Profile

Robert Smelick
2011 Robert A. Fox Executive-in-Residence

Image of Robert Smelick

Managing Partner and CEOHeadland Ventures, San Francisco, Calif.

Adjunct faculty at the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia. Visiting lecturer at University of Washington; Harvard University; Georgetown University; the University of San Francisco; Duke University; and the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.

Served on the boards of several private and public companies, including Kaiser Steel, Willamette Industries, King Broadcasting and The Wine Group (one of the world’s largest wine companies)

Course Taught

Leadership, Innovation and Enterprise Culture

Degrees

MBA, Harvard Business School

B.A, Economics, Stanford University

Fast Facts

  • More than 30 years of experience as an investment banker: managing principal of his own firm, Sterling Payot Company; managing director of First Boston and head of its West Coast Investment Banking Group; partner at Kidder, Peabody & Co, New York and San Francisco
  • His personal relationships have allowed him to conduct candid, unscripted video interviews with more than 100 executives of important growth companies in a wide variety of industries
  • The core cases in his course, Leadership, Innovation and Enterprise Culture, include Genentech, The Wine Group, Nordstrom, Pacific Telesis/AirTouch, Willamette Industries, Wired Ventures, Metricom and Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream

Commands

Spotlight Story

UC Davis Part-time MBA among Top 7%, Daytime MBA in Top 9%
U.S. News & World Report’s latest rankings: This marks the 18th consecutive year our MBA program has been ranked among the best in the nation.

Image of  UC Davis Part-time MBA among Top 7%, Daytime MBA in Top 9%

(Davis, CA) — The UC Davis Graduate School of Management’s full-time MBA program has been ranked among the top six percent of AACSB International-accredited programs nationwide, according to U.S. News & World Report’s latest graduate business school rankings released today.

Spotlight Story

Powerful Alumni Network
UC Davis MBAs are international business leaders, rising managers and entrepreneurs in a wide range of industries and organizations

Image of Powerful Alumni Network

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.

Spotlight Story

Mark Otero MBA 07 Builds Sacramento’s Coolest Company
The secret of social gaming mogul Mark Otero’s success is taking things to the extreme

Image of Mark Otero MBA 07 Builds Sacramento’s Coolest Company

The secret of Midtown Sacramento’s Facebook gaming mogul Mark Otero’s success is taking things to the extreme.