UCLA Anderson School of Management Blog

Intrepid’s Jim Freedman (’78) Finds Inspiration in Entrepreneurs, Inspires Others to Give Back to UCLA Anderson

Left to right: Senior Associate Dean Al Osborne, Karine Joret, Jim Freedman, Dean Judy Olian, Price Center Executive Director Elaine Hagan ('91)

Enjoy more photos of the James B. Freedman Pitch Deck ribbon cutting

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By Carolyn Gray Anderson

On May 4, 2017, UCLA Anderson proudly cut the ribbon on the new James B. Freedman Pitch Deck, which resides within the walls of the recently constructed UCLA Anderson Venture Accelerator. Wielding the scissors was Freedman himself, with family and an esteemed group of friends looking on. The ceremony marked another chapter in a long and mutually beneficial relationship between Freedman and his b-school alma mater.

Jim Freedman (’78) is managing director, chairman and founding principal of Intrepid, a Los Angeles-based investment banking firm. Senior Associate Dean Al Osborne — Freedman’s former professor and mentor to this day, alongside whom he’s served on the board of the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurship and & Innovation since 1993 and UCLA Anderson’s Board of Advisors since 2001 — recently remarked to Freedman: “‘Intrepid’ is apt. It’s the nature of your success.”

Dean Judy Olian added: “If our students and alumni seek a prime example of continued engagement with UCLA Anderson, they need look no further than Jim Freedman.” He has given his time, advice and financial support since shortly after his graduation from Anderson.

Since Freedman walked into Osborne’s microeconomics class in 1976, he has gained more than 30 years of investment banking and corporate finance experience. He is an expert in the financial aspects of corporate strategy and has acted as the principal financial advisor in hundreds of capital raisings and mergers and acquisitions transactions ranging in value from $20 million to $1 billion.

Sherry Lansing: Trailblazer for Women in Film and Philanthropy

By Isha Patel

As the first female studio head in the film industry, former CEO of Paramount Pictures turned philanthropist Sherry Lansing was the perfect guest in the most recent Center for Global Management Robertson Lecture Series, which features local and global business leaders. Dean Judy Olian led Lansing in a discussion about Lansing’s life and influences, and how her career choices have led to her tremendous success.

Lansing attributes some of her success to her upbringing. For part of her life, Lansing was raised solely by her mother, who learned how to run a real estate business and support her family after her husband’s tragic death. From her mother, Lansing learned to “never be a victim and believe that you can do anything.” It was with this tenacity and self-confidence that Lansing went on to become an outstanding leader in the film industry.

Prestigious Awards for UCLA Anderson Class of 2017 Field Study Teams

Team 24 – Switchfly (left to right) David Meng, Kevin Skup, Brandon Rho, Kimaya Chaudhary and Quentin Reynolds won the 2017 Sedgwick Award for Best AMR/BCO Written Report

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UCLA Anderson proudly announces the Class of 2017 winners of the Deloitte Consulting Award for Management Consulting Achievement, the Sedgwick Award for Best AMR/BCO Written Report and the Union Bank BCO Award.

In lieu of a master’s thesis, Anderson students complete a field study project either as Applied Management Research consultants or as new company founders through the Business Creation Option. AMR is the nation’s first business school field study program and is the capstone experience of every Anderson MBA’s journey. The program’s 3,000 clients have included Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, microfinance institutions and startups.

A panel of Deloitte consultants judged five AMR team presentations for the $5,000 cash award. The 2017 winner is Team 10 – Nigerian Export Promotions Council, consisting of Lucia Ehimika, Petro Kit, Rebecca Hilton, Chigozie Muoto and Jessica Thompson, advised by Victor Tabbush.

The 2017 Deloitte Consulting Award for Management Consulting Achievement went to Team 10 – Nigerian Export Promotions Council (front to rear), Rebecca Hilton, Chigozie Muoto, Jessica Thompson, Petro Kit, Lucia Ehimika

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The Sedgwick Award winner was selected by a committee of faculty and AMR staff. The winner of the $4,000 cash award is Team 24 – Switchfly, whose project served the travel e-commerce platform. Team members Kimaya Chaudhary, David Meng, Quentin Reynolds, Brandon Rho and Kevin Skup were advised by George Ingersoll.

