Lee Fleming
R&D Tech Management, Technology Strategy
Dr. Fleming earned his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering at UC Davis. Dr. Fleming went on to earn a Masters in Engineering Management from Stanford University in the Honors Cooperative Program. He then received his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Stanford. He also completed a Masters in Statistics during his doctoral years. Between 1998 and 2011, he was a professor at the Harvard Business School, most recently as the Albert J. Weatherhead III Professor of Business Administration. His research applies machine learning and NLP techniques on large datasets with causal inference models from management and social science. His work investigates how mobility influences creative output, innovative search strategy drives firm performance, non-competes change labor mobility and entrepreneurship, governance influences innovation, and investors value innovation search strategies. His recent work published in Science illustrates how almost one third of U.S. patents rely on government funded research.
Anita Balaraman
Project Management and Teaming
Anita is a technology product leader with more than 10 years of experience in building technology products that delight the customer both in the B2B and B2C domain. She is also an adjunct faculty at UC Berkeley, teaching and coaching hi-tech product management. She is currently the founder of an early stage ed-tech startup. Most recently she led the digital customer experience practice at Cisco Systems, designing and launching enterprise solutions for customer experience. Prior to that, she led the product team at WalmartLabs launching products that combine machine learning, predictive analytics and personalization. She consults independently and on the board of technology startups in the advertising, ecommerce, and ed-tech space. Anita received her MS in toxicology and applied statistics, and an MBA, both from the University of California, Berkeley.
Mark Bauer
Communications for Engineering Leaders
Mark Bauer brings his focus on the effective use of language to the Fung Institute’s Communications for Engineering Leaders courses. He received his PhD in English from UC Berkeley, where his research centered on twentieth-century autobiographical poetry and the modes by which poets alternately embrace and question the ability of language and literature to capture their personal experience. Mark has used the insights gleaned from this research to design and teach courses in reading, writing, and English literature at UC Berkeley and UC Davis. Additionally, he has worked with a local tech start-up on the development of artificial intelligence software designed to help students improve their writing. Before coming to Berkeley, Mark received an MA in English Education from Colorado State University and taught high school English.
Bulent Erbilgin
Entrepreneurship, Project Management & Teaming, R&D Tech Management
Bulent Erbilgin has over 15 years of executive experience, and track record of releasing complex high-availability software in security, SaaS, and network intelligence. He is the current Director of Development Engineering at Workday, a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources.
Prior to Workday, Erbilgin served as the the Vice President of Engineering at several software companies, including: TeleSense, Cryptography Research, and SS8 Networks. He obtained a Master’s degree in Computer Science and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
Thomas Fitzpatrick
Communications for Engineering Leaders
Thomas is a leadership development educator and executive coach. Over the past nine years, he has taught at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute, UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. In addition, he has consulted within leading pharmaceutical, heavy equipment, consulting, computer software, and high-technology companies, facilitating workshops as well as coaching clients in a one-on-one setting.
Thomas has over 15 years experience in the technology sector. He has held positions in Operations, Business Development, Product Management, and Strategic Partnerships and he has led multicultural, globally-distributed teams. He has roots in education, having taught high school Latin and Ancient Greek prior to his business career. He holds a Masters in Business Administration and a Certificate in Executive Coaching from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in Classics and Philosophy from College of the Holy Cross.
Cal G. Gonzales
Professional Ethics
Cal is a seasoned attorney with significant government, regulatory, investigative and in-house experience. He served as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice and as an enforcement attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He is currently an Executive Director in Morgan Stanley’s Legal and Compliance Division, where he leads, manages and supervises internal investigations across the Firm’s Wealth Management business. He is an active member of the American Bar Association, currently serving on the ABA’s Council for Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Educational Pipeline, and previously serving on the ABA’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Legal Profession. Cal received his undergraduate degree at U.C.Berkeley and law degree at UCLA.
Ken Guss
Project Management & Teaming
Ken Guss is an industry recognized leader with over thirty years of executive-level leadership including the General Management of three Fortune 500 companies and the Chief Executive role for ten divisions of a London-based plc. His background includes the leadership of over thirty public and private international companies in complex manufacturing, distribution and MRO in both the Commercial and Military Aerospace markets. Most recently he was the Chief Executive Officer of GroupAero, a Corinthian Capital portfolio group of six companies in the US, Europe and Mexico. Over the past decade, he has distinguished himself by transitioning organizations from technology-centered to business/customer-centered operations as a change agent who revitalizes underperforming companies through a focus on people, processes and services. When managing change, he is known for forging strong multi-cultural relationships through morale-building initiatives that generate trust, drive innovation, and accentuate a customer service ethic that underscores the brand identity that reflects his leadership.
