- Haas Home
- Lester Center Home
- What is Entrepreneurship?
- Successful Entrepreneurs
- Research
- Resources
- About Us
- Contact Us
- Featured Programs
- Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum
- Best Practices Series
- Business Plan Competitions
- Entrepreneurship Courses
 |
Alice M. Agogino is the Roscoe and Elizabeth Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering. She directs the Berkeley Expert Systems Technology (BEST) Laboratory, the Berkeley Instructional Technology Studio (BITS) and the BITS Multimedia Classroom. (ME profile)
Courses: Managing the New Product Development Process |
 |
John Altman has been a sole proprietor, founder, partner and/or significant shareholder in more than six businesses. At the time of sale in 1991 to ICI, Continental Polymers Inc., of which he was the cofounder and executive vice-president, was the second largest manufacturer of acrylic polymers in the United States and third largest in the world. In 1998 Altman became the first Robert E. Weissman Professor of Entrepreneurial Practice at Babson College. His research has focused on entrepreneurship, exit strategies, and corporate venturing. In April 2001. Altman was the first inductee into the Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame at the Thomas C. Page Center for Entrepreneurship at Miami University.
Courses: Entrepreneurship & Innovation |
 |
Sara L. Beckman is Executive Director of UC Berkeley’s Management of Technology Program, a partnership of the Haas School, the College of Engineering, and School of Information Management and Systems. She has taught in the areas of operations management, manufacturing strategy and product design and development. She has won the Earl F. Cheit Outstanding Teaching Award three times and the campus Distinguished Teaching Award once. She also worked at Hewlett-Packard where she was Director of the Product Generation Change Management Team, which modeled manufacturing strategy decisions and implemented team management structures in new product development. (Haas profile)
Courses: Managing the New Product Development Process |
|
Steve Blank is a retired serial entrepreneur and private investor. With over 25 years of start-up experience in Silicon Valley, he has been a founder or participant in eight new ventures since 1978. Steve’s last company, E.piphany, started in his living room in 1996. Steve’s other start-ups include two semiconductor companies (Zilog and MIPS Computers), workstation company (Convergent Technologies), supercomputer (Ardent), computer peripheral supplier (SuperMac), military intelligence systems supplier (ESL) and video game company (Rocket Science Games). These resulted in 5 IPOs and three very deep craters. His operational roles have ranged from CEO to VP of Marketing. Steve is the author of the primer on how to manage an early stage start-up: The Four Steps to the Epiphany. Steve serves on the board of directors of several public and privately held companies including Macrovision, Cafepress.com and IMVU, and is the chairman of Audubon California. (Haas profile)
Courses: Customer Development in the High-Tech Enterprise |
 |
David Charron has over 20 years of experience in technology commercialization and entrepreneurship – at Xerox PARC, in the academic sector at Stanford and MIT; and has been involved with various national laboratories. He has been a founder of three companies, most notably Scientific Learning Corporation, a publicly traded neuroscience company based on innovations from UCSF and Rutgers. He is the Interim Executive Director of the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UC Berkeley and leads efforts on technology commercialization. He is also the Executive Director of the Berkeley Entrepreneurship Laboratory, a non-profit incubator with the goal of increasing entrepreneurial activity at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Henry Chesbrough is the author of Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology (2003 Harvard Business School), named “One of the Best Business Books of 2003” by Strategy & Business magazine. He also wrote Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape (2006 Harvard Business School Press). He was recognized by Scientific American as one of “The Scientific American 50 for 2003,” for his research on industrial R&D. Prior to joining the Haas faculty, Chesbrough taught management of technology for six years at Harvard Business School. Before joining academia, he worked for ten years as a senior executive at Quantum Corporation. Chesbrough’s work examines the management of innovation, with particular attention to new models of industrial R&D, technology spin-offs, licensing in and licensing out technology, corporate entrepreneurship, and corporate venture capital. (Haas profile)
|
 |
