Nima Shomali is the Global Head of Learning and Development at Plug and Play Tech Center, the world’s most active corporate innovation and venture capital firm.
At UC Berkeley, he holds a dual position as Lecturer and Leadership Coach at the UC Berkeley College of Engineering Fung Institute and Fellow at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Amena Center for Innovation Economies.
Previously, Nima was Program Coordinator of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management’s MBA Foundations of Technology Program. Nima also holds an appointment as Assistant Professor of Strategy and Organizational Behavior in the MBA and undergraduate business programs at St. Mary’s College of California, where he was awarded the 2016 Outstanding Faculty of the Year. He also serves as an Instructor at UC Berkeley Extension, where he teaches Innovation. Additionally, Nima has guest lectured at the London School of Economics, HEC Paris, and New York University Stern School of Business. Previously, Nima also served as Managing Partner for Acceleration Technology Partners, an organization and innovation advisory firm. Prior to founding ATP, Nima served in the Office of the CEO for Yahoo Inc. under Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer as strategic initiative and corporate culture lead. In this role, he created the Yahoo IdeaLab Internal Product Incubator. Previously, he spent four years in IBM’s elite Strategy and Innovation Consulting Practice. In this role, he worked to create Afghanistan’s first private equity fund and start-up incubator while living for a year on Camp Stone, a NATO operated base in Western Afghanistan. He also operated as Project Lead for the University of California, Office of the President’s key initiative to rebuild their university wide risk management system.
Nima has also worked in the Investment Management Division of the Goldman Sachs Group. Prior to this role, he spent two years designing jet engines for the F22 Raptor and F35 Joint Strike Fighter Planes as part of Pratt and Whitney. Previously, he designed satellites at UC Berkeley’s NASA affiliated Space Sciences laboratory.
Nima also serves as Program Adviser to the Chinese Software Professional Association and has been the keynote speaker at Silicon Valley Innovation Center’s Leading Digital Transformation Conference. His publications include articles in the Washington Post and New York University Graduate Business Journal. He is fluent in four languages including Farsi, Dari, and Spanish.
Nima holds a Master of Business Administration Degree from the New York University Stern School of Business, a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley, a BA in Economics from the UC Santa Cruz, and is an alumnus of the London Business School’s #1 world-wide ranked MBA program.
