UCLA Anderson School of Management Blog

Shoring Up L.A. River’s Green Future

A much-anticipated U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles River restoration report has shone a new light on the city’s concrete-sided waterway. UCLA Anderson grad Robert T. De Forest ('06,) has had his eye on it for quite some time.

DeForest, founder and managing principal of conservation-minded real estate investment and advisory firm The Pinyon Group, has been working with the Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation on river-centric projects, bringing new life to once forgotten sites. The new environmental report could boost his plans to bring life back to the neighborhoods alongside the river.

The U.S. Army plan seeks to restore 11 miles of the Los Angeles River from approximately Griffith Park to downtown Los Angeles.  “Restoration measures considered include creation and reestablishment of historic riparian strand and freshwater marsh habitat to support increased populations of wildlife and enhance habitat connectivity within the study area,” the report says. Fostering human interaction with the river environment is also part of the plan in the form of “passive recreation that is compatible with the restored environment.”

The draft report is currently in its 45-day review period through Nov. 5, 2013.

For more on DeForest, check out Assets Magazine. Find the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report here, and the UCLA Anderson homepage here.

UCLA Anderson Grad Lands Inc. 5000

Ryan Owen (‘08) and Tom Owen might be a perfectly matched brother duo—the former an Anderson MBA, the latter a 2001 graduate of UCLA School of Law. This complementary set of skills has, at the very least, led to their company, Carlsbad, Calif.-based Zurple, landing the No. 33 spot on the 2013 Inc. 5000 List. The company also ranked No. 3 in the United States and No. 1 in California in the software category, as well as an overall No. 1 in the San Diego metro area.

The company’s SaaS (software-as-a-service) application focuses on linking real estate agents and leads. “Zurple automates an optimized pipeline engagement strategy and delivers more transaction-ready consumers to agents,” Ryan says. Since founding Zurple in 2009, they’ve raised $200,000 and grown on their own cash since.

“I applied to Anderson specifically because I was intent on learning the fundamental business skills that I knew I needed in order to succeed as an entrepreneur,” Ryan says. This included looking at the basic principles of entrepreneurial finance with Adjunct Professor Bill Cockrum and building connections through Elaine Hagan and the Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. “Serial entrepreneur Per Pettersen hired me for a summer internship in his newest venture and ultimately introduced me to Loren Bendele, CEO of Savings.com, who hired me after graduation,” Ryan says. “I learned an incredible amount from both Loren and Per about how to build a business that scales and a team that thrives."

And, while ranking above fellow California software companies in Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach has its own rewards, Ryan says there’s more work to be done. “Tom sent me an email the day we learned we were No. 33. In his email there was the following quote, 'Success is like a mountain that grows taller as you climb it,’” he says. “Though there is always a next round of challenges, recognition from Inc. is a good reminder to appreciate that we are moving in the right direction."

Learn more about Zurple here and the Price Center here.

Delmas Wins Inaugural Research Impact on Practice Award

Demonstrating that Think in the Next affects real-world management issues, Magali Delmas, professor of management at UCLA Anderson and the UCLA Institute of the Environment, and her collaborator, University Paris-Dauphine’s Sanja Pekovic, have won the 2013 inaugural Research Impact on Practice Award. The award, presented by Ontario-based Network for Business Sustainability at Western University’s Ivey Business School and the Organizations and the Natural Environment Division of the Academy of Management, recognizes the researchers’ work on environmental management systems.

It turns out, companies that adopt environmental systems have a 16 percent higher labor productivity rating than firms that don’t.

"Adopting green practices isn't just good for the environment," Delmas told UCLA Newsroom. "It's good for your employees and it's good for your bottom line. Employees in such green firms are more motivated, receive more training, and benefit from better interpersonal relationships. The employees at green companies are therefore more productive than employees in more conventional firms."

The study, based on a survey of 5220 French firms, was published September 10, 2012 in the online version and the February 2013 issue of the Journal of Organizational Behavior.

Learn more about the research at the Journal of Organizational Behavior, the award announcement at Network for Business Sustainability and professor Delmas at her UCLA Anderson page.

Full-Time MBA Students Get Ready to Hit the Ropes

The Full-Time MBA class of 2015 will learn to look for solutions by seeing things differently—hanging from a trapeze 20 feet off the ground, for instance.
 
The students begin their B-school odyssey with the Leadership Foundations course, including the aptly named Leadership Odyssey. Held at the Challenge Course at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center, the day involves activities beyond just the course’s rope challenges and requires students to accomplish several moderately physical tasks by working with the members of their learning teams. The key challenge of Leadership Odyssey is to cultivate leadership capabilities and group problem-solving skills to accomplish a variety of tasks.
 
“UCLA Anderson fosters leadership development in every component of the student experience.  In the classroom students explore key lessons in courses such as Leadership and Ethics and Communication Development for Leaders,” says Director of Academic Services & Communications for MBA Student Affairs Jessica Luchenta. “Outside of the classroom, leadership opportunities abound in student clubs, career preparation and admissions activities and new initiatives on campus.” She says these courses train students in the school’s mission of preparing the next generation of global leaders. “The leadership skill students cultivate at UCLA Anderson will sustain them wherever their post-MBA careers and personal lives might take them,” she says.
 
Check out video of last year’s Leadership Odyssey in Assets Digital, the award-winning, first-of-its-kind UCLA Anderson digital magazine designed exclusively for the iPad. The app includes real-time Twitter feeds, up-to-the-minute events calendar, video, photography, animated illustration and an Alumni Hub. The third issue of the magazine will hit the app in early September. Download the Assets Digital app here.
 
Find out more about the Challenge Course here.

UCLA Anderson Welcomes FEMBA Class of 2016

As the school year ramps back up, the Fully Employed MBA Class of 2016 has joined the new arrivals on campus and started their new educational journey. The diverse class includes eight medical doctors, three dentists, one optometrist and 35 active military personnel or veterans, with students representing 35 different countries.

At the class orientation lunch, Dean Judy Olian welcomed students and reminded them of the important connections the program fosters, connections that last a lifetime.

“By the time you graduate, what you’ve learned from each other and from our faculty will have transformed the way you think, and the way you act,” she said. “You’ll become part of a 35,000 strong UCLA Anderson alumni network who share your disposition. They are smart, innovative, bold, generous in spirit and connected.”

The class is working their way through the two-week Leadership Foundations course in preparation for core course work, including international opportunities in more than 10 countries and the Global Access Program, a six-month field study offered to final-year students.

Access the FEMBA homepage here.

Hit the Road with UCLA Anderson

Popular sentiment may state otherwise, but the summer isn’t over. There’s still time to get on the road and see the sights—especially in the California sunshine. And, as an added bonus, you can catch much of what the Golden State has to offer and support UCLA Anderson alumni all along the way.

"Charting a New Course," the newest issue of Assets Digital—hitting iPads next week—features a California road trip from Northern California to Los Angeles, stopping at some great alumni-led hotspots along the way. From the Camellia Inn in Healdsburg to Golden Road Brewing in Los Angeles, there’s something for everyone along this beautiful route. Other spots using Anderson MBA knowhow to grow success include The Corner Store restaurant in San Francisco, The Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa in Monterey and Suzanne’s Cuisine in Ojai, with grads spanning a timeline from 1960 to 2012.

Look for the full road trip and the Anderson grads involved in Assets Digital on September 10^th.