Nediva Anderson
Project Management and Teaming
Nediva is a 2023 MBA Candidate at Haas Business School. Before coming to Berkeley, she worked in Business Development at Zymergen Inc. managing project work focused on genetically engineering microbes in a high-throughput fashion to create novel molecules. Nediva received her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a concentration in Tissue Engineering. Outside of her professional life, Nediva is passionate about health and wellness. She has spent time as a nutritional consultant and barre fitness instructor.
Reginald Bailey
Entrepreneurship, R&D Tech Management, IP Strategist
Dr. Reginald Bailey has over 40 years of experience within the defense, cargo security, and educational technology industries, with a background in software and systems engineering, and project management. He has led teams (collocated, distributed) for large multi-national companies (e.g., IBM), large defense companies (e.g., Lockheed Martin), as well as small technology startup companies (e.g., NoRedInk). He has taught in the master and doctoral degree programs for The George Washington University, and is excited to now be a part of the teaching staff in the Master of Engineering degree program at UC Berkeley.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of California Berkeley, a master’s degree in systems engineering from The George Washington University, and a doctor’s degree in systems engineering from The George Washington University.
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.
Jennifer Caleshu
Communications for Engineering Leaders
Jennifer Caleshu is a lecturer, facilitator and certified executive coach for programs in leadership, communications, design thinking and innovation who believes every human deserves the opportunity to bring their most authentic and powerful self to work every day.
She is a member of the professional faculty at the University of California’s Haas School of Business where she teaches in MBA and undergraduate programs as a Lecturer for courses including: Fundamentals of Design Thinking, Building Trust-Based Relationships, Leadership Communications, Active Communicating, Leader as Coach and Haas@Work. She has also taught leadership and innovation programs with UC Berkeley Executive Education, Nanyang Business School, and the Berlin School of Creative Leadership.
She is a faculty member and executive coach for the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute (BECI), where she facilitates leadership, communications and coaching programs with diverse clients globally. As an executive and communications coach, her clients have included a wide variety of leaders seeking to empower themselves and their teams, as well as create and deliver powerful presentations. She also serves as the Vice President of Marketing & Operations for BECI.
Jennifer earned an MBA with honors from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, where she received the “Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor” award. She also holds a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University with a focus on Issues of Adolescence. She is a certified Executive Coach from the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute.
Adeel Chaudhry
Graduate Student Instructor | Communications for Engineering Leaders
Adeel is a first year student at School of Information pursuing Master of Information Management and Systems with a concentration in Product Management. Prior to joining Berkeley, he was working as a Senior Product Manager at a product startup in the sales and marketing space. He has a bachelor’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Outside of work, he loves traveling, meeting people and experiencing diverse cultures. To travel the whole world is on top of his wish list.
Andrew Dickson
Communications for Engineering Leaders
I’m a grad student in Applied Science, working at the intersection between biology and computer science.
Promita Deb
Project Management and Teaming
Promita is a project manager in the oil and gas field for the past 15 years. She received her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at the University of Southern California and then obtained her MBA at Cal State Bakersfield in August 2016.
She has worked for several companies across California such as Chevron, Jacobs, Fluor, and Worley. She helped found a non-profit organization called Empower with Code, which helps to educate youth on coding. She has co-authored an academic paper in 2018 called “Machine Learning: The New Big Thing for Competitive Advantage.” She has taught several undergraduate business courses at Cal State Bakersfield and is thrilled to continue her teaching career at the Fung Institute of Management. In her spare time, she enjoys teaching yoga and playing the piano.
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.
Bulent Erbilgin
Entrepreneurship, Project Management & Teaming, R&D Tech Management
Dr. Bülent Erbilgin has over 20 years of executive experience leadership and teaching experience in technology.
As an executive of seven startups and several public companies he successfully released products ranging from cyber-security, network security, web applications, SaaS, complex high-availability software, highly-distributed systems, analytics, big data, IOT, machine learning to network intelligence products.
His teaching experience includes leadership, teaming, ethics, innovation, entrepreneurship, design thinking, product development as well as engineering management at UC Berkeley, Northeastern University and KAUST.
In addition, Dr. Erbilgin has mentored founders and students in various entrepreneurship classes to identify startup opportunities, develop business plans, and VC presentations. He spent significant time with number of teams guiding them through all stages of forming a startup. Served on panels together with VCs to evaluate and score various startup teams as part of the classes.
