UCLA Anderson School of Management Blog

Seeking Truth: Nike Irvin Answers the Call to Action

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By Carolyn Gray Anderson

Woman Worth Watching … Philanthropist of the Year … Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow … Inspirational 100 Alumna …

These are a few of Nike Irvin’s (’89) distinctions, all earned in recognition of more than 20 years of nonprofit leadership, board service and private-sector brand management.

When Irvin walks into a room, she attracts the people in it with a palpable and open calm. Speaking in a quiet voice about such loud topics as poverty, social injustice, equality in higher education, Irvin exudes compassion and introspection. She served as vice president of programs at the California Community Foundation for six years, becoming a donor to CCF herself and establishing a fund to make her own grants to nonprofits. But she recently resigned to shift her attention to consulting and research. “I’m in a mindfulness mode,” she told a UCLA Anderson High Impact Tea audience. “A confluence of things going on encouraged me to slow down.”

But that doesn’t minimize the urgency behind the causes she champions. She devotes her time now to researching, compiling and drafting an intentional model for truth and reconciliation efforts in the U.S. In collaboration with fellow Aspen Institute thought leaders and scholars, as well as a diverse crew of professionals in academia and business, Irvin looks as far afield as the Solomon Islands for practices that have achieved reparations on a par with South Africa’s, and that might be emulated here at home.

“We’re in a moment of growing transparency,” she said. “Don’t you feel a sea change?”

Hsieh Family Continues a Tradition, Inspirational Gift Will Name Foyer in Marion Anderson Hall

By Paul Feinberg

A Chinese proverb suggests, “When drinking water, think of its source; gratitude for the source of benefit.” It’s a reminder that when considering your life, always remember what helped you along the way.

That’s how Dr. Paul Hsieh (Ph.D. ’70) feels about his days at what was then UCLA’s Graduate School of Business Administration. Since he graduated, Hsieh has expressed his gratitude in a variety of ways: He founded the school’s alumni chapter in Taiwan and has made a series of gifts, including those that named UCLA Anderson’s Dr. Paul N. Hsieh Study Room and created the Paul Hsieh Fellowship. Now, in celebration of Hsieh’s 80th birthday, his daughter Yvonne Hsieh (’03) and her husband and classmate David Schumacher (’03) recognize his remarkable legacy with a significant gift that will name the Foyer in the new Marion Anderson Hall in his honor. This fitting tribute will be appreciated by scores of students, faculty and visitors to the new building, which is set to open in late 2019.

UCLA Awards Dr. Martine Rothblatt Its Highest Honor: The UCLA Medal

By Paul Feinberg and Carolyn Gray Anderson

In a popular series of television advertisements, a narrator describes the accomplishments of a charismatic swashbuckler, ultimately concluding that the fictional figure is, in fact, “the most interesting man in the world.”

Allow UCLA Anderson’s Dean Judy Olian to set the record straight: “Martine Rothblatt is the most interesting person you will ever meet,” the dean said in welcoming Rothblatt back to Anderson this week.

Rothblatt (B.A. ’77, MBA/J.D. ’81), whose company United Therapeutics is based in Silver Spring, Maryland, returned to UCLA to be honored with the UCLA Medal in a ceremony at the home of UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. Before the medal ceremony, Rothblatt participated in a lively question and answer chat with Olian as part of UCLA Anderson’s Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series.

In the conversation, Rothblatt credited the interdisciplinary education UCLA afforded her as an undergraduate and graduate student for much of her remarkable success. Named by Forbes as one of the World’s 100 Greatest Living Business Minds, Rothblatt leads a multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical company that has brought life-saving treatments to market. Proudly transgendered, a medical ethicist, recognized as a technology and artificial intelligence pioneer, and now advancing the science of organ and consciousness transplantation, Rothblatt told the UCLA audience — which included UCLA Law School Dean Jennifer Mnookin and Department of Communications Chair Kerri Johnson — “This is what it looks like to ‘program’ someone with a UCLA curriculum.”

2017: The Year in Review at UCLA Anderson

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Military Precision Led to a Dynamic Career in Business

By Jill Hisey (’95)

Both of Jarred Herman’s (’14) grandfathers served in the military, which influenced him to set his sights on joining the U.S. Navy. But one of his grandfathers convinced him to get his college degree first, and then, if he was still interested, he could enter the Navy as an officer.

Heeding this advice, Herman, who grew up in Nevada City, California, attended University of Nevada, Reno, majoring in math. After graduating he knew he wanted to join the submarine corps and determined that becoming a nuclear engineer would offer a perfect mix of science and military service. But first he would attend Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida, followed by six months at the Nuclear Power School in Charleston, South Carolina — which he says entailed an intense academic program — and six months at the Ballston Spa NPTU Prototype in Saratoga Springs, New York. Finally, Herman spent six months in submarine school in Connecticut. All told, he spent 1½ years in training before reporting for duty.

