration with the Hispanic Heritage Month, we have Chris Cindy Cordova on the podcast today. She is a full-time MBA, class of 2020, fresh graduate, and alumni. Before Haas, she studied aeronautical aeronautical and astronautical engineering at Stanford and worked several years with Honeywell in various roles. She's currently a Sr. Product Manager at Amazon Web Services aside from being an awesome mother.Chris talks about her struggles and successes growing up from an immigrant family from El Salvador. She shares her experience of going to a school that was 1-5 hrs away from her home so she could join a gifted program, the people in her life that made it possible for her to get the best education she could have given her circumstances, and how much her mother's sacrifices for her and her siblings gave her the motivation to succeed and accomplish her dreams.She also talks about her career as an astronautical engineer, why she's passionate about it, and how it was to be the only woman or Latina

Today, we have Dr. Maura O'Neill on our podcast. She is a lecturer and distinguished teaching fellow at the Haas school of business. In 2009, she was appointed by President Obama to be the first chief innovation officer of the US agency for international development, serving until 2013. She was responsible for inspiring and leading breakthrough innovations in foreign assistance and development worldwide. Above all, she is a Haas alum.In this episode, Maura talks about her research on the notion of narrow-mindedness, her passion for living a life with no regrets and how others can do the same thing, and practicing deliberateness or intentionality.She shares the importance of knowing what you want in life - your purpose and your passion and leaving a legacy behind.She also has some excellent advice for students graduating during this time of uncertainty about seizing and creating opportunities until ultimately finding your passion.Episode Quotes:"Ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things, and

On the first episode of OneHaas Alumni HIT Series, hosts Sean and Brandi chat with Haas alumni Dutta Satadip. He is the Global Head of Customer Operations at Pinterest. Before Pinterest, he was the Director of Customer Success for the Americas region at Google.Dutta has more than 20 years of industry experience and has held various senior leadership roles in most key operating areas. He frequently speaks at major conferences, including TEDx, on management topics such as Change Management, Customer Success, Operations, Leadership, and Building diverse teams.He talks about pushing yourself outside your comfort zone and creating a real need for change and innovation, especially now in a global pandemic, how to develop empathy and build relationships, and the impact of technology on empathy within teams and people.He also shares the techniques and strategies he used or found to help build dynamics inside massive teams, particularly teams that are spanning boundaries across time and space and the globe.Episode Quo