Today he is the CEO of Imagine Consulting working on advisory boards and helping companies reach new levels of performance through his passionate approach to leadership and cultural change in organizations. Ken holds both a Bachelor in Law and Juris Doctor degrees from the Western States University of Law in Southern California.
Daniel Himelstein
Organizational Behavior and Negotiations; Project Management and Teaming
Susan Houlihan
Communications for Engineering Leaders
Susan Houlihan is a Communications Consultant, Executive Coach, and Electrical Engineer who leverages her 15+ years working in engineering and operations in the high-tech sector to bring a perspective firmly rooted in business applications to her consulting and coaching work. In her previous career, she led global engineering and operations teams in manufacturing, sourcing and supply chain. Today she is the COO of the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute.
Susan is a Lecturer in Leadership, Communications & Coaching in the MBA Programs at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. She has been a Guest Lecturer at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership in the Executive MBA Program since 2013.
As a coach and workshop lead for Fortune 500 Companies globally, she is particularly interested in helping leaders to build the skills to motivate and inspire their people to their highest potential, as well as reaching their own maximum potential. She has worked with companies such as Adobe, Bio-Rad, Cisco, Facebook, Ideo, Genentech, Moody’s, Novartis, Peterson Caterpillar, Salesforce.com, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and Zendesk.
Susan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from University College of Cork in Ireland, an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, and is a certified Executive Coach from the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute.
Edward Kass
Organizational Behavior & Negotiations
Professor Kass draws from his own research on conflict resolution, social comparison and fairness, and what it means to be a good employee. More recently, Dr. Kass is focusing on the drivers/aspects that serve or hinder the process of successful negotiations. He is also working with students to examine the impact of alliances, biases, personal trust and organizational ethics. Eli holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior with a Minor in Sociology from Tulane University and a B.A. Cum laude in Psychology and Economics from Brandeis University.
Margaret Kolb
Communications for Engineering Leaders
Margaret Kolb is fascinated by how communication bridges disciplines. She joins the Fung Institute with a PhD in English Literature from UC Berkeley and a BA in abstract mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis. She has published articles analyzing the relationship between mathematical and literary history in Victorian Studies, Configurations, and MAKE, and has contributed an essay to The Palgrave Handbook of Literature and Mathematics (forthcoming). Before completing her PhD, she worked as a quantitative analyst in economic research at Bank of America. As a Lecturer in the English department at the UC Berkeley, an instructor at San Quentin Prison, and a volunteer while completing her dissertation in Abu Dhabi, Margaret created programs and designed courses to engage a wide variety of audiences, including prison inmates, undergraduates, non-native speakers, and senior professors.
Xiaoding Krause
Coaching for High Performing Teams
Xiaoding Krause is a technologist and entrepreneur with extensive experience in data research, project management, product development and engineering. Her previous projects include the market launch of wearable health monitors, deployment of resilient power grid, and development of high-performing chemical materials, in which she assumed business and technology leadership roles. Xiaoding’s interests include digital health, improving IoT devices with AI, automation based on sensing and data analytics, biomedical devices, and data-driven research. She is the currently the Founder and CEO of Angilytics, a startup using AI to improve chronicle disease management. Xiaoding holds a Masters in Public Policy degree from UC Berkeley, a PhD degree in Chemistry from Arizona State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Peking University of China.
Martina Lauchengco
Marketing
Ms. Lauchengco’s multi-disciplinary approach pulls from over 20 years of experience in executive positions in marketing, product management, and as chief-of-staff to the CEO at companies including Microsoft, Netscape/AOL and Loudcloud/Opsware. Martina has helped contribute to several industry leading products, but she is best known for her work leading marketing initiatives – first for Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office and later for the Netscape Browser, two of the most successful software products of all time. Ms. Lauchengco has most recently been a strategic advisor to a wide range of startups and Fortune 500 companies. Martina earned her B.A. in Political Science and M.A. in Organizational Behavior from Stanford University.
Mayasari Lim
R&D Tech Management, Teaming
Dr. Lim is a biotech entrepreneur and visionary in future healthcare and STEM education. She is currently the founder and CEO of SE3D, a technology enterprise building desktop 3D bioprinters and lab robotics for the research and education market. In the classroom, Dr. Lim uses integrated active learning and use of multiple online learning platforms to enhance student learning experiences. Dr. Lim holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London and a BSc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
Kenneth Jeffrey Marshall
Strategy and Analysis, Entrepreneurship
Kenneth Jeffrey Marshall is an author, professor, and value investor. Besides teaching at the Fung Institute he directs the value investing courses in the masters in finance program at the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden. He also teaches value investing at Stanford University. He is the author of the 2017 McGraw-Hill book Good Stocks Cheap: Value Investing with Confidence for a Lifetime of Stock Market Outperformance, which in 2019 was also published in Chinese. He holds a BA in Economics, International Area Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles; and an MBA from Harvard University. He splits his time between California and Sweden.
