Faculty

Nora Silver

Founder and Faculty Director of the Center for Social Sector Leadership

Nora is the Founder and Faculty Director of the Center for Social Sector Leadership and Adjunct Professor at University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business. She led the Center to be ranked third in the country (US News & World Report, 2016). The Center was also ranked first among business schools in social impact (Business as Unusual, 2014).

Nora is a serial entrepreneur, having founded a number of nonprofit social enterprises. She was founder of a unique collaboration of corporate, community and family foundations united to strengthen and diversify volunteerism in the United States. She also founded a groundbreaking enterprise that examined traditional notions of community service and taught a broad range of organizations to better engage volunteers. Early in her career, she served as executive director of a domestic violence organization, taught Spanish in an inner city school, and worked as a psychotherapist in private practice.

As an organizational consultant, Nora has worked with hundreds of organizations worldwide – including nonprofits, businesses, governments, foundations, and universities – on strategy and organizational development, cross-sector collaboration, community engagement, and board and executive development. Nora served as a senior trainer for the Peter F. Drucker Foundation.

Nora holds a Ph.D. in organizational and clinical psychology. She is the author of Telling the Whole Story: Voices of Ethnic Volunteers in America, and At The Heart: The New Volunteer Challenge to Community Agencies. She has also authored papers on multi-sector leadership, nonprofit networks, and next generation social sector leadership.

Courses taught: Large Scale Social Change: Social Movements, and Social Sector Solutions

Nora can be reached at 510-642-1625 or by email.

Colin Boyle

Deputy Director of UCSF Global Health Sciences (GHS)

Colin is the first Deputy Director of UCSF Global Health Sciences (GHS), dedicated to improving health and reducing disease worldwide. Colin joined UCSF after 15 years with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he was a partner and managing director leading many of the firm’s social impact projects. Before BCG, he worked at Partnership for Organ Donation in Boston as a site team specialist and for Corporate Decisions in Boston as an associate. Colin has worked extensively in global health, business management and strategy development and is currently on the board of the Oakland Museum of California.

Courses Taught: Strategic Management of Nonprofit Organizations, Social Impact Metrics

Courtney Buechert

Chief Executive Officer at Eleven Inc.

Courtney is Chief Executive Officer at Eleven Inc. As a a second-generation advertising San Franciscan, Courtney has worked at a number of the city’s most admired agencies – from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to global powerhouse McCann Erickson. Working closely with companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Virgin America, Visa, Union Bank and Adidas, he has had the opportunity to learn from some of the most progressive marketers in the world. As father and husband, and as a trained biologist and teacher, Courtney pursues business challenges that bring value to our lives.

Shashi Buluswar

Senior Fellow in International Development at the Haas School of Business

Shashi is a Senior Fellow in International Development at the Haas School of Business. He is also the CEO of The Institute for Transformative Technologies, and organization dedicated to developing and deploying breakthrough technologies to address global poverty and related challenges. Previously, he was a partner at Dalberg Global Development Advisors, a mission-driven consulting firm which serves a broad spectrum of clients in international development such as social entrepreneurs, funders, NGOs, corporations, governments, and international agencies like the UN.

Courses Taught: Strategic Approaches for Global Social Impact

Research: Armed Conflict in India

Brent Copen

Nora is dedicated to strengthening the sector by helping nonprofits develop more robust financial management practices. He has presented hundreds of workshops and training nationally to CEO’s, board members, funders and emerging leaders; and has consulted extensively to a wide variety of nonprofits across sub-sectors. Copen currently holds four graduate level teaching positions at U.C. Berkeley.

Copen co-authored The Nonprofit Business Plan, a practical guide to help nonprofit leaders establish a sustainable, results-driven business plan. Copen is currently the Chief Financial Officer at Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center. He received a Master in Public Administration degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Courses Taught: Financial Management of Nonprofit Organizations

Joe Dougherty

Joe leads Dalberg’s office in San Francisco. He has served as a trusted advisor to social enterprises, government agencies, foundations and corporations for twenty years and has worked in thirty countries. He served as Vice President of an award-winning social enterprise and has taught graduate courses in consulting skills and project management at The Johns Hopkins University and at UNC Wilmington.

Courses Taught: Social Sector Solutions for Social Enterprises

Paul Jansen

Director Emeritus from McKinsey & Company

Paul is Director Emeritus from McKinsey & Company and Adjunct Professor at the Haas School of Business. At McKinsey & Company, he co-founded and led the Global Nonprofit Practice serving leading nonprofits and foundations on issues of strategy and organization. He is the author of many articles and reports challenging sector beliefs about performance, including a co-authored report entitled, The Dynamic Board: Lessons from High-Performing Nonprofits.

Paul currently serves as the board chair of CARE USA, a nonprofit focused on poverty alleviation in the poorest countries of the world; as a director of the SCE Fund, a foundation focused on helping students develop 21st century skills; and as a director of Zymergen, a biotech start-up. Paul previously served on the board of the SF Zoo, including 4 years as Board Chair.