Four BCO teams presented to a panel of judges from Union Bank to determine the winners of the first dedicated BCO award. Knapp Venture Competition second-place winners Team 58 – officebites, advised by Dan Nathanson, prevailed. Jesse Shapiro, Evan Milnor, Anna Highberger and Brian Leong will collect the $5,000 cash prize.

Team 58 – officebites won the Union Bank BCO Award, the first dedicated BCO prize. Left to right: Evan Milnor, Anna Highberger, Jesse Shapiro, Brian Leong

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The UCLA Anderson community congratulates the winning teams! They will be honored at the annual Academic Awards banquet on June 9, 2017, and their names will be engraved on plaques in the Cornell Hall's D Atrium.

Enjoy photos from the 2017 AMR presentations.

No Guesswork, No Guilt: Goodbye Hangry, Hello officebites

UCLA Anderson MBA students conduct Applied Management Research field study projects in lieu of a thesis. Anderson gives full-time students the Business Creation Option in which entrepreneurs launch companies while still in school. We’re highlighting stories of Class of 2017 mission-driven BCO projects that fulfill unmet needs in sectors from e-commerce to cleantech.

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By Anna Highberger (’17), Brian Leong (’17), Evan Milnor (’17) and Jesse Shapiro (’17)

Officebites takes the guesswork out of healthy snacking in the workplace.

Our subscription snack box contains nutritionally ideal snacks to help consumers become more mindful about what they eat at work. After consulting with nutritionists and dietitians, we’ve developed a menu of snacks with two times the protein and half the sugar of the vast majority of snacks on the market. They are portion-controlled at 135 calories each and are time-stamped for consumption two times a day.

We're proud to announce that officebites has been awarded the UCLA Anderson/Union Bank Most Outstanding Business Creation Award and a fellowship from YPO West Los Angeles, and we tied for second place in UCLA Anderson’s 2017 Knapp Venture Competition.

Officebites tied for second place and won $5,000 in the annual Knapp Venture Competition. Left to right: Jesse Shapiro, Brian Leong, Evan Milnor

Student Consultants Find that African Cocoa Is Key to Increasing Nigeria’s Non-Oil Exports to the U.S.

Cocoa beans are processed for export at Bole Wole Enterprises, Lagos, Nigeria

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UCLA Anderson MBA students conduct Applied Management Research projects in lieu of a thesis. The nation’s first business school field study program, AMR partners students with top organizations to solve a key strategic problem. In honor of Anderson’s 2017 Impact Week, the theme of which was Purpose + Profit, we’re highlighting stories of AMRs supported by the Center for Global Management that took UCLA Anderson Class of 2017 teams overseas to collaborate with NGOs whose mission-driven work includes such global challenges as health care delivery, international labor standards and environmental conservation.

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By Chigozie Muoto, Jessica Thompson, Rebecca Hilton, Petro Kit and Lucia Ehimika
Winners of the 2017 Deloitte Consulting Award for Management Consulting Achievement

Since the 1970s, Nigeria has been heavily reliant on oil, with over 90 percent of the country’s export value currently coming from crude oil and crude oil products. With the global decline in oil prices, Nigeria needs to diversify its export products and attract foreign investments. The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has a long-term goal to achieve zero-oil exports from Nigeria, and our Applied Management Research team’s project was to devise a strategy to increase export of an agricultural product to the United States.

NEPC is the government agency in Nigeria that is responsible for the regulation, promotion, recording and monitoring of export trade, administered by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. Our proposal for broadening Nigeria’s non-oil export activity takes maximum advantage of the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), a United States trade act that enhances market access to the U.S. for qualifying Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.

After seven weeks of secondary research and prep work, our entire team made the two-day trip from Los Angeles to Abuja, Nigeria, with the goal to:

1. Meet the client and better understand Nigeria’s resources, capabilities and limitations
2. Evaluate the supply capacities of cocoa, cotton, palm oil and hibiscus in Nigeria
3. Explore the current opportunities and challenges of exporters and businesses in Nigeria

UCLA Anderson Team Finds a Prize-Winning Solution to the Biggest Problem in Clean Energy

By Carolyn Gray Anderson

Renewable energy is one of the world’s fastest-growing business sectors. In California, the statewide goal written into law in 2015 is to generate 50 percent of its energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030. A more recent bill was introduced to increase the goal to 60 percent. The industry is said to employ hundreds of thousands of people.

