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Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum
Thursday, March 31, 2011
6:30-7:30 PM: Networking Reception with complimentary refreshments
7:30-8:30 PM: Presentation
Andersen Auditorium, Haas School of Business
Video of this event will be posted here soon.
Transparency as a Business Strategy
[PepsiCo presentation available: PDF]
[Physic Ventures presentation available: PDF]
Program Information and Speaker Biographies
Video (video on YouTube site):
Program Information and Speaker Biographies
| sponsored by: |  |
In the age of transparency, corporations and governments confront stakeholders who are empowered with unprecedented tools to access vast troves of information and voice opinions to an interconnected global community. Sensors, cameras and other tracking systems capture and transmit data instantaneously over the Internet and onto mobile devices now in the pockets of billions of people, monitoring the behaviors of individuals and organizations. With relative ease, we can peer into factories to observe labor practices, reveal supply chains to assess food quality and access medical records to uncover cost and quality performance.
Businesses are being held to higher standards for social responsibility, environmental stewardship and respect of privacy – without sacrificing market performance. This creates new challenges for businesses, but also powerful opportunities to leverage transparency as a strategy to engage stakeholders, understand customer sentiments, elevate brands and ultimately drive profits. An exceptional panel of thought-leaders from diverse fields will examine the complex issues of transparency in the 21st Century – sharing personal stories, business advice and actionable recommendations.
The session will be moderated by William Rosenzweig, Managing Director at Physic Ventures. Andy Donner, Director at Physic Ventures and a graduate of the Haas School of Business, will introduce the topic.
| Moderator | Opening Comments | |
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| William Rosenzweig Managing Director Physic Ventures |
Andy Donner (MBA 05) |
| Featured Speakers | ||
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| Frank Cooper III Senior Vice President, Chief Consumer Engagement Officer, PepsiCo Americas Beverages |
Michael Slaby Executive Vice President, Global Practice Chair, Edelman Digital |
Nita Sommers |
Featured Speakers
William Rosenzweig
Managing Director
Physic Ventures
(moderator)
William Rosenzweig is co-founder and Managing Director at Physic Ventures. He leads the firm's venture origination activities and supports portfolio companies in the areas of entrepreneurial leadership, business design, brand strategy and consumer marketing. Will currently works closely with GoodGuide, Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, EnergyHub, Revolution Foods, and Own.
Will has spent more than twenty years integrating the practices and perspectives of an entrepreneur, venture investor and educator.
As an entrepreneur, Will has been involved as a founder and executive of more than a dozen early-stage ventures. Will was founding CEO (and Minister of Progress) of The Republic of Tea, an award-winning specialty tea company that is credited with creating the premium tea category in the United States. He has played key leadership roles at Nakamichi, the TED Conference, Odwalla, Leapfrog Toys, Brand New Brands, Hambrecht Vineyards and Wineries, Kingdom of Herbs, and Winetasting.com.
In 2010, Will was honored with the Oslo Business for Peace Award, presented jointly by the Business for Peace Foundation and International Chamber of Commerce in Oslo, Norway. Will was the only American selected among seven global honorees by a committee comprised of Nobel Laureates including Professor Muhammad Yunus, Professor Wangari Maathai and Professor Michael Spence.
From 1999-2008, Will served on the faculty of the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley, where he taught the MBA courses in Social Entrepreneurship and Social Venture Development. He continues to serve as advisor to the Global Social Venture Competition and has been a visiting faculty member at London Business School. He has been a Price Kauffman fellow and has served as a mentor in the Kauffman Fellows program.
From 2000-2004, Will was also a team member for the Rockefeller Foundation's ProVenEx Fund, an investment vehicle seeking "double bottom line returns" in for-profit businesses. He was the co-project director and co-author of Rockefeller Foundation-sponsored research on Impact Assessment.
Will co-authored the bestselling book The Republic of Tea: How an Idea Becomes a Business (Doubleday 1992, 1994), which was recently named one of the 100 best business books of all time.
Andy Donner (MBA 05)
Director, Physic Ventures
(opening comments)
Andy Donner is a Director with Physic Ventures. Andy has 15 years of investment and management experience in the information technology, healthcare and consumer product industries. At Physic Ventures, Andy focuses on investments in the Connected Health sector which includes digital media, monitoring solutions, health e-games, technology-enabled health delivery, innovative retail, wellness programs and disease management. Andy works with several consumer health companies in Physic’s portfolio including GoodGuide, Pharmaca and Revolution Foods.
Andy was previously a Senior Associate with Great Spirit Ventures, a venture capital firm which invested in early-stage companies in the health and wellness marketplace. At Great Spirit Ventures, Andy focused on consumer product investments including Attune Foods, Brand New Brands, LightFull Foods, The Natural Dentist and Corazonas Foods.
