Haas NewsWire - January 21, 2008

Alumnus Johnson and Wife Give $1 Million to Responsible Investment Fund

The Haas School's new socially responsible investment fund will soon start trading, thanks to a $1 million donation from Haas alumnus Al Johnson, BS 62 and MBA 69, and his wife, Marguerite.

The Haas Socially Responsible Investment (HSRI) Fund was launched in September 2007 with a $250,000 gift from Haas School alumnus Charlie Michaels, BS 78, and his wife, Doris.

A team of Berkeley MBA and Master's in Financial Engineering (MFE) students is currently finalizing an investment strategy and consulting with an investment advisory committee and a faculty advisory committee in preparation to launch the fund. The fund needed to reach at least $500,000 before students could start investing.

Dedicated supporters of UC Berkeley, the Johnsons are very active in the UC Berkeley campus community. Al Johnson is a former member of the Business School Campaign Executive Committee, involved with the North California Leadership Gifts Committee, served six years on the Library Advisory Board and is currently a trustee on the UCB Foundation. Marguerite Johnson, who earned a bachelor's degree in social welfare in 1960, is a longtime member of the School of Social Welfare Community Partnership Board.

"The Haas Socially Responsible Investment Fund struck me as a very interesting approach to investing because it's not just about the bottom line," says Johnson, a general partner with WTI Ventures in Menlo Park, Calif. "The fund also looks at companies' social responsibility in addition to financial characteristics. In many respects, the fund combines Marguerite's passion for social welfare and my passion of business."

The fund is the first student-run investment fund at Haas and the first student-run, socially responsible investment fund at a leading business school. It exposes students interested in corporate social responsibility or finance to the investing world's complexities, challenges, and rewards. Students managing the fund are required to enroll in an elective on socially responsible investing techniques being offered by the Haas School for the first time in fall 2007.

"The goal is to provide long-term, positive absolute returns while adhering to predetermined social and environmental responsibility and corporate governance guidelines," says Michael Pearce, full-time MBA 08. "Investment decisions will be made based on both traditional financial and business evaluation criteria as well as detailed socially responsible investment criteria."

In addition to Pearce, the team includes Margot Kane, Clayton Schloss, Elizabeth Singleton, all full-time MBA 08, as well as financial engineering students Ambuj Chaudhary and Lance Durham, MFE 2008.

"It is my fervent desire to invest in companies that improve the lives of the world's poor, the so-called bottom-of-the-pyramid," says Durham. "Through the Haas Socially Responsible Investment Fund, I can investigate and invest in firms that serve these people. I am extraordinarily enthusiastic about it."

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Prof. Quigley Receives Honorary Degree from Swedish Royal Institute

Professor John Quigley was one of two UC Berkeley faculty members awarded an honorary doctor's degree in November by Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology.

The citation hailed Quigley as "the world's eminent researcher in the fields of housing and urban economics, as well as in areas related to public economics and infrastructure investment."

Quigley, the I. Donald Terner Distinguished Professor in Affordable Housing and Urban Policy, is an expert on the integration of real estate, mortgage, and financial markets; urban labor markets; housing; spatial economics; and local public finance. He has served as vice president of the Association for Policy Analysis and Management and as president of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.

Quigley is also director of the Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy, a professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy, and the Chancellor's Professor of Economics in Berkeley's economics department.

Shankar Sastry, dean of Berkeley's College of Engineering, joined Quigley in receiving the honor from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. The institute also awarded the honorary degree to Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector from 2000 to 2003, and Julia Hirschberg, a professor of computer science at Columbia University.

The Royal Institute of Technology, founded in 1827, is one of Sweden's leading technical research and engineering universities.

Financier J. Richard Fredericks to Address Berkeley-Columbia Commencement

J. Richard Fredericks, chairman of Dionis Capital and a former US Ambassador, will deliver the commencement address at the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA graduation ceremony Sunday, February 10, in Wheeler Hall Auditorium on the UC Berkeley campus.

Fredericks currently serves as chairman of Dionis Capital, a New York-based hedge fund focusing on the financial services industry. He is also a managing director of Main Management, a money management firm that invests exclusively in Exchange Traded Funds, and an entrepreneur-in-residence at Weston Presidio. In his diplomatic career, he served as US Ambassador to both Switzerland and Liechtenstein from 1999-2001.

