UCLA Anderson School of Management Blog

Candid Comments by “Recovering Capitalist” Bobby Turner on Social Impact Investing

By Anna Goldberg (’18)

Students in the UCLA Anderson chapter of Net Impact and the Investment Finance Association gathered for the first High Impact Tea of the academic year to hear from guest K. Robert “Bobby” Turner, principal and CEO of Turner Impact Capital LLC. Although one might not associate students focused on positive social change with students interested in finance and investing, Turner proved stereotypes wrong in his candid talk about how profits and purpose work very well together.

Turner has established himself as a pioneer in the area of social impact investing and has spent the latter part of his career proving that a company does not need to sacrifice mission or capital in order to be successful in both. He spoke frankly about being a “recovering capitalist and philanthropist,” having started his career wanting only to make money. As a successful executive, he began donating to philanthropic organizations, but soon realized that giving money was only “treating the issues, and not curing them.” He went on to help define the “triple bottom line” investment movement, dedicating his professional career to providing not only sound financial returns for his investors, but also education, safety and sustainable options for communities around the U.S.

The audience was captivated by Turner’s honesty and realism, and we could have sat for hours listening to him speak. For the Anderson student body, who care about becoming successful business leaders as well as driving change in the world, Turner’s talk was the perfect embodiment of Anderson’s core values.

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Anna Goldberg is chief of staff to the president of UCLA Anderson’s Women’s Business Connection and director of academics and alumni for the Anderson chapter of Net Impact.

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What Do You Know about Executive Compensation within a Family Business?

Susan Schroeder (standing) spoke on executive compensation to a group of executives, including other members of UCLA Anderson’s Alumni Association board, at the Vivient Consulting offices 

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Alumna Susan Schroeder (’88), a member of UCLA Anderson’s Alumni Association board, discussed key compensation issues faced by family-owned businesses at the Anderson Steinbeck Family Business Seminar in April. In a session titled How Does Compensation Evolve as Leadership of the Family Business Transitions from One Generation to the Next? she shared insights about leading effective and profitable family-owned businesses.

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By Susan Schroeder (’88)

The CEO sitting across from me needed some expert advice. This was the first time that the company would promote a non-family member to the same position. How should he pay the person who would eventually lead his family business? How could the employee acquire company equity so that he would be aligned with the family’s interests, without diluting the family stock holdings? These are the types of issues I address in my role as an executive compensation consultant.

Blending the disciplines of finance, strategy and human resources, executive compensation consulting emerged in the mid-1980s. I was well-situated to get into this emerging professional field because of my time spent at UCLA Anderson. During the management field study project (now known as Applied Management Research), I found that I enjoyed consulting a great deal. This interest, combined with the strong financial analysis skills I learned in my finance curriculum, led me to work with larger consulting firms. About 14 years ago, I branched off to co-found Vivient Consulting, a boutique executive compensation consulting firm based in Los Angeles. In Latin, vivient means to motivate and incent, and we specialize in designing incentive plans.

Chicago Booth Namesake Delivers Keynote at UCLA Anderson’s Fink Investing Conference

The fifth annual Fink Investing Conference, held in May, featured a full afternoon of panels and discussion around global equities and U.S. fixed income markets in the face of both risks and opportunities. A keynote address by Rob Arnott, chairman and CEO of Research Affiliates kicked off the day and the event was capped by a fireside chat between Dean Judy Olian and David Booth, chairman and co-CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors, for whom the University of Chicago Booth School of Business is named.

The Fink Investing Conference is attended by more than 400 students, alumni, faculty and industry professionals who gather to hear well-respected executives share company histories, career advice and investing insights accumulated over years in the business.

Enjoy UCLA Anderson’s full photo gallery of the event

Read the press release

 

This Financial Services Professional Devotes Time and Skills to Others’ Economic Empowerment

Angus Hsu tutored a third grade student at Castelar Elementary School in Los Angeles’s Chinatown as a volunteer with Asian American Tutorial Project

By Carolyn Gray Anderson

Angus Hsu (’16) is a lot like other successful UCLA Anderson students. He has a background in finance and auditing, gaining experience with Wells Fargo even before he earned his B.A. in economics at UC Berkeley in 2007. He led his Applied Management Research team in management consulting for a semiconductor client, recommending and presenting Chinese partnership options to the firm’s senior executive team. And he spent time on a challenging internship in Silicon Valley.

