Staff Profile

Linda Oubre
Chief Diversity Officer / Executive Director of San Francisco Bay Area Corporate Relations and Business Development

Jun 1, 2011 Development & External Relations

Manages a comprehensive corporate relations program with a focus on the San Francisco Bay Area. Responsibilities include increasing corporate philanthropy, developing new corporate relationships and sponsorships, and cultivating demand and continued interest in the School’s programs in the Bay Area including the Bay Area Working Professional MBA program and a slate of custom business education programs for corporations in the Bay Area. Also serves as a mentor for MBA student consulting projects with corporate partners in the Bay Area.

Linda Oubre brings to this role more than two decades of business development experience with more than 30 new ventures. Most recently, she has been president and CEO of LSO Ventures, a new venture investment and consulting firm specializing in consumer products, health services and retail.

From 1998-2002, Oubre was co-founder, director, and president-COO of BriteSmile, Inc., responsible for the planning, launch and management of the company’s one-hour teeth whitening spas and affiliated dental offices. During her four-year tenure, BriteSmile’s annual sales grew to more than $50 million.

Before the founding of BriteSmile, she served as president of Tri Com Ventures where she specialized in new venture planning and start-ups. Linda was general manager of new business development for the Los Angeles Times, director of operations for Walt Disney Publishing, and manager of planning for both the Times Mirror Company and Walt Disney’s Consumer Products and Retail Division.

Oubre served as the Graduate School of Management’s Executive-in-Residence in 2003, teaching an MBA course on “Leadership in New Ventures.”

She also has been a visiting instructor in the entrepreneurship program at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a guest instructor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and most recently taught courses in leadership and corporate strategy at San Diego State University’s College of Business from 2007-2009. She also taught financial planning and business development at the University of Minsk in the Republic of Belarus.

She also served as assistant director of MBA Admissions at the Harvard Business School from 1984 – 1985.

Linda earned her BA, cum laude, in Economics from UCLA and her MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Office: Bishop Ranch 15, Suite 190, 12647 Alcosta Blvd., San Ramon, CA 95823

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(925) 487-8917

loubre[remove-this-and-replace-with-at]ucdavis.edu

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Innovator Article

Diversity Plan Moves Forward
Linda Oubre Named Chief Diversity Officer

Feb 10, 2012 UC Davis Graduate School of Management Moves Forward on Diversity Plan Linda Oubre

School News • by Tim Akin

The Graduate School of Management has launched a School-wide diversity plan led by newly appointed Chief Diversity Officer Linda Oubre.

In the News

UC Offers Business Fellowship for Students at Historically Black Colleges

Jan 26, 2012 Blog on Breaking Bread with Billionaire Warren Buffett Steven C. Currall Linda Oubre Find More Information on the Summer Institute for Emerging Leaders Sacramento Business Journal

The University of California is launching the Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders fellowship program for students from historically black colleges and universities through six business and management schools. This article reports that the Graduate School of Management will be one of the fellowship’s host schools.

Overview

Embracing Diversity
Preparing Effective Leaders in an Increasingly Diverse World

Sep 21, 2011 Fernando Ortiz de Zerallos '12 Linda Oubre

A recognized leader in global business education, the UC Davis Graduate School of Management is committed to preparing effective leaders in an increasingly diverse world.

Our emphasis on diversity promotes our belief that you learn and grow more when exposed to new ways of thinking and doing business.

Engaging and studying with Graduate School of Management classmates and professors from a wide diversity of backgrounds is helping me to become a wiser man and a better person. The UC Davis MBA program has exceeded my expectations for learning solid business foundations bonded to a conscious mindset.

— Daytime MBA Student Fernando Ortiz de Zerallos ‘12

Fast Facts

One quarter of our Daytime MBA students are international, representing 11 countries.
Our students speak many languages, including Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Swedish, French, German, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada and Assamese.
Working Professional MBA students bring to class their diverse backgrounds and daily experiences leading and managing regional companies, government agencies and multinational corporations with global footprints.
Half our faculty are ethnic minorities, a third are from outside the U.S., and 43 percent are women, the highest percentage among the Financial Times’ top 100 global business schools.

Diversity cannot be seen as an optional initiative. It’s central to how we go about our day-to-day business. Our partnerships and outreach help broaden the diversity of our students, faculty and staff.

Our Partnerships and External Programs

National Black MBA Association

We partner with and are committed to the goals and values of this premier national association for African-Americans in accounting, finance and business. NBMBAA is dedicated to the creation of intellectual and economic wealth in the black community.

National Association of Asian MBAs

We support the mission and participate in events held by this leading nonprofit, global professional organization that provides opportunities for diverse Asian talent to connect with domestic and multinational corporations across industry sectors.

National Society of Hispanic MBAs

With 36 chapters and 8,600 members in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, NSHMBA prepares Hispanics for leadership positions, so that they can provide the cultural awareness and sensitivity vital in the management a diverse workforce. University of California business schools sponsored NSHMBA’s 2011 National Conference.

Forté Foundation

A key ally, the Forté Foundation is a consortium of top business schools and major corporations that has become a powerful change agent in educating and directing talented women toward leadership roles in business.

UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders

We publish an annual census of women board directors and highest paid executive officers at the largest public companies in California. To improve the standing of women in business leadership positions, we partner with Watermark, a nonprofit advancing the impact of women in their professions and in society.

UC-HBCU Initiative

The University of California–Historically Black Colleges and Universities initiative improves the representation of African-Americans/blacks in UC graduate programs by investing in collaborations between faculty and students at UC and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Profile

Linda Oubre
Linda Oubre Executive-in-Residence, Spring 2003

Aug 16, 2011 Linda Oubre

In her two decades of business experience, Linda Oubre has been involved in more than 30 new ventures. Most recently, as co-founder, director, and president-COO of BriteSmile, Inc. From 1998-2002, Oubre was responsible for the planning, launch and management of the company’s one-hour teeth whitening spas and affiliated dental offices. During her four-year tenure, BriteSmile’s annual sales grew to more than $50 million.

Video

Comcast Newsmaker: Linda Oubre, Executive Director of Bay Area Business Development

May 20, 2011 Linda Oubre Comcast Newsmaker

Comcast Newsmaker’s interview with Linda Oubre, executive director of Bay Area business development for the Graduate School of Management. She highlights our jump in the U.S.News & World Report rankings, the value of an MBA and details about our programs in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento and the UC Davis campus.