Gonzalo Freixes, former associate dean of UCLA Anderson’s Executive MBA and currently associate dean of the Fully Employed MBA Programs and faculty director of the Applied Management Research Program at UCLA Anderson School of Management, received the 2014 Bud Fackler Service Award from the EMBA Council (EMBAC).
The Bud Fackler Service Award recognizes contributions to EMBAC and to EMBA programs worldwide, including efforts to help other programs, to share best practices, and to raise the quality of EMBA programs. The council named the award after Bud Fackler, the late director of the EMBA program at the University of Chicago and one of the council’s founders.
Freixes served on the EMBAC Board of Trustees, including terms as chair, treasurer, and past chair. He also was chair of the 2011 EMBAC Conference in Key Biscayne, Florida, which broke a record for attendance at that time, and presented numerous concurrent sessions at EMBAC conferences.
“I was surprised (to receive this honor at this time) because although it’s common that the award goes to someone who served as chair of the council, no one had ever gotten it so soon after serving as chair,” Freixes says. “I am very honored. It’s a very big recognition and I’m honored to be thought worthy by my peers.”
“Gonzalo has made so many contributions both to the council and to the EMBA industry,” says Michael Desiderio, EMBAC executive director. “His energy, enthusiasm, and leadership have inspired his students and his colleagues alike. His clear thinking and open-minded approach came through in helping guide the board, in expanding the council’s international presence, and in increasing its outreach.”
Though the EMBA Council is made up of “rival” programs, Freixes says that the group is sincerely interested in working together for the betterment of executive MBA education. “It is remarkable how much our peer schools are willing to share in terms of best practices, innovations and what they are doing,” Freixes says. “My philosophy is the same. We aren’t corporations fighting for customers. We’re educators trying to educate working professionals to make their lives better. The price of learning what other top schools are doing is revealing what we’re doing. That’s a good price to pay and that’s the philosophy of the culture.”
Freixes received his law degree from Loyola Law School and his master’s degree in business taxation from the University of Southern California. Freixes began his career as a lawyer who later transitioned to higher education as a faculty member.
He now teaches business law, international business law, business ethics, corporate and individual taxation, and real estate law and taxation in the MBA Program and in the Undergraduate Management Accounting Minor Program at UCLA. Freixes received the Neidorf Decade Teaching Award from the UCLA Anderson faculty, as well as the Fully Employed MBA class Outstanding Teaching Award.
His experience and interest in international business led to the launch of Global Immersion Programs, which included extending opportunities to all MBA students. He has led one-week international programs for many years, and has lectured in Brazil, Spain, France, Holland, Argentina, South Africa, Belgium, and Chile.
(This post includes information provided by a press release from the Executive MBA Council.)
Comments