Hsu — who is a licensed Certified Financial Services Auditor, and to whom Wells Fargo awarded its Team Excellence Award in Audit for 2010 — also sets a notable example of volunteerism and community engagement beyond his studies and career aspirations. He shares his success within his undergraduate alumni association and as a tutor to grammar school students and a champion of economic empowerment and affordable housing solutions.

UCLA Anderson Welcomes New CFO Kate Motonaga, a Great Return on Investment

Kate Motonaga (FEMBA ’97), UCLA Anderson’s new senior associate dean for finance, has worked in the finance and accounting fields for more than 25 years, managing budgets up to $1 billion. With a broad reach across functions, she held increasingly senior finance and accounting positions in companies that included Honeywell, California Steel, Avery Dennison and Kaiser Aluminum, followed by 10 years providing CFO-level consulting services to private and public-sector organizations.

Kate joined Anderson’s executive team as CFO less than two weeks ago. As she readies one of her two teenagers for college and absorbs the sticker shock of L.A. area real estate prices, she’s looking forward to settling down and settling in.

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Q: You were already a senior financial analyst with what was then Allied Signal when you entered the FEMBA program at Anderson. What was it at the time that made you decide to pursue an advanced degree?

I wanted to be in management. At the time, Allied Signal (now Honeywell) required an MBA or a CPA for promotion. I was much more interested in the MBA route; they offered to pay for it and were very supportive of the time I’d need to dedicate to it.

Q: You studied business administration as an undergraduate, too. How early did you know you wanted your career to head the direction it did?

Too early… Even back in high school I was trying to figure out the return on my educational investment. I knew that if I wanted to go to college I had to figure out how to pay for it. I’ve pursued a path in both accounting and finance, which I have a personal tendency to group but are usually separate specialties.

My best subject in high school was algebra, which had me asking, “How do you convert a discussion or written paragraph into numbers? How does that translate?” I still do that to this day at a more sophisticated level. I know how important it is to understand what goes on behind the numbers and, as things change and evolve, how that will affect the numbers.

An Experience for the Books: ACG Cup Was Hard Won but Worth It

By Jeremy Mau (’17)

Our team was fortunate enough to represent UCLA Anderson in the ACG Cup case competition. The Association for Corporate Growth Los Angeles hosted the best teams from 10 schools in this annual investment banking and private equity competition. After a grueling two weeks with multiple all-nighters, David Shin (’17), Kyle Patterson (’17) and I went into the final rounds prepared and confident. In the end, our hard work and determination paid off, as we came out victorious, taking the grand prize of $10,000 — and, more important, the privilege of retaining the coveted ACG Cup for one whole year.

ACG is the global community for middle market M&A dealmakers and business leaders focused on driving growth. The ACG Cup competition provides a tremendous opportunity for aspiring dealmakers to get real-world experience while interacting and networking with leading finance professionals and organizations. It is a true showcase of talent, and current industry leaders “may just meet [their] next rising-star dealmaker.”

The road to glory is far from easy, as each year teams of two to four MBA students participate in the first round of competitions. Each team receives a case study problem based on an amalgam of actual corporate finance and M&A engagements.

One week later, student teams present their analysis, recommendations and conclusions to a panel of local ACG finance professionals consisting of bankers and M&A lawyers, who engage in a spirited debate designed to challenge and encourage the students. The competition at Anderson this year was fierce, as all of the participating teams consisted of future bankers and some of the brightest people I have ever met. Any of the teams would have done well, but we were honored to be selected as the one that would represent UCLA Anderson.

Financial and Governance Insights from Larry Fink, Founder of the World's Largest Asset Manager

Larry Fink (B.A. ’74, ’76), chairman and CEO of BlackRock Inc., was welcomed this week to a conversation with Dean Judy Olian as part of the Dean’s Distinguished Speaker’s Series. The founder of what is now the world’s largest asset management company, with $4.6 trillion in assets under management, shared his insights on the health and risk factors in the world’s largest economies, retirement savings and the responsibilities of corporate boards. His conversation with Olian coincided with his receiving the UCLA Medal from Chancellor Gene Block later the same day.

