Since our charter class graduated more than 25 years ago, alumni
from the UC Davis Graduate School of Management have been making
their presence known around the world.
Our graduates are CEOs, vice presidents, chief financial
officers, chief operating officers and entrepreneurs. Around the
globe, they have taken prominent roles as international business
leaders in a wide range of industries and organizations.
Graduate School of Management alumni are actively involved in
their communities, and they make time for mentoring, advising and
assisting current students and networking with fellow graduates.
Globetrotting UC Davis MBAs in Milan and Istanbul
International Study Trip Offers First-hand Experience and Insights
After 10-weeks of intensive classroom classroom preparation, 21 UC Davis MBA students are on the ground in Milan, Italy, through March 25, then onto Istanbul, Turkey, from March 27-30.
Their goal: study the business realities, getting a first-hand look and gaining greater understanding of the management practices in Italy and Turkey and their economic links to the Americas and globally. Executives, managers and policymakers will brief them about their challenges, and the short-term and long-term strategies and solutions they implement.
Alumnus Antonio Zaccheo Takes Tuscany Winery Global
During a trip to Italy last summer, Professor Emeritus Robert Smiley visits his former student Antonio Zaccheo ’93 (left) for a tour of the picturesque Vino Nobile estate near Montepulciano in Tuscany, one of four estates at Carpineto, Zaccheo’s family winery.
By Joanna Corman
Antonio Zaccheo’s first paying job was at the age of 12. He would rise early, pick peaches from the family orchard outside Rome, pack them into wooden crates and balance them on his moped to deliver the fruit to produce shops.
From Combat Zones to Classroom
Tony Lawson Retires Air Force Wings for Business Career
By Joanna Corman
Tony Lawson piloted drones over a tsunami-devastated Japan and flew refueling planes during wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In July, he retired his nine-year tour with the U.S. Air Force for another mission: a UC Davis MBA.
Lawson has experienced some culture shock as a first-year Daytime MBA student, but welcomes the change. He marvels at the School’s cultural diversity and his fellow students’ varied life experiences compared to the Air Force’s homogeneity.
Brenda Guo Accelerates IT to Raise the Bar
By Joanna Corman
Brenda Guo prepared to enter the Chinese foreign ministry, but serendipity led her to a 12-year career in information technology and most recently to the Bay Area Working Professional MBA Program, where she is a second-year student.
Guo, a native of China, has built her career at a diverse collection of U.S. companies, and a stint co-founding a company in China.
Delia Perez Engineers a New Future
by Marianne Skoczek
As a teenager in Laredo, Tex., Delia Perez yearned for a bigger world.
“Growing up first generation Mexican-American, I was fascinated by cultural diversity,” she remembers. “I was very interested in the French language, but there were no opportunities to study it. So I researched study-abroad programs and started working as a tutor and saving my money. I convinced my parents to send me to France and embarked on a journey that changed my life.”
$10,000 Raised in One Day
Directors Top Herbst Foundation Matching Grant Challenge
With The Campaign for UC Davis in full swing, the Graduate School of Management Alumni Association’s board of directors has made a significant leadership commitment to help the School meet its $25 million goal.
New MBA Curriculum Designed to Prepare Innovative Leaders for Global IMPACT
Enhancements build on core strengths of values-based leadership, teamwork skills and turning ideas into action to solve strategic business issues
In the aftermath of the global financial crisis and recession, calls for change at business schools have come from every corner. Employers say they want MBAs who are creative and collaborative, and who can step in as leaders their first day on the job. Students say they want to learn to think strategically, work in teams and tackle issues that affect real businesses. Society demands that business school graduates have grounding in social responsibility, accountability and ethics.
UC Davis Pepper-Spraying Incident Prompts Lessons in Crisis Management
UC President Mark Yudof described the November 18 pepper spraying and arrest of student demonstrators on the campus Quad by UC Davis police as “appalling,” and he appointed a task force to review the action.
The incident drew worldwide attention, prompting several investigations and a state legislative hearing. After seated protesters refused to move, they were doused with pepper spray at close range. Two officers and the campus chief of police were placed on administrative leave.
Polycom CFO Joins Council
We recently welcomed to the Dean’s Advisory Council Michael R. Kourey, executive vice president, finance and administration, chief financial officer and board director of Polycom, Inc., a global leader in unified communications solutions with industry-leading telepresence, video, voice and infrastructure solutions. Kourey spoke to new MBA students in fall 2009 after they signed a student-initiated Ethics Pledge.