Formerly, Andy spent six years founding, building and managing rapid-growth companies in the high-tech and digital media industries, including atMadison.com, where he served as Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer; Entopia, where he established and directed the product marketing department; and LeapFrog Enterprises, where he developed new business opportunities in the healthcare industry. From 1997 to 1999, Andy was a member of Wasserstein Perella's Technology Mergers & Acquisitions Group, where he provided transaction execution and advisory services to enterprise software, hardware and Internet companies. Andy began his career working for VISTA, the "domestic Peace Corps," where his leadership of a state-wide public health program was honored at the Presidential Summit for America's Future.
Andy graduated cum laude from Duke University's pre-med program and earned his MBA at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was awarded full-tuition as a Haas Merit Scholar. While earning his MBA, Andy served as a Graduate Student Instructor for one of the school's leading entrepreneurship courses and was elected President of the Berkeley chapter of Net Impact, an international organization of business school students committed to social responsibility and environment stewardship.
Frank Cooper III
Senior Vice President, Chief Consumer Engagement Officer
PepsiCo Americas Beverages
Frank Cooper III is Senior Vice President, Chief Consumer Engagement Officer, for PepsiCo Americas Beverages (PAB), a division of PepsiCo, one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies, with 2008 annual revenues of more than $43 billion and more than 198,000 employees. Frank is charged with leading the development of a new consumer engagement model for PAB and creating breakthrough marketing programs across the PAB portfolio, which includes the Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sobe and Aquafina trademarks. Frank also has direct oversight of key operational areas across PAB that determine consumer engagement, including Digital, Media, Sports, Multicultural and Entertainment.
Frank’s prior positions at PepsiCo include Chief Marketing Officer, Sparkling Beverages, for PCNAB; Vice President of Promotions and Interactive Marketing; and Vice President for Multicultural Marketing & Strategic Initiatives. Among his many accomplishments, he led the re-launch of trademark Pepsi in 2008, developed the consumer-generated “DEWmocracy” platform, and drove Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash and Mountain Dew’s Game Fuel product innovations.
Before joining PepsiCo, Frank was Vice President of Interactive Marketing at America Online, managing music sales and marketing programs. He also co-founded Urban Box Office Networks, the largest Internet company focused on urban lifestyle and minority markets and served as a senior business affairs executive for Motown Records and Def Jam Recordings.
Frank was ranked #44 on Fast Company magazine's list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business 2010. Frank serves as Chairman of the American Advertising Federation and sits on the Board of Directors for Business for Diplomatic Action. Frank holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley. His post-graduate studies include a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School.
Michael Slaby
Executive Vice President, Global Practice Chair, Edelman Digital
Prior to joining Edelman, Michael led communications and technology strategy for TomorrowVentures, Eric Schmidt’s hybrid venture capital firm in Palo Alto, as their Chief Technology Strategist. He also served as a technology and new media advisor to the Obama administration and multiple non-profit organizations After several years working in multimedia and web design then in application and platform development with a series of startups, Michael has been working predominantly in politics and campaign strategy over the past 6 years. Before joining TomorrowVentures, Michael was Technology Director for the Presidential Transition Team and CTO/Deputy New Media Director for Obama for America. During transition, he led operational and long-term planning for technology including web strategy and utilization, data integration opportunities, infrastructure review, and cybersecurity standards and initiatives. As CTO for Obama for America, he led the technical strategy and execution for multiple web platforms, data integration, systems and architecture scaling for the general election. A graduate of Brown University, Slaby received the John F. Kennedy, Jr. Award for Supporting Youth in Politics in 2009 and speaks regularly to both corporate and nonprofit audiences on communications, technology, and engagement.
Nita Sommers
Vice President, Strategy & Business Development
Castlight Health
Castlight Health was founded in 2008 to empower consumers with the knowledge to make informed health care shopping decisions.
At Castlight Health, Nita is responsible for defining and evolving Castlight's strategic vision, developing strategic partnerships with key organizations in the health care ecosystem, identifying new business opportunities and managing corporate development activities including fund-raising. Nita also works closely with other members of the Senior Management Team to develop function/business unit strategies.
Nita has a background in both Health IT/Services and entrepreneurship. Nita joined Castlight from McKinsey & Company's healthcare practice, where she focused on serving providers and health systems. Prior to McKinsey, she worked for several years in the Health IT/Services sector first at Athenahealth, which IPO’d in 2007, and later at McKesson, a Fortune 15 health care services company. Her functional background includes corporate strategy, M&A, new business development, product management, and product engineering. Nita has an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.A. from Harvard University. Nita lives in the Bay Area with her husband, a Haas alum.
Event and Registration Information
The program begins with a networking hour at 6:30 PM with complimentary drinks and hors d'oeuvres in the Bank of America Forum at the Haas School of Business. The presentation begins at 7:30.
Registration is required. Links for online pre-registration are available at the top of this page. Online pre-registration ends at 5 pm Tuesday March 29, and all registrations after this time must be completed on site at the event. If you are unfamiliar with the UC Berkeley campus, check out the campus map to locate the Haas School on the east (uphill) side of campus.
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