“For China to ascend further, it needed to really transform its society into a domestic-oriented service economy,” Fink said, noting that China must expand health care and establish an ecosystem for tourism. He pointed out that it’s more affordable for Chinese citizens to vacation abroad in Hong Kong, New York or Los Angeles than in their own country, and carry back goods that are too expensive in their own country — which send trillions of dollars outside China. According to Fink, the world’s second largest economy is shifting rapidly out of low-wage manufacturing and needs a new competitive edge. Most economies, he said, need about 50 years to make the kind of transformation China is aiming for, but China’s trying to do it in 10. Make no mistake: Fink said, “All economies have to go through this transition.”

BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink Receives UCLA’s Highest Honor, the UCLA Medal

Left to right: Dean Judy Olian, Larry Fink, Chancellor Gene Block

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By Paul Feinberg

On Monday, March 7, Laurence D. Fink (B.A., ’74, ’76), chairman and chief executive officer of BlackRock, Inc., received the UCLA Medal, the highest honor for extraordinary accomplishment that may be bestowed upon an individual by UCLA. Recipients have included national and international leaders in government, education, science, industry and the arts, as well as men and women who have advanced UCLA’s development into one of the world’s preeminent universities. Past recipients include President Bill Clinton; film producer and director Francis Ford Coppola (MFA ’67); architect Frank Gehry; Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (B.A. ’77), Coach John Wooden and, most recently, author, professor and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison.

Fink has led BlackRock since its founding in 1988. Fast forward to the end of 2015, when BlackRock controlled a staggering $4.6 trillion worth of assets. Fink was named “CEO of the Decade” by Financial News in 2011 and Barron’s named him one of the “World’s Best CEOs” for nine consecutive years. In 2006, he led BlackRock’s merger with Merril Lynch Investment Managers, a transaction that doubled the company’s asset management portfolio. Two years later, the government of the United States contracted with BlackRock to help clean up the financial meltdown of 2008. In 2009, BlackRock purchased Barclays Global Investors, the move that made BlackRock the largest money-management firm on the planet.

To Live and Thrive in L.A.

By Neil Stanga (’17)

 

#whyMBA

In 2014, Viacom released a study suggesting that 73 percent of young Americans would rather handle their financial needs through Google, Amazon, Apple, PayPal or Square than through a bank. Google Investment Advisory — can you imagine?

It isn’t all that far-fetched when you consider the current state of traditional financial services, which are built largely on infrastructure from the 1970s and haven’t experienced major technological disruption since the ’90s. A hand-written signature has been the dominant security measure in the credit card industry for the past 40 years; card fraud in the U.S. amounted to $7.1 billion in 2013. Payment technology companies are improving transaction ease and security with features like tokenization. In the alternative lending space, Earnest Inc. is assessing borrowers’ credit-worthiness instantaneously using tens of thousands of data points based on metrics like future earnings potential rather than previous credit history.

As an investment professional at a 300-year-old financial institution, I felt acutely the distinction between focusing on the past as opposed to looking to the future. So I decided to leave an industry that I had gradually become frustrated with for being too fixated on the past (and in the process also left an incredible mentor and an arguably great job) to head to business school and explore opportunities in financial technology, or “fintech.”

A Foundation in the Finance Sector Helps This Student Help Others

By Bryce Edmonds

Chris Penka (’16) came to UCLA Anderson to expand his academic and career reach beyond the finance sector that his early work experiences had thus far focused on. “I wanted more exposure to entrepreneurial courses and training, as well as some of the general management curriculum, such as marketing and organization behavior,” he says. Plus, the location was pretty good, too.

It turns out, his past finance experience with a young-ish startup looking to empower consumers through financial services almost immediately helped him land a place with an even newer startup doing the same. Penka had worked for four years at Green Dot, the largest issuer of prepaid debit cards focusing on the low- and moderate-income segment of the U.S. population. Through Anderson alumni Carey Ransom (’04) and Lisa Nestor (’12), Penka landed a summer internship at Payoff, a lending platform focused on lower-rate credit card refinancing for American cardholders. “As an early-stage company, there was a demand for people with corporate finance backgrounds (for capital raising), as well as my experience with Green Dot,” he says. “One of the critical aspects that I've taken away is the growing demand for a more human side of finance, which I grew to appreciate at Green Dot and further developed with Payoff.” In fact, after graduation Penka will start full-time with the company.