Lecturer
Management of Organizations
Leading voice on Change, Leadership, and Impact; creator of "Becoming a Changemaker" course
About
Alex Budak is a UC Berkeley faculty member, social entrepreneur, author, and speaker. He helps people from all walks of life go beyond themselves, become changemakers, and make a positive impact in their careers, companies, and communities. At UC Berkeley, Budak teaches his wildly-popular course “Becoming a Changemaker,” directs the Berkeley Haas Global Access Program, and is a Lecturer and Faculty Director for Berkeley Executive Education programs. His book, Becoming a Changemaker (Hachette, 2022), has been endorsed by Nobel Prize winners, Olympic athletes, and most meaningful of all—his former students who are using these ideas to change the world. A social entrepreneur at heart, Budak co-founded StartSomeGood, which has helped more than 1,200 changemakers in 50 countries raise millions of dollars to launch and scale new change initiatives. A graduate of UCLA and Georgetown University, Budak has given lectures and keynotes around the world from Cambodia to Ukraine to the Arctic Circle.
Expertise and Research Interests
- Leadership
- Change
- Entrepreneurship
- Social Entrepreneurship
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Social Change
- Social Innovation
At Haas since 2016
2019- present Lecturer
2017- present Changemaker in Residence, Berkeley Haas
2016- present Director Berkeley Haas Global Access Program
2011- present Co-founder (now advisor), StartSomeGood
2013-15 Country Director, Sweden at Reach for Change
- Member, World Economic Forum Expert Network: Social Innovation
- Board Member, Konexio (present)
- Board Member, Peppy Pals (2016-present)
- Member, Sandbox Network
- Faculty Advisor, Net Impact Berkeley
- Advisor, College Leap
- UC Berkeley, School of Public Health
- UCLA’s Recent Graduate of the Year (2017)
- Real Leaders Magazine 100 Visionary Leaders for a Better World
- Diplomatic Courier’s Foreign Policy Top 99 under 33
- Friends of Europe: Top 10 North American Young Leader under 40
- YouthActionNet Global Fellow, Social Enterprise
Classified: Empowering undergrads to be changemakers, Berkeley Haas News, 04/03/2019
‘New Berkeley changemaker’ course turns self-discovery into tool for change, Berkeley News, 07/01/2020
Finding the changemakers of tomorrow, Forbes, 08/21/2019
UGBA 159: Becoming a Changemaker
FT/EWMBA 259: Becoming a Changemaker
UGBA C12 / L&S C12: The Berkeley Changemaker
Berkeley Executive Education: Berkeley Changemaker Program