Commerce Secretary Pritzker Tells MBAs Who Chose UCLA Anderson: "It’s Well Worth It"

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and UCLA Anderson Dean Judy Olian 

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By Carolyn Gray Anderson

For the final Dean’s Distinguished Speakers Series of 2015, United States Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker joined Dean Judy Olian in a frank conversation about the future of U.S. business, trade and manufacturing. On her first day in office — arriving with nearly 30 years of experience and success in the private sector — Pritzker famously hung a sign reading “Open for Business” on her door to underscore her department’s commitment to American business leaders.

And if Pritzker is about anything, it’s business. “It’s fair to call her America’s top CEO,” said International Business Association President Apurv Aswathi (’15) when he introduced her. She grew up mainly in Silicon Valley, daughter of Donald Pritzker, who developed the Hyatt Hotels chain. An heir to that fortune, Secretary Pritzker founded and ran five different businesses in real estate, hospitality, senior living and financial services. “Building businesses was what was revered in my household and extended family,” said Pritzker, influenced early by her mother “to be a bit fearless.” She created Pritzker Realty Group in 1991; in 2010, she co-founded Artemis Real Estate Partners and founded PSP Capital Partners, a private investment firm, in 2012. She also co-founded The Parking Spot, the fastest growing company in off-site airport parking management.

Pritzker is the 38th U.S. Secretary of Commerce, sworn in on June 26, 2013, following a near-unanimous vote by the Senate. As chief commercial advocate of the United States, she leads the administration’s trade and investment promotion efforts. It’s the native Chicagoan’s first government position, and she is focused on promoting startup activity, bolstering trade and investment, supporting advanced manufacturing and helping American companies export overseas. A champion of children’s education and athletics, she has founded, with her husband Bryan Traubert, a number of programs to advance and invest in Chicago’s youth. She’s also an avid triathlete and marathon runner.

Her government department’s blueprint for the nation’s most pressing priorities resulted in part from a 13-city “listening tour” she conducted in order to ascertain what concerned the leaders of small and large businesses across the country. “You need to talk to people to understand priorities,” she told the Anderson audience. And she found that the nation’s priorities were aligned with those of the Obama Administration: among the top three are technology infrastructure investment, immigration reform and corporate tax reform — a bipartisan matter of urgency. In her 22 months in office, Pritzker estimates she’s met with 1,600 CEOs.

Asked by Olian what the key to reviving U.S. manufacturing is, and how to make it competitive, Pritzker acknowledged that reskilling for “portable, stackable credentials” is essential — but that efforts must be employer-led because employers know what is lacking and what can enhance their businesses. The President advocates for an increase in apprenticeships, but mainly in IT and other technical fields where skilled labor is and will continue to be needed. And government, according to Pritzker, will collaborate but she stressed that this will be most effective at a local level. Meanwhile, she is encouraged that many foreign companies want a business foothold in the U.S., the world leader in manufacturing patents. She just visited China, taking 24 American clean technology companies with her.

Among her concrete accomplishments in office to date is increasing the validity of Chinese and U.S. short-term tourist and business visas issued to each other’s citizens from one to ten years. She said this adds $65 billion and hundreds of thousands of jobs to the U.S. economy. Pritzker said incentives are needed for U.S. and foreign investors to keep their money in the U.S. and added, addressing the international students in the audience, “How stupid is it that we bring you here to get an education [“At one of the best universities in the world,” interjected Olian] and then we ask you to leave?”

To the MBAs in the room, Pritzker said, “Coming to a school like Anderson and getting an MBA? It’s well worth it.” She confessed that she doesn’t think the degree is for just anyone. “It’s expensive,” she said; but for those who pursue it, “It’s an opportunity to step out of your career and ask, ‘Am I going down the path I need to?’” She said she never expected to go into government but that her Stanford MBA helped her, as did seeking out mentors. “Don’t underestimate the network. Get to know each other. Your classmates will go on to do very interesting things.” She said she employs MBAs as analysts — and could use more in a department charged with bridging government with business. Some MBAs on staff lead entire divisions. “It’s an unbelievably exciting time,” she said. “Don’t rule out the public sector at some point in your life.”