Two UCLA Anderson alumnae were recently recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal with LABJ Women’s Summit Awards. Nike Irvin (’89), vice president of programs at the California Community Foundation, was honored as Philanthropist of the Year. Walt Disney Co. senior vice president and CFO Christine McCarthy (’81) received the award for Executive of the Year. We’re proud and pleased to congratulate these outstanding professionals who are part of the Anderson community.
Below, we share the announcements that appeared in LABJ:
CHRISTINE MCCARTHY
Almost a year ago, the Walt Disney Co. promoted Christine McCarthy to be its first female chief financial officer as well as senior executive vice president, making her the company’s highest-ranking woman ever. She oversees Disney’s worldwide finance organization, investor relations, corporate planning and control, tax, corporate treasury, corporate real estate, facilities, integrated supply chain management and corporate citizenship.
McCarthy had done “a remarkable job as Disney’s treasurer for 15 years, and her strong leadership and keen financial acumen made her an ideal chief financial officer,” chairman and CEO Robert Iger said at the time.
McCarthy has served as Disney’s representative on the board of FM Global since 2010. She is also a trustee of the Westridge School for Girls in Pasadena, and a mentor for the National Math and Science Initiative’s STEM program. She is a former member of the UCLA Foundation board of governors, the UCLA Foundation investment committee, the board of the Phoenix House California and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, and served as both the treasurer and a director of the alumnae association of Smith College, and was a member of the Smith College investment committee.
A graduate of Smith College, McCarthy completed her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences, where she received an award for excellence in botany, and later earned an MBA in marketing and finance from UCLA Anderson School of Management.
NIKE IRVIN
In 1995 Nike Irvin left a corporate position with no other job to go to. She spent a year volunteering and reimagining her life’s work. As she puts it, she exited the for-profit sector to enter the “for-purpose” sector, bringing with her the business savvy to manage organizations working to solve problems faced by the most disenfranchised members of the community.
As vice president of programs for the California Community Foundation, the Los Angeles native hasn’t looked back. CCF drives change through charitable giving solutions that Irvin describes as investments in quality of life, especially for the most vulnerable Angelenos. Irvin provides strategic leadership for priority program areas such as arts, education, health care and human development.
In 2014 she became a donor to CCF, establishing a fund she uses to make her own grants to nonprofits. Part of her work, she says, is helping underrepresented people know how to thrive in their environments.
Yale educated, Irvin is a second-generation Bruin, having earned her MBA at UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1989. Irvin believes that solutions start with expectations — and she is intensely concerned about diversity. At the time she graduated from Anderson, she was one of only 18 African-American students in her class. Today, she is an active alumna volunteer that UCLA Anderson counts among its “Inspirational 100.” For seven years Irvin led Anderson’s renowned Riordan Programs in service to first-generation high school and college students on a business school track.
Comments