Most recently Dr. Erbilgin led the Security Software Development effort at Workday. Prior to that Dr. Erbilgin was a VP Engineering at Telesense, VP Engineering at Cryptography Research/Rambus, VP Engineering at SS8, and several other companies.
Dr. Erbilgin holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering (Computer Architecture) and MS in Computer Science from Stanford University.
Zhijin Feng
Graduate Student Instructor | Communications for Engineering Leaders
I am a Berkeley grad student currently in Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. I am passionate about explorations in science and communications.
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.
Nick Farrell
Project Management and Teaming
Nick Farrell has 25 years of experience in high tech, working at startups, large universities and multi-national tech companies. He is currently a Senior Artificial Intelligence Program Manager at Microsoft, managing projects using reinforcement learning to solve industrial automation problems for Fortune 500 companies. Prior to working at Microsoft, Nick worked as a product manager in the healthcare software sector. He has also started software quality assurance departments at a pharmaceutical tech company, a healthcare device startup and an advertising agency. Nick has a degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan.
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.
Ingrid Gavshon
Lecturer, Executive Coach and Communications Specialist
Ingrid Gavshon serves as a lecturer at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, for EWMBA/EMBA, and Undergraduate Programs; Seminar in International Business (South Africa), Leader as Coach and Leadership Communications and Creativity and Leadership, and at UC Berkeley Executive Education’s course High Impact Leadership. She is a partner at the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute in charge of Diversity and Inclusion Projects. She is a member of the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute Faculty, and serves as executive coach and senior training consultant. She has been a Guest Lecturer at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, Germany, The University of Witwatersrand, The London School of Printing, the University of Alabama and at the Coleman Fung Institute.
Ingrid facilitates leadership, communications, presentation and coaching programs at a number of international companies, in the USA, Southern Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Ingrid obtained her MBA from the Berlin School of Creative Leadership and is a certified Executive Coach from the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute.
Ingrid is also a photographer, exhibition designer and an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has made several documentary films about President Nelson Mandela. Ingrid draws on her experience running her media company and her filmmaking skills integrated with the executive coaching process that helps leaders discover their authentic selves and helps them actualize their vision, dreams and aspirations. She believes in bringing humanity back to the workplace.
Cal G. Gonzales
Professional Ethics; Organizational Behavior and Negotiations
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 US Securities and Exchange Commission. He is currently an Executive Director in Morgan Stanley’s Legal and Compliance Division, and Deputy Head of the Special Investigations Unit, 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 as Chair of the ABA’s Council for 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 UC Berkeley and a law degree at UCLA.
Jonathan Kupfer
Graduate Student Instructor | Project Management and Teaming
Jonathan is currently pursuing his joint MS in Transportation Engineering and Master of City Planning and expects to graduate in December 2021. He grew up in New York City and received his BS in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College. He’s interested in improving urban transportation systems to make them safer, more equitable, and more sustainable.
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
Sarah Holliman
Organizational Behavior & Negotiations
Sarah has over 20 years of experience as a CMO building marketing and communications teams in a variety of industries, including multi-national consulting firms, global membership organizations and high-tech startups. She is currently running Cantaré Creative, a marketing services agency, working with both established brands and rapid-growth startup companies. Sarah holds an MBA with a concentration in Marketing from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and a BA from Furman University. Prior to marketing, Sarah held leadership positions in management consulting and banking.
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.
Babak Jafarizadeh
Accounting & Finance
Babak is an engineering economist. He thinks engineering is about economic solutions to the technical challenges of an uncertain world. He has worked as a senior analyst in energy industry, supporting investment decisions for multi-million-dollar projects across the globe. He is also an industry expert, and an assistant professor of petroleum engineering at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. He teaches and conducts research on the art and science of economic decision analysis.
Babak’s interests are at the intersection of decision analysis and corporate finance, with applications in engineering and industry. He is the author of the upcoming book “Economic Decision Analysis”. He holds a PhD in Investment and Decisions Analysis (University of Stavanger, Norway) as well as MSc and BSc degrees in industrial engineering.
Ankita Joshi
Graduate Student Instructor | Communications for Engineering Leaders
Ankita is a first year M.S. and M.P.P. Candidate interested in the design and policies governing autonomous and intelligent systems. She has four years of experience working on hardware, controls, and safety for Autonomous Vehicles at General Motors. In her time at GM, she also spearheaded the effort to roll out a company-wide Sustainability Strategy. Ankita holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley during which she worked on tensegrity robotics at the Berkeley Emergent Space Tensegrities Lab. In her free time, she enjoys visiting bookstores, reading, hiking, and painting.