Leah Edwards
Coaching for High Performing Teams; R&D Tech Management
Leah is a serial co-founder and advisor to startups and investors. Beginning with her first company being acquired for $380 million within two years, she went on to sell several companies to major companies.
Leah then directed the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies in the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she oversaw the development and management of innovation and entrepreneurship courses and programs, and she now teaches at Stanford, UC Berkeley and Northeastern University.
As an investor and advisor, Leah works with both startups and investors to develop strong teams and business models, as well as the resources necessary for growth.
Leah also holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA and Certificate of Public Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Richard Passov
Technology Strategy
Richard Passov has more than 25 years of leadership experience across technology and life science companies. He helped capitalize Sun Microsystems through its hyper-growth phase, leaving to join Intel where he became one of the first employees in Intel’s Venture Capital group. He helped steer Pfizer through $250 billion of acquisitions, strategic reviews of R&D productivity and led the divestiture of Zoetis and it’s successful IPO. He’s a founder and former President of Iota Biosciences, board member of OffAssignment, and is currently researching the impacts of technology adoption and the changing nature of work. He received a BA and MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles along with an MS, Operations Research from the University of California, Berkeley.
Ron Star
Entrepreneurship
Ronald Star is a Partner in the Corporate and Securities practice at Arnold & Porter LLP, and co-chairs the Northern California Emerging Companies group. His practice focuses on financings, venture capital, technology transactions, corporate governance, securities law and mergers and acquisitions. He works closely with start-up and private companies on issues related to equity and financings, intellectual property matters, the structuring of executive compensation (including stock arrangements), strategic ventures, acquisitions and management buy-outs. He is a frequent lecturer on venture capital transactions, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, employment matters, succession in family businesses and closely held businesses. Mr. Star holds a JD, MBA and BA from Harvard University.
Nima Shomali
Coaching for High Performing Teams, Speaker Series
Nima Shomali is an expert in technology strategy and organizational behavior. He specializes in creating high-performance corporate cultures, building elite technology strategy, and leading large-scale corporate turnarounds.
Nima serves as Managing Partner for Acceleration Technology Partners, an organization and innovation advisory firm. He holds a dual position as leadership coach at the UC Berkeley College of Engineering Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership 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.
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.
Nima holds a Masters of Business Administration Degree from the New York University Stern School of Business, a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley, a B.A. in Economics from the UC Santa Cruz, and is an alumnus of the London Business School’s #1 world-wide ranked MBA program.
Keith Tandowsky
Project Management & Teaming
Keith Tandowsky recently retired from a 35-year career at The Clorox Company, a world-class Fortune 500 consumer products company, where he had spent the last 19 years as an executive officer, including time on the Clorox Executive Committee and extensive experience working with the Clorox Board of Directors. Keith started in the Finance function and played many roles as a business partner in all areas of financial management and information technology (Keith also held the role of SVP – Chief Information Officer for 7 years).
Keith had leadership responsibility for teams as small as 10 and as large as 400 people. Over the last twelve+ years of his career, Keith developed expertise in High Performance Executive Team Coaching and had the opportunity to coach many of the key leadership teams and top-ranking individuals at Clorox. He is passionate about the impact collaborative high performing teams can have on business results and the important steps it takes to get there.
Given his belief in this approach as one of the last areas of competitive advantage, Keith is devoting himself to this area in his retirement from Clorox, developing and coaching corporate teams/individuals in high performance. In addition to private clients, he’s also come full circle and is now at his alma mater, UC Berkeley, working with the Haas Executive Education program and the UC Berkeley Engineering School’s Fung Institute. He completed his undergraduate work in Economics followed by an MBA from the Haas Business School.
Donatella Taurasi
Data Analytics, Finance, and Accounting
Donatella Taurasi earned her Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance and Master’s degree in Financial Markets and Institutions at the University of Bologna, Italy. She then went on to earn her PhD in Finance, Financial Markets, and Institutions in the Department of Business and Economics of Bologna, Italy. During her graduate studies, Donatella worked as a Visiting Scholar at the Westminster Business School in London, Stern School of Business at New York University, and Haas School of Business at the University of California in Berkeley. Donatella is currently a Lecturer at Haas School of Business at the University of California and a Faculty member at Hult International Business School in San Francisco. At Haas and Hult she teaches primarily in the area of Finance and Behavioral Finance. Donatella has recently joined the data science education startup Galvanize to help design an Applied Business curriculum tailored for Data Scientists. Donatella’s research interests are in the fields of Behavioral Finance, Asset Pricing, Psychology and Economics, and Household Finance.