Seventy graduates will participate in the ceremony, honoring their hard work in this intense nineteen-month program. Members of the class, the sixth for the Berkeley-Columbia program, range in age from 29 to 55 and work for such companies as Google, Goldman Sachs, and Cisco.

The ceremony takes place at 10 a.m., with a reception following at 11:30 a.m. outside the auditorium. The graduates are also invited to take part in Haas School MBA commencement ceremonies on May 16, and Columbia University's commencement on May 21.

Profs Jennifer and David Aaker To Keynote at Annual Celebration in East Bay

Professor Emeritus David Aaker will lead a marketing discussion with his daughter, Professor Jennifer Aaker, before a sold-out crowd at the fourth annual Haas Celebration in the East Bay, to be hosted at Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream headquarters in Oakland on January 23.

David Aaker, legendary expert on the subject of brands, and his daughter Jennifer Aaker, Xerox Distinguished Professor in Knowledge at the Haas School, will discuss their research and insights in the area of branding and marketing. David Aaker will reflect on his brand management theories and Jennifer Aaker will speak about her new work focused on the impact of time and money. The discussion promises to be both interactive and entertaining, as plenty of time will be allocated to Q&A.

The event is organized by the East Bay Chapter of the Haas Alumni Network and the Haas Alumni Relations Office. As the event is sold out, no more tickets are available.

Peers@Haas Launches 2008 Program

Berkeley MBA participants in Peers@Haas will spend this spring building leadership capacity after the 2008 program launches on January 27, with help from executive coach and best-selling author Marshall Goldsmith.

This is the second year of Peers@Haas, one of the experiential learning opportunities offered to students as part of the school's Leading Through Innovation initiative. The program builds upon the core MBA leadership course and is open to students in the Full-time, Evening & Weekend, and Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA programs.

Students participating in Peers@Haas select one key leadership behavior to change, such as listening or communicating persuasively. They work toward the goal with the help of a peer partner and independent stakeholders, such as supervisors, other workplace colleagues and fellow students, who are in a position to observe their behavior and then share frequent feedback. "Independent research confirmed that students participating in the first year of Peers@Haas measurably improved their target behavior---as judged by their outside stakeholders," says Adam Berman, executive director, curriculum innovation.

Berman notes that participants' feedback was also considered in developing this year's program, which has been streamlined to ensure focus on the most critical components of Peers@Haas. The program has been shortened from a year in length to a semester and has replaced six-person coaching groups with a single peer partner.

Goldsmith, an acclaimed author on the subject of effective leadership, will lay the foundation for the program as he did last year, with a six-hour workshop to teach participants the principles of coaching. He has coached over 70 CEOs and management teams, including JP Garnier, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline, and Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford Motor Company.

Conference to Focus on Future Challenges in the Health Care Business, February 9

The complex future of the health care industry - from biomedical breakthroughs and election-year politics to cutting-edge information technologies - will be examined at the second Haas Business of Health Care Conference on Saturday, February 9, at the Haas School.

Organized by the Healthcare and BioBusiness Club (H2B2) to foster the exchange of ideas among experts in public health, public policy, business, engineering and science, the conference is unique on the west coast. About 300 students, alumni, faculty, and health care professionals are expected to attend the day-long event focused on "Innovation for a Better Tomorrow." To register or for more information, go to www.haashealthcareconference.org.

"Health care is an industry unlike any other in that it encompasses a wide range of disciplines," says conference co-chair Delphina Han, MBA 08. "This year, we want our conference to emphasize what each stakeholder in health care is doing today to meet the health care challenges we will face in the near future."

John M. Capek, executive vice president for medical products for Abbot Laboratories, will give the keynote address. Panel discussion topics include: the future of biosimilars (genetically engineered generic drugs); the presidential election and universal health coverage; personal health information technologies; coordination of disease management; communications technology for global health; and the global market for medical devices.

Conference sponsors include Abbott, Blue Shield of California, Penumbra Inc., ZS Associates, McKesson, the Haas Alumni Network, and the Haas School.

Berkeley MBA Students Place Second in African Business Plan Competition

A team of Berkeley MBA students placed second in an inaugural business plan competition focusing on microfinance in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Meera Chary, Lucas Dunnington, Romain Galoisy, and David Mukunya, all full-time MBA 08, brought home a $3,000 prize from the African Business Plan Competition, developed by boutique private equity firm Knox Lawrence International. The new competition targeted second-year MBA students from ten top schools, including Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan placed first.