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.
Sonner Kehrt
Communications for Engineering Leaders
Sonner Kehrt is a writer and journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Wired Magazine, The Verge, and numerous other publications. She has taught courses both at the Fung Institute and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Prior to journalism, she worked as a public affairs officer in the US Coast Guard, where she was stationed in the arctic and divided her time between driving an 18,000-ton polar icebreaker and effectively telling the stories of research being conducted aboard the ship. She holds a Masters of Journalism from UC Berkeley, a Masters of Arts from Georgetown University, and a Bachelors of Science from the US Coast Guard Academy.
Amanda Kochak
Communications for Engineering Leaders
Amanda is a current graduate student pursuing a Master of Information Management and Systems at the School of Information, focusing on Product Management and Data Science. Prior to attending Berkeley, she worked in the affordable housing industry and spent two years serving as a United States Peace Corps volunteer in rural El Salvador. In El Salvador, she developed curriculum for and taught business education classes and workshops. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her puppy and getting to know the beautiful California outdoors.
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.
Elizabeth Kovats
R&D Technology Management, Innovation, Entrepreneurship
Elizabeth Kovats teaches innovation and design at Berkeley Haas. She has created new courses at Berkeley Haas and BerkeleyLaw in the area of design thinking. Elizabeth served as the Director of the Berkeley Roundtable on Applied Innovation and Design, BRAID, and she regularly collaborates with innovation executives based in Silicon Valley. Her area of interest is in design and ethics, and how we can design products and/or processes to advance the common good.
Prior to academia, Kovats worked in the high technology industry. Joining a start-up in the telecommunications industry, BigBand Networks, as the eighth employee in the U.S. office, she helped scale operations, ultimately leading to a Company IPO. She attended graduate school at the Jesuit School of Theology, focusing on philosophy and design, and studied creative writing at the University of Arizona and the University of Iowa.
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.
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.
Yogesh Lund
Project Management and Teaming
Yogesh Lund has 20+ years of experience in IT Services, Manufacturing and Consulting. He is currently the Senior Director at NTT Data Services, and in this capacity leads project management function to deliver IT services to clients that include Fortune 100 companies, Hospital systems and Government entities. Prior to this role, he has worked in various capacities at Dell and General Motors.
Yogesh is also an Adjunct Faculty member at Texas State University’s McCoy School of Business, where he teaches Quality Management and Supply Chain Management. He enjoys learning and specializes in practical application of theory to diverse, virtual/global, and dynamic workplaces.
Yogesh holds a Bachelor’s in Production Engineering from the University of Mumbai, a Master’s in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toledo, and an MBA from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. He is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe) enterprise leadership professional.
Kenneth Jeffrey Marshall
Strategy and Analysis, Entrepreneurship
Kenneth Jeffrey Marshall is an author, professor, and value investor. Outside of the Fung Institute he teaches value investing and personal finance at Stanford University. He also directs the value investing courses in the masters in finance program at the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden. He is the author of the 2017 McGraw-Hill book Good Stocks Cheap, which in 2019 was also published in Chinese; and the Small Steps to Rich personal finance series. He holds a BA in Economics, International Area Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles; and an MBA from Harvard University.
Jack Mason
Entrepreneurship for Engineers
Jack is an entrepreneur, executive, engineer, educator, and consultant with more than 40 years of experience in the energy industry. He started several businesses as both an entrepreneur and intrapreneur, raised venture capital for one; and led several to acquisitions. He managed directly or indirectly more than 1000 energy-related projects, some as large as $10 million, managed organizations as large as several hundred employees, developed and supported numerous national multiple facility companies’ energy programs, facilitated as a consultant two dozen turn-arounds at large national energy companies, and served as president of a $50 million public company during a turnaround. He developed entrepreneurship programs and curricula at two universities and taught as an adjunct at several others. He earned doctor and masters of science degrees in nuclear engineering at MIT, a master of science degree in management as a Sloan Fellow at MIT Sloan School, and a bachelor of science degree from the US Naval Academy.
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.
Jim Morris
Coaching for High Performance Teams
Jim is a coach for product management leaders and teams in early stage startups, tech companies and Fortune 100 corporations.
Previously, Jim was an engineer, product manager and leader at startups where he developed raw ideas into successful products several times. He co-founded PowerReviews which grew to 1,200+ clients and sold for $168 million. He product-managed and architected one of the first e-commerce systems at Fogdog.com which had a $450 million IPO.