But while wind, solar and other clean energy sources may be sustainable, accessing and financing them sustainably remains a challenge. This is why a UCLA Anderson team of MBA students won the first place $10,000 prize in the prestigious NRG Energy Case Study challenge hosted by the Economist’s Which MBA? Ean Mulligan (’17), Vishal Saheta (FEMBA ’17) and Julian Trobe (’18) solved the biggest pain point for their proposed client with an innovative financing model that breaks down silos between universities and commercial third parties.

Raising Storytelling Standards Is the Key to Social Impact

Entrepreneur Anna Bulbrook (center) took first place in the Impactathon pitch competition with her social impact project, GIRLSCHOOL, an annual music festival in Los Angeles

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Enjoy Photos from UCLA Anderson’s 2017 Impact Week, Purpose + Profit

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By Margaret Bliss

What makes a great social impact project? Now that I have an idea I think solves a problem, how do I present it to the world? How do I get others involved with my pro-social business?

Those were a few of the questions entrepreneurs were asking during UCLA Anderson’s annual Impact Week, particularly at the all-day Impactathon workshop held in collaboration with Innov8Social marketing consultancy. For answers, attendees looked to invited speakers who included Somya Munjal, founder of Youthful Savings; Andrew McDowell, founder of With Love Market and Café; Kaitlin Mogentale, founder of Pulp Pantry; and Innov8Social founder Neetal Parekh. In a nutshell, they seemed to agree, social impact is a niche that improves a community and actually makes a difference in the lives of those it touches.

Among Impactathon attendees’ primary goals was learning how best to tell their story. GOOD strategist Andy Morris introduced approaches and techniques from the South Africa-based Red Bull Amaphiko Storytelling Lab as an exemplar that “assists entrepreneurs in achieving their goals of effecting positive social change in their communities.”

The Future Must Be More Female

By Sana Rahim (FEMBA ’19)

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the Embodied Leadership Workshop for Women at UCLA Anderson with Suzanne Roberts, founder of Unifying Solutions. The four-hour workshop was a crash course on the history of gender inequity, and Suzanne shared powerful strategies and exercises for women to thrive in the workplace.

The most boggling statistic she shared during the session was that girls’ confidence peaks when they are in about the fourth grade. According to Dr. Robin F. Goodman of the New York University Child Study Center, “Girls’ self-esteem peaks when they are nine years old, then takes a nose dive.”

So often, gender inequality is thought of as an intangible force that somehow holds women back. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that these forces are not mystical remnants of the past. There are structural and embedded boundaries that limit a woman’s viability for the C-suite over time, and these boundaries are starting to affect women at a younger and younger age. It is important for women to educate themselves on the subtle and not-so-subtle forces that are molding us to shy away from leadership opportunities and industries that have typically been dominated by men.

News Fit to Print — in Modern-Day Myanmar

By Elise Anderson

In today’s digital age, with mobile devices and online streaming services ascendant, print is considered a dinosaur.

But when Sylvia Saw McKaige (’11) surveyed the Southeast Asian media landscape, she decided to take an alternative, back-to-the-future tack with a country that only recently came online. The longtime media professional and UCLA Anderson graduate recently launched Frontier Myanmar, an English-language print magazine published weekly in Myanmar.

“I felt that good solid journalism was missing in the market,” she says. “You know, that feeling when you watch a news program or read an article and you think, ‘Wow, that’s good reporting.’”

McKaige’s background, both personal and professional, prepared her to make this leap of faith in a country not known for press freedom. She was born and raised in Singapore. Her father is Burmese and her mother is Chinese. She gained journalism experience working as a business reporter at the Bangkok Post newspaper in Thailand and as a television producer at CNBC Asia, and later headed the guest assignment desk as part of the senior editorial team involved with the development of strategy for programming.