Students were challenged to develop a business plan focusing on the Sub-Saharan Africa marketplace that would capitalize on global trends in microfinancing, providing financial services for poor and underserved populations through small loans, money transfer services, and safe places to save currency.

Competition finals took place in December at Knox Lawrence offices in New York.

Haas in the News - As of 1/22/08

Nora Silver, adjunct professor and director of the Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership, was quoted in the San Francisco Weekly article "Newsom-Linked Non-Profit SF Connect Twice As Inefficient As National Average" on January 16. Full article at http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-01-16/news/sf-disconnect/full.

The Haas School's top-five placement in the Aspen Institute's Beyond Grey Pinstripes ranking was mentioned in the San Francisco Examiner's article "Metro-area B-schools see increased interest in social, environmental responsibility course" on January 15. Full article: http://www.examiner.com/a-1158251
~Metro_area_B_schools_see_increased_interest_in_social__
environmental_responsibility_courses.html

The Afghan Music Project, founded by Chris Becherer and Adam Gouttierre, MBAs 06, was featured in the SF Chronicle article titled "With aid of S.F. man's project, Afghan women risk lives for a song" on January 14. Full article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/14/MNRUTLD4A.DTL&hw=afghan&sn=001&sc=1000

Quentin Falconer, MBA 90, was appointed to lead business development efforts at SVB Silicon Valley Bank dedicated cleantech practice, according to CNNMoney.com on January 14.

Nora Silver was quoted in a Christian Science Monitor article "Nonprofit slips in race for cheap laptop for world's poor kids" on January 11. Full article: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0111/p03s04-stct.htm

Hai Che, assistant professor in marketing, was quoted in a CIO Today article titled "Market Research on Shoestring Budgets" on January 10. Full article at http://www.cio-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=022001GEWF68.

Haas School Dean Tom Campbell commented on California's budget deficit on the ABC Channel 7 News on January 9 News segment available at http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/state&id=5879389

Cynthia Kroll, senior regional economist at the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics, commented on the troubled housing market on ABC Channel 7 News on January 8. http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/business&id=5879156

Berkeley MBA team's second place victory, behind the University of Michigan, in the Knoxville MBA Africa Business Plan Competition was mentioned in the Crain's Detroit Business article "UM biz students win prize" on January 7. Full article: http://crainsdetroit.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080107/SUB/801070320/1033/-/-/um-biz-students-win-prize

Terry Odean, professor of finance, contributed to an article "Is $100 Oil a Big Deal? Why would it be so much worse than $99?" in Slate on January 3. Full article: http://www.slate.com/id/2181279/

The work of Hilary Elfenbein, assistant professor in the Organizational Behavior and Industrial Relations Group, was featured in The Wall Street Journal blog "Informed Reader" under the title "Doing Well and Doing Good Are Only Weakly Linked" on January 2. Full article: http://blogs.wsj.com/informedreader/2008/01/02/doing-well-and-doing-good-are-only-weakly-linked/

Lloyd Kurtz, lecturer in the Center for Responsible Business, was quoted extensively in an article "Whistling Past the Graveyard? Socially Responsible Investing and the Financial Crisis" on December 31 in the Sustainability Investment News's SocialFunds.com. Full article: http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/2443.html

Kenneth Rosen, chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics, was interviewed for a San Francisco Chronicle article titled "For the Bay Area real estate industry, 2007 went from boom to tizzy" and published on December 30. Full article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/30/RE96U4RAF.DTL

Ken Rosen was quoted in the Bay Area Jazz Lines article "Bay Area Housing Forecast" on December 30. Full article: http://bayareajazzlines.blogspot.com/2007/12/bay-area-housing-forcast.html

The Sustainable Products and Solutions Program housed at the Center for Responsible Business was included in The New York Times article on global warming on December 25, titled "A Threat So Big, Academics Try Collaboration." Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/25/business/25sustain.html?scp=1&sq=haas+school

Professor David Vogel was quoted in The New York Times article about toys from China, titled "A Toymaker's Conscience," on December 23. Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/magazine/23Mattel-t.html?scp=1&sq=david+vogel

Terrance Odean's research was cited in the Motley Fool article "Why You Shouldn't Sell," about the current stock market on December 27. Full article: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2007/12/27/why-you-shouldnt-sell.aspx

Professor of Marketing Jennifer Aaker's research on last-minute gift buying was quoted in a December 23 San Diego Union Tribune article, titled "Gift-buying clock is ticking away." Full article: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071223-9999-1n23lastmin.html

The annual Intel UC Berkeley Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge (IBTEC) was mentioned in AME, a business web site in the United Arab Emirates, titled "Arab Science and Technology Foundation and Intel Corporation announce final winners of 2nd Arab Technology Business Plan Competition" on December 23. Full article: http://www.ameinfo.com/142370.html

Thomas Davidoff, assistant professor in the Real Estate group, commented on ABC Channel 7 News that the Bay Area renter's market is overflowing with new renters on December 20.