Courses Taught: Social Sector Solutions, Nonprofit Boards: Governance and Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations

Colin Lacon

Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Office of the Mayor in the City and County of San Francisco

Colin is Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Office of the Mayor in the City and County of San Francisco. As a senior advisor, he is responsible for creating, coordinating, and facilitating public/private partnerships for the benefit of the residents of San Francisco. Prior to joining the City of San Francisco, Colin was the President and CEO of Northern California Grantmakers (NCG); he also served as Senior Program Officer for the Strengthening Communities Program at the Stuart Foundation; and held several positions for the City of Oakland, including Senior Advisor to the Mayor and Director of Strategic Grants Management in the Office of the City Manager.

Courses Taught: Cal Strategic Philanthropy

Lynne LaMarca Heinrich

Senior Consultant and Principal with Marts & Lundy, Inc.

Lynne is a Senior Consultant and Principal with Marts & Lundy, Inc. where she serves cultural and educational institutions, foundations, environmental and conservation organizations, and health and human service agencies. She has worked closely with faculty, boards, staff, and donors to provide strategic planning and advancement counsel, board leadership and governance training, and counsel for organizational change. She is a member of the CSSL Advisory Board.

Courses Taught: Nonprofit Boards: Governance and Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations

Ben Mangan

Professional faculty at Berkeley Haas and the former Executive Director of the Center for Social Sector Leadership

Ben is a member of the Professional faculty at Berkeley Haas and the former Executive Director of the Center for Social Sector Leadership. He teaches two MBA classes – Strategy and Leadership for Social Impact and the Social Lean Launchpad. Ben brings more than 20 years of experience in social impact leadership and management, including executive roles in Ernst & Young’s Public Private Development Group, and at an early virtual currency tech firm called beenz.com where he led organizational strategy.

Before joining Haas, Ben was the President, CEO and Co-Founder of EARN, a nonprofit social venture which uses the power of micro-savings and technology to help low-income workers in 16 states across the nation spark new cycles of prosperity.

Ben has served on several nonprofit boards and won numerous awards including Fast Company Social Capitalist of the Year, James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award and Tipping Point Community Award. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Vassar College and a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School.

Ben is also a Senior Fellow at the Aspen Institute, and an appointee of the Community Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board.

Courses Taught: Leading Nonprofit and Social Enterprises

Alicia E. Perez

Legislative and Community Development Director at SafePassages

Alicia is Legislative and Community Development Director at SafePassages, a nonprofit that works to strengthen the safety net for poor people and level the playing field for marginalized students, families, and communities in Alameda County. Prior to Safe Passages, Alicia Perez worked in the Office of the Superintendent for Oakland Unified District. She oversaw the district’s outreach efforts for the opening of schools and student registration, the district’s state and federal advocacy efforts, and the implementation of several social service programs for students. In the legislative realm, Ms. Perez has been a policy advisor for former Assembly Member Delaine Eastin and Oakland Councilmember Nancy J. Nadel. She has worked in the creation and implementation of social programs for children and families in Oakland and Chicago, and internationally in El Salvador, Colombia, and Spain. Alicia E. Perez holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago. She earned her B.A. from U.C. Berkeley in Social Welfare and Comparative Literature.

Courses Taught: Cal Strategic Philanthropy

Julia Sze

Faculty for the Haas Impact Fund

Julia has been investing in people, businesses and ideas since 1992. She started her career as a fundamental stock picker and portfolio manager in Hong Kong, managing award winning funds in Asia, Australia/New Zealand, and global gold. She co-founded an Asia Pacific long/short equity hedge fund in 1999 and ran the greater China portfolio until moving into wealth management in 2004. Since 2008, she has been at the forefront of the impact investing field, working with families and foundations to translate their mission and values into risk, return, and impact aligned portfolios. Her work has included product innovation, impact assessment and reporting, and private deal structuring.

In 2011, Julia started judging at the Global Social Venture Competition and has since expanded to judging at Fish 2.0, Food System 6, and the Presidio Graduate School. She has been a mentor and advisor to a number of early stage social enterprises, and started co-teaching Social Lean Launchpad at Haas in 2018.

Julia chairs the Strategic Advisory Board of Amalgamated Bank, a B Corporation and member of the Global Alliance on Banking on Values, and serves on the board of a privately held Taiwan based folding electric bike company. She serves on the Investment Advisory Committees of Spring Point Partners LLC and RSF Social Finance. She has also served on a number of not for profit boards and investment committees including the Marin Community Foundation, the College of Marin and the Opportunity Fund. Julia is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a B.A. in Economics and an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University.

Jane Wei-Skillern

Senior Fellow at the Center for Social Sector Leadership

Jane is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Social Sector Leadership at the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley. Previously, she has served on the faculty at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School (HBS), and London Business School. She is the author and coauthor of dozens of HBS case studies, book chapters, and journal articles. A distillation of her work may be found at New Network Leader.

Wei-Skillern is the lead author of the casebook, Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector (Sage Publications, 2007). Her research on the leadership and management of social enterprises examines the topics of nonprofit growth and management of multi-site nonprofits, and most recently has been focused on network leadership. This research examines how nonprofit leaders that focus less on building their own institutions and instead invest to build strategic networks beyond their organizational boundaries can achieve dramatic gains in mission impact with the same or fewer resources.

Wei-Skillern earned a bachelor’s degree in business from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, a master’s degree in business research, and a doctorate in organizational behavior, both from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.