Big Ideas Highlight Third Annual Big Data Conference

By Carolyn Gray Anderson and John Bugajski

Now in its third year, UCLA Anderson’s annual Big Data Conference on November 17, 2017, addressed the theme of innovation — in devices, data storage and analysis, new VR and AR experiences, educational, training and philanthropic applications, and the data-driven business initiatives transforming industries from entertainment to agriculture.

Co-organized by Anderson’s Easton Technology Management Center and the Center for Management of Enterprise in Media, Entertainment & Sports, the conference featured panels and presentations by professionals in a range of sectors representing the expanded tech ecosystem.

Alumnus Bill Duff (’96), CFO of Microsoft’s Windows and devices group, sat down for a candid conversation with Easton faculty director John Blevins (’11). Duff said Microsoft has been aggressively investing in cloud computing for a decade, even on the devices side. Witness Windows 10, which the company offers as a service rather than a product.

Thanks to big data, said Duff, “Your technology strategy is your financial strategy.”

Blair Taylor on Bridging Communities of Social Difference

Alumnus Blair Taylor recently participated in Anderson's High Impact Tea series; last year, he spoke at the 2016 Concordia Summit in New York (above)

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By Matt Duyst

Blair Taylor (’90) served for four years as Starbucks’ chief community officer and he is an active embodiment of the Starbucks credo: “One person, one cup, one neighborhood at a time.” The slogan invokes the gradual transition from one to all, from divided to unified.

Taylor, a UCLA Anderson Inspirational 100 alumnus and former CEO of President Obama’s collaborative, cross-sectoral movement My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, returned to UCLA Anderson as a speaker in the High Impact Tea series to remind graduate students of the necessity of this metamorphosis. He underscored the progression of single to whole in an inverse manner, deconstructing the binaries of global and individual from a top-down point of view — from the vantage of a major corporation to the eyes of a single youth.

He posed an outwardly transparent question: “What drives you?” Taylor proceeded to draw a parallel between his present and past selves, returning to that leitmotif throughout the talk and reiterating the value of lifelong persistence. He shed light on the impact that service experiences, like working for a suicide hotline, have had in shaping his ethic of “doing well and giving back.”

Pete Marino Brought His Entrepreneurial Muscle Memory to MillerCoors

By Margaret Bliss

How does one remain entrepreneurial while working in a large company? For UCLA Anderson alumnus Pete Marino (’02), CCO of MillerCoors and president of Tenth and Blake, MillerCoors’ craft and import division, the transition wasn’t all that difficult.

In a discussion with Senior Associate Dean Al Osborne at an event hosted by the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Marino admitted he has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. After a two-year stint with a consulting firm where he honed his business skills, Marino started his own communication firm, Dig Communications. It was his first client, MillerCoors, that helped his company grow to 60 people. Six years later, he sold Dig to Olson PR and stayed on as president before joining MillerCoors as vice president of communications.

Marion Anderson Hall: A Link to the Past, a Bridge to the Future

Left to right: Senior Associate Dean Al Osborne, Jr., Sam Tang (’87), Donald Morrison, Sherie Morrison, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, Dean Judy Olian, Bob Wilson (B.S. ’53), Lindsey Serrano, Luis Serrano (’02), Heather Hasso

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View a full album of photographs from the Marion Anderson Hall groundbreaking ceremony

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UCLA Anderson’s vision for Marion Anderson Hall, named for the school’s beloved benefactor, embodies the institution’s blueprint for the future. On October 19, Dean Judy Olian and Senior Associate Dean Al Osborne, Jr., along with UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and Marion Anderson Hall donors Sam Tang (’87), Donald and Sherie Morrison, Bob Wilson (B.S. ’53), Luis (’02) and Lindsey Serrano, and Heather Hasso, drew shovels to break ground on the building site.

Chancellor Block remarked, “The Anderson legacy is everywhere when you look around the university.” In May 2015, Marion donated an unprecedented gift of $100 million to fund research and fellowships, with $40 million earmarked for the state-of-the-art building that bears her name.

The Future of Health Care? Numbers Tell the Story

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National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 through October 15. UCLA Anderson, in conjunction with the Anderson Latino Management Association and the UCLA campus, recognizes the significant contributions to society among our Latino and Hispanic students, alumni, staff and faculty. Visit [email protected] to enjoy their stories.

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By Paul Feinberg

Integrated Behavioral Health self-describes as a company that specializes in behavioral health plan administration, employee assistance programs, psychological disability management and work-life services. The company works with Fortune 1000 employers, business coalitions, insurance companies, union health plans, HMOs and PPOs.

As corporate controller, Juan Salcedo (’83) is the top finance professional at the company. “I handle monthly reporting, banking and analyzing acquisitions,” he said via phone from the company’s headquarters in Costa Mesa. He also oversees all of the accounting and finance departments.

Salcedo, who did his undergraduate work at Stanford, didn’t enroll at what was then UCLA’s Graduate School of Management with a goal of becoming a corporate controller. His primary objective was to educate himself as to how businesses are run, with a vague notion that someday he’d like to head his own company. While at UCLA, he recognized that his strengths ran more toward finance and analytics as opposed to marketing. He focused on accounting during his last year at Anderson and ended up taking a position with a Big Eight accounting firm.