Senior Lecturer Homa Bahrami commented on Harold J. Leavitt in his Los Angeles Times obituary "Stanford professor pioneered study of organizational behavior" on December 19. Full article: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-leavitt19dec19,1,5458244.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california

Jennifer Chatman, professor in the Organizational Behavior and Industrial Relations group, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal's Cubicle Culture column, titled "Your Boss's Obsession Too Often Becomes Your Job Obligation," on December 11. Full article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119733854257620301.html

The same Wall Street Journal column was rerun in the online Winston-Salem Journal.

The Berkeleyan article on three Haas marketing professors, Jennifer Aaker, Priya Raghubir, and Louis Bucklin on the commercial side of holiday shopping, titled "The most wonderful time of the year?," from December 6 was picked up by PhysOrg's on December 10. Full article: http://www.physorg.com/news116520755.html

Haas alumnus, Maurice J. Gallagher, MBA 74, who gave a donation to the new UC Davis business school building, was mentioned in a Reuters article titled "UC Davis Graduate School of Management Breaks Ground on 'Green' MBA Building" on December 7. Full article: http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS209314+07-Dec-2007+BW20071207

The BNA Tax and Accounting Report from November 16 covered the Center for Financial Reporting and Management's annual financial reporting conference in San Francisco.

The Dow Chemical Foundation's $10 million gift to establish UC Berkeley's Sustainable Products and Solutions Program housed at the Haas School's Center for Responsible Business was written up in the Economist.com's November issue of News from the Schools. Full article: http://www.economist.com/business/globalexecutive/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10166617

Patricia Dechow, Professor of Accounting, was profiled in the October 29 cover story of Forbes magazine, titled "F Is for Fudging." Full text at http://www.forbes.com/wallstreet/forbes/2007/1029/072.html

Happening at Haas

Dean's Speaker Series

Tom Kelley, General Manager IDEO and Executive Fellow at the Haas School
Monday, February 4
7:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Wells Fargo Room

Michael Raynor, Deloitte Consulting
Tuesday, Feb.12
12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Wells Fargo Room

NOTE:
The event with Chad Hurley, CEO of YouTube, has been postponed

Business of Health Care Conference
"Innovation for a Better Tomorrow"
Saturday, February 9
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Haas School of Business

Lester Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation

UC Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum
Facebook: The Business of Social Platforms
Thursday, January 24
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Arthur Andersen Auditorium
Topic: Facebook: The Business of Social Platforms.
For further information: http://entrepreneurship.berkeley.edu/jan08.asp

Venture Capital Investment Competition - Pitch Evaluation Workshop
Tuesday, January 29
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
S489 Student Services Building
Speaker: Bill Reichert, Garage Ventures. Open to all students and the general public, subject to available seating.

Venture Capital Investment Competition - Term Sheet Workshop
Thursday, January 31
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
S489 Student Services Building
Speakers: Rob Dellenbach, Fewnwick & West; Prashant Shaw, Hummer Winblad. Open to all students and the general public, subject to available seating. For further information on the Haas VCIC, see http://entrepreneurship.berkeley.edu/vcic faqs.asp

Best Practices Workshop
"How to Write a Business Plan"
Monday, February 4
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Location to be determined
Open to all students and the general public, subject to available seating. For further information on the Entrepreneurial Best Practices workshop series, go to http://entrepreneurship.berkeley.edu/entbestpract.asp

Venture Capital Investment Competition (Berkeley Internal)
Friday, February 8
9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Wells Fargo Room
Attendance open to all students and the general public, subject to available seating (priority will be given to contestants). For further information, go to http://entrepreneurship.berkeley.edu/vcic faqs.asp

SEMINARS

Shansby Marketing Research Seminar
For more information, contact Donna Seaward at dseaward@haas.berkeley.edu.