These days, he adapts product management principles to a variety of industries including machine learning, computer vision, business services, e-commerce, digital health, and energy infrastructure.
He graduated from Stanford University with a BS in Computer Science.
Tina Piracci
Product Developer & Educator
Tina completed a Master of Science in Architecture while obtaining her Certificate in New Media at UC Berkeley. Her undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Fine Arts with minors in engineering and entrepreneurship. She served as a research affiliate at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory studying clay 3D printing applications within developmental engineering. With over 10 years in product development ranging from medical devices to water filters, she is a research consultant for international businesses within ceramics, such as Potters for Peace. She also runs a small makerspace in West Berkeley where she incubates early businesses and constructs digitally fabricated products.
Neil Ramirez
Graduate Student Instructor | Communications for Engineering Leaders
Neil is a PhD candidate studying MEMS(Microelectromechanical Systems) in the Mechanical Engineering Department. He grew up in Texas and has spent time studying in the Midwest. When Neil is not teaching he is probably cooking or looking for a new park to sun bathe in.
Matthew Rappaport
Entrepreneurship, R&D Tech Management, IP Strategist
Matthew co-founded IP Checkups in 2004 to help companies align their patent strategy with their R&D and business objectives. He has managed hundreds of engagements and advised large and small corporate clients, start-ups and investors on IP strategy. Matthew co-founded the Center for Intellectual Property (CIP)-Berkeley. An academic and executive-education program focused at the intersection of business, R&D, and intellectual property. Since 2010, Matthew has been selected by his peers as a member of the IAM Strategy 300, a list of the world’s leading IP strategists.
Samantha Serafica
Communications for Engineering Leaders
Samantha is a graduate student at the College of Environmental Design pursuing her Master of City Planning with a concentration in Transportation Planning and Policy. She worked on road safety initiatives throughout Southeast Asia as a Princeton in Asia fellow in Hanoi, Vietnam before returning home to implement Vision Zero projects in San Francisco. Samantha received her BA in Rhetoric from UC 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.
Lisa Torres
Communications for Engineering Leaders
Lisa is a second-year PhD student with research focusing on design optimization in total joint replacement. She began her studies as a transfer student who received her B.S. in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley in 2014. After gaining a passion for the healthcare field, she obtained her M.S. in biomedical engineering from Columbia University in 2018. She has worked in construction management and the medical device industry. To keep her grounded, she enjoys practicing yoga, being outdoors, and jigsaw puzzles.
Janel Wellborn
Organizational Behavior & Negotiations; Product Management
Janel runs a global boutique consulting firm with Fortune 500 clients (e.g. Walmart International, Macy’s, H&M, Latam Airlines, etc.) across North & South America, Europe and Asia. She embeds herself within her clients’ organizations to transform their culture by shifting mindsets at all levels, helping them make many small changes in their ways of working that have big impacts on their ability to meet their customer needs & deliver measurable business value.
She does this driven by a passion for helping people be more effective at & engaged in the work they do–at the individual, team & organizational levels–facilitating changes that develop talent and shift the organizational culture around them so they have the space in which they can thrive and have the biggest possible impact.
In particular, she specializes in building high functioning product teams that leverage technology to solve real customer problems & rally around measurable outcomes within the digital product lifecycle, & leads digital and agile transformations with the goal of increasing their speed to market and optimizing the ROI of capital invested in launching digital capabilities.
Jennifer Yang
Organizational Behavior & Negotiations; Marketing and Product Management
Jennifer Yang holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics with concentrations in Marketing and Multinational Management from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a Master in Public Administration with a focus in Leadership from Virginia Tech, Center for Public Administration and Policy. In addition to the Fung Institute, she teaches at Western Oregon University and works with UC Berkeley School of Information on the Master in Data Science and Master in Cybersecurity programs. Her work experience includes strategy and marketing consulting for Fortune 500 companies and start-ups.
Heidi Kritscher Weller
Communications for Engineering Leaders; Coaching for High Performing Teams
Heidi has over 15 years experience coaching executives and Haas MBA students, drawing from her diverse professional experience in consulting, startups, and public/nonprofit environments. She most recently co-developed the UC Berkeley Haas Global Access Program, where she taught leadership practices and coached undergrad and graduate students from across the globe.
She is also a former elected public school board trustee, and currently works with her town Racial Equity Committee to devise strategies that deconstruct seen and hidden biases in town policies and practices. A Cal crew athlete alum, she continues to enjoy outdoor sports with her husband and three children, and looks forward to every trip abroad.
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.