Invest in the Graduate School of Management
Through The Campaign for UC Davis—a university-wide initiative to inspire 100,000 donors to contribute $1 billion in philanthropic support—UC Davis is expanding its capacity to meet the world’s challenges and educate future leaders.
The Graduate School of Management has joined this campus effort with an ambitious goal of $25 million in three key areas: faculty and student support, programs and emerging opportunities. We have made significant progress—recently surpassing $22 million, or 91 percent of our goal—thanks to our many supporters.
MBAs on the Ground in Latin America
Two Worlds Apart: Argentina & Chile
Argentina and Chile: Two countries that share a common language and climate but remain worlds apart. As Chile flexes its economic muscles, Argentina struggles.
Following 10 weeks of intensive classroom preparation, 18 UC Davis MBA students recently traveled to Buenos Aires and Santiago accompanied by Wil Agatstein, executive director for the Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Their goal: new insight into international trade and the distinct twists in each country’s business environment.
Judy Nagai Develops Momentum
by Tim Akin
Bringing more than 18 years of higher education management experience in development, alumni relations, student affairs and communications activities, Judy Nagai joined the School in Nov-ember as assistant dean of development and external relations.
“Judy has the in-depth understanding of institutional advancement and capital campaigns to build momentum and financial support for our mission,” said Dean Steven Currall. “She has hit the ground running to lead our team and the School to even greater heights of effectiveness and visibility.”
Alumni Giving Boosts Faculty Research
by Adrienne Capps, Senior Director of Development
Alumna May Seeman ’89 established the Seeman Faculty Opportunity Fund in 2009 to support emerging faculty needs such as research, travel to conferences and presentations. The first beneficiary of Seeman’s gift, Associate Professor Beth Bechky, said the funding helped her significantly during the data analysis phase of her research project, “Science Under Scrutiny,” an ethnographic study of a crime laboratory.
Connections Count
How Career Development can help recent grads land great jobs
by Marianne Skoczek
When a promised position with a major investment firm fell victim to the recession and was rescinded just after Daniel Hwang graduated in June, the new Daytime MBA graduate turned to the School’s Career Development team.
Nilisha Agrawal ’08 Establishes Student Award in Finance/Accounting
by Anya Reid ’04, Assistant Dean of External Relations and Development
Not long after her graduation, alumna Nilisha Agrawal ’08 approached the Graduate School of Management to explore how she might give back to her alma mater and at the same time help others pursue their UC Davis MBA.
Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. Keynotes Largest Commencement in School’s History
One hundred and eighty men and women assembled for the last time as UC Davis MBA students on June 11 and marched with pomp and circumstance onto the stage at the Mondavi Center for the Graduate School of Management’s 29th commencement ceremony. It was the largest graduating class in the School’s history.
Major Gift from Alumnus Mark Otero Supports Faculty Research
Mark Otero ’07 is enjoying tremendous success in his second start-up, which he credits his UC Davis MBA with helping make possible.
After founding and expanding Sacramento-based KlickNation Corporation into a multimillion-dollar social online success story, Otero sold the start-up in December 2011 to Fortune 500 gaming giant Electronic Arts. KlickNation has become BioWare Sacramento, the newest division of Electronic Arts, with Otero as CEO.
GSM Recognized as Military-friendly School
The Graduate School of Management has been designated a “military-friendly school” by G.I. Jobs, a magazine for military personnel transitioning into civilian life. The 2012 Military Friendly Schools list honors the top 20 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools that are doing the most to embrace U.S. military service members and veterans as students.
Water for Change
Bay Area MBA Team Makes Waves in Hult’s Global Case Challenge
A business plan to wean consumers from wasteful, plastic-bottled water and toward an ecologically responsible high-quality water and reusable bottle vending machine landed a team of Bay Area Working Professional MBA students in the regional finals of an international social enterprise competition.
Water for Change—which offers water for just that: two quarters to refill a metal bottle—is a blueprint that students John Becker, Randy Bodiford, Jennie Eckardt and David Mun wrote for lecturer Cleveland Justis’ Social Entrepreneurship course last fall.
Global Hospitality
Hyatt Chief Hyper-focused on Brand Strength
Mark Hoplamazian got his first taste of the hospitality business working the graveyard shift at the front desk of a two-star hotel while studying at the London School of Economics.
While short, that experience still shapes his single-minded pursuit of top-quality customer service as president and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. During a campus visit last spring— including a stay at Hyatt Place at UC Davis—he spoke as a Dean’s Distinguished Speaker, sharing his serendipitous return to the hotel business.