John A. Deighton, Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Thursday, January 24
4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Room C-250

David H. Reiley, Professor, Experimental Economics and Industrial Organization, Eller College of Management, Univ of Arizona
Thursday, January 31
4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Room C-250

Organizational Behavior and Industrial Relations
For more information, contact Deborah Houy at houy@haas.berkeley.edu.

Ph.D. student presentations: Jennifer Kurkoski, Kuo Yu
Wednesday, January 23
12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
C320 Cheit Hall

Jerry Davis, University of Michigan
Thursday, January 31
12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Room to be determined

Mark Kennedy, University of Southern California
Wednesday, February 6
12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
C320 Cheit Hall

ALUMNI EVENTS

BAY AREA HAAS/STANFORD ALUMNI - THE FIFTH ANNUAL GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM
Opportunities in a Global Connected Economy
Wednesday, January 30 - Friday, February 1
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Crowne Plaza Cabana Hotel, 4290 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94306
Registration: http://www.globaltechsymposium.com/stanford/live/default.asp?menuid=11444
and enter the code HSBMEM2008 when prompted.

LOS ANGELES ALUMNI - NETWORKING MIXER
Wednesday, January 30
6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Neomeze, 20 E. Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena CA 91105
The Haas LA Alumni Association, with Beta Gamma Sigma and Cal San Gabriel Valley, welcome you to our Networking Bar Night Mixer. Come join fellow alumni and new and old friends at Neomeze in Pasadena for the Haas LA Networking Bar Night. No cost for attendance. Open cash bar. Light appetizers will be provided compliments of the Haas Business School and the Beta Gamma Sigma Business School Honors Society.

SAN FRANCISCO ALUMNI - LUNCHEON WITH NOTED TURNAROUND CEO TOM EPLEY
Wednesday, February 6
11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The Penthouse at Wells Fargo Headquarters, 420 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA 94104
San Francisco Haas alumni and students are cordially invited to attend a luncheon with the noted turnaround CEO Tom Epley. Epley has spent his business career fixing dysfunctional companies in many different industries. Along the way, he combined action-results information from his direct experiences, management analysis and techniques from third party research, and common sense to determine a multitude of breakthrough and highly effective management techniques, attitudes, or approaches. To register, go to www.acteva.com/go/hansf. For more information, contact David J. Gimpelevich, Haas MBA 98, gimpelev@alumni.haas.org.

Celebrations: Four Haas Staff Honored for Exceptional and Innovative Service

Four Haas Staff Honored for Exceptional and Innovative Service

Four Haas staff members were honored with Spot and HEART awards by the Haas School for going above and beyond the call of duty in serving their departments or the school as a whole.

These awards are university-wide programs that recognize deserving employees. The campus honors managers, supervisors, and non-represented members of the school with Spot awards and $250. HEART awards are presented in the form of a beautiful bouquet of flowers to employees represented by unions.

Diana Burke, manager of office and instructional support, has been known as the driving force behind the HaasGear store. She earned a Spot award for taking the initiative to research and identify a vendor and then purchase and implement an electronic cash register system to bring the store's inventory management into the 21st century.

Two staff colleagues - Louise Severy and Gerardo Campos - were recognized with Spot awards for their exceptional service in making the dedication ceremony for the Barbara and Gerson Bakar Faculty Building in October a huge success. Severy, special events manager in the Alumni Relations and Development Office, organized the event in short time with exceptional flair and dedication to detail. Campos, facilities coordinator for Haas, coordinated with a variety of campus departments to make sure that the event proceeded smoothly despite several concurrent events happening at Haas that weekend. Both were responsible for beautifying the building for the big event.

Kathleen Valerio, responsible for computer training and ergonomic evaluations in Haas Computing Services, earned a Spot award for taking on a task without an owner. The dean's office funded the purchase of several complex research databases for faculty and Ph.D. students but had no process for doing so. Valerio took the initiative to learn about the process and succeeded in securing the databases in a timely manner at a fair price to avoid disrupting faculty and Ph.D. research.

Visit http://recognition.berkeley.edu for information on how to nominate a colleague for the Spot or HEART award.

The Haas NewsWire is the bi-monthly electronic news publication for the Haas community published every Monday by the Marketing and Communications Office at the Haas School. Send your news, feedback, and suggestions to haasnews@haas.berkeley.edu.

Archived issues of Haas NewsWire are available online at http://haas.berkeley.edu/groups/newspubs/haasnews/
archives/hnarchiv.html.