Sonia Travaglini
Project Management and Teaming; Communications for Engineering Leaders
Originally from England, Sonia Travaglini is fascinated with novel natural materials and currently researches Mycology (mushroom) materials while studying her PhD in Mechanical Engineering. As a passionate science writer and an educator, Sonia enjoys promoting communication and working to support future Engineers – outside of her work, Sonia also enjoys developing her American Sign Language and British Sign Language.
Jennifer Yang
Organizational Behavior & Negotiations; Marketing and Product Management
Jennifer Yang holds a degree in Business Administration with concentrations in Marketing and Multinational Management from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in Public Administration with a focus in Leadership from Virginia Tech’s Center for Public Administration and Policy. She currently teaches at Western Oregon University in the Division of Business and Economics and works with Berkeley’s School of Information’s Master in Data Science and Master in Cybersecurity programs. Her work experience includes strategy and marketing consulting for Fortune 500 companies and start-ups.
Naeem Zafar
Entrepreneurship & Innovation; R&D Tech Management
Mr. Zafar is an entrepreneur, educator and a mentor. He co-founded or worked at seven high tech startups, working with passionate teams and creating new products. He co-founded Bitzer Mobile in December 2010 that was acquired by Oracle in November of 2013.
His expertise includes fund raising, venture capital, strategy, product positioning, marketing, PR, AR, sales, business development as well as M&A.
He works with startup founders and executives on business strategies and coaches and mentors entrepreneurs. He has written five books on topics related to entrepreneurship that can be found at www.FiveMountainPress.com. Mr. Zafar holds a MSEE from the University of Minnesota and a BS from Brown University.
Shannon R. Emerzian
Graduate Student Instructor | Communications for Engineering Leaders
Shannon Emerzian is a PhD candidate in the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research is focused on how clinical radiation therapy affects bone mechanics through a combination of computational and experimental analyses. Prior to coming to Berkeley, Shannon worked for Medtronic, a global leader in medical technology, where she supported the design, manufacture, and development of the manometry and PillCam product lines. She earned a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2017 and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University in 2013.
Shiyin Lim
Graduate Student Instructor | Communications for Engineering Leaders
Shiyin is a first year PhD student in Mechanical Engineering, with a focus on Biomechanics. Before coming to Berkeley, she was a Research Associate at NASA Ames, where she studied mechanical unloading induced bone loss and its applications in human spaceflight. In addition to her research, Shiyin was actively involved in Engineers Without Borders, and worked extensively on a long term project in Rwanda while mentoring first and second year students. She holds a B.S. in Bioengineering from Santa Clara University.
Andre Montes
Graduate Student Instructor | Communications for Engineering Leaders
Andre is a second year PhD Student in Mechanical Engineering in the Molecular Cell Biomechanics Lab. His research interests involve computational modeling of living things at the cellular level. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, he worked in the medical device field developing cardiovascular tools. Andre received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado School of Mines. Outside of academics, he spends his time running, participating in community outreach, and video making.
Madelena Ng
Graduate Student Instructor | Communications for Engineering Leaders
Madelena is a third year Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) student at UC Berkeley. She holds a BS in Neuroscience and an MPH in Epidemiology, both from UCLA. Her research focuses on understanding how emerging technologies can be leveraged to address participation challenges in clinical research. Her work also explores the ethical implications of patient/research participant privacy and data rights in the information age.
Bethany Smith
Graduate Student Instructor | Communications for Engineering Leaders
Bethany Smith is currently a PhD student in materials science and engineering at U.C. Berkeley. Her research interests include biomedical polymers, electron microscopy, and STEM education. She joined the Fung Institute Graduate Student Instructor team in Fall 2018. In addition to research and teaching, Bethany enjoys reading for the two book clubs she’s in and playing jazz woodwinds with the EECS graduate jazz group.
Alexa Zimbalist
Graduate Student Instructor | Communications for Engineering Leaders
Alexa (Ally) Zimbalist is a second year Master of Science (MS) student in Epidemiology at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. Her research interests include maternal mental health and environmental health. She received her BA in Public Health from UC Berkeley in 2014. Prior to returning to Berkeley for her graduate studies, Ally worked as a legal assistant at Sierra Club, helping attorneys shut down coal plants in the U.S., and as a political organizer on congressional campaigns. In her spare time, Ally can be found playing soccer, taking modern dance classes, and attempting to learn how to knit.