John Danner is Senior Fellow at the Lester Center. An experienced management consultant and entrepreneur, he has advised senior executives of multi-billion-dollar international enterprises on strategy, value management and business growth, as well as management teams of emerging ventures on competitive positioning, marketing and product strategy. His clients include leading companies in healthcare, energy, entertainment, food products, telecommunications and information and start-ups in energy management, e-commerce and supply chain integration. He has designed and successfully launched several new business initiatives for client organizations over the past twenty-five years. Mr. Danner is a senior moderator for The Aspen Institute, and conducts seminars on leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship around the world. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Jerry Engel is the co-Faculty Director and former Executive Director of the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, a program he founded in 1991. He has over 30 years experience and success in high potential entrepreneurship and venture capital. In addition to his academic position, Jerry is a General Partner at Monitor Venture Partners, a venture capital firm associated with the Monitor Group, the global strategy consultancy. Earlier in his career, Jerry was founder and Managing Partner of the Entrepreneurial Services Group at Ernst & Young. Over a 12- year span, he helped many of the Bay Area’s leading technology companies emerge into vital enterprises. In 1996 Jerry was a founding General Partner in Kline Hawkes & Co., a Southern California-based venture fund. In 1998 he cofounded AllBusiness.com and served as its Chief Financial Officer, managing its successful sale to NBC in March 2000. Jerry currently serves on the board of directors of Adaptive Planning, Jupiter Systems, MedAmerica, Electrascan, and the Berkeley Entrepreneurship Laboratory. He is a CPA and received his undergraduate degree at Penn State and his Masters at the Wharton School. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Sean Foote is a Partner at Labrador Ventures. He was most recently at Scripps Ventures, where he made several investments along side Labrador. He currently is active on the board of directors of Everyone.net, ezboard, Inc., and Green Border Technologies. Before venture investing, Mr. Foote was a manager with the Boston Consulting Group, working in a wide range of industries such as telecom, computers, healthcare, banking, and automotive on topics ranging from strategic alliances to internet strategies. Mr. Foote also worked as a systems engineer for AT&T Bell Laboratories, developing artificial intelligence systems for testing the most complicated telecommunications circuits. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Jack Fuchs is an entrepreneurial consultant, working in leadership roles with small companies. Most recently, he completed the sale of a wireless software company to a strategic buyer. Prior to that, he was VP, business development and sales, for SOMA Networks, where he focused on management of its global strategic accounts, marketing and partnerships. Prior to joining SOMA Networks he was the Vice President for Business Development and Strategic Marketing at IPWireless, Inc. As the first non-founding officer, he developed and implemented the company’s business development plan, identified and engaged numerous customer targets, and played an instrumental role in the product definition
|
 |
Steve Gertz is President of Sage Associates, providing management consulting and investment banking services to early stage technology companies. In addition to teaching at Haas, he is also an adjunct professor and advisory board member for the Entrepreneurship and Interactive Media Studies programs at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Steve has more than thirty years of senior operating management and strategic consulting experience at both start-up and established technology-application companies, domestically and in Europe and Asia. Steve is a former partner with Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, and has served as CEO, President and board member to several venture-backed early stage companies where he defined and developed strategic direction for these companies. He holds an MBA with a concentration in Finance from Long Island University, and a BS in Physics from Miami University, Ohio. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Randy Haykin is a well-known angel and venture investor residing in the Silicon Valley. He is currently Chairman of Haykin Capital, a hands-on management and investment firm specializing in early-stage venture capital. He is also Managing Director of Outlook Ventures, an early-stage venture firm with $200+ million under management, which he cofounded in 1996. Prior to Outlook, Randy held various senior sales and marketing positions in the high technology arena with companies such as Yahoo!, Viacom, Paramount, BBN, IBM, and Apple Computer. At Yahoo!, Haykin served as founding VP of Marketing and Sales, where he was responsible for building the company’s marketing team and generating initial business model and advertising sales for Yahoo! Haykin has also served as VP Marketing at NetChannel, which was acquired by America Online, and served as part of the core team that launched America Online’s Greenhouse, a successful venture incubator. During his time at Apple Computer, Haykin was responsible for creating and launching the Apple Multimedia Program for developers. Haykin holds a BA in Organizational Studies from Brown University, magna cum laude, and an MBA from Harvard’s Graduate School of Business. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Dan Himelstein has worked in a variety of organizational settings in academia and business, ranging from the large and complex to the small and entrepreneurial, with a strong general management background. He was most recently Executive Associate Dean at the School of Business Management, USF. Dan was also president and co-founder of Penagea Business Planning, a firm that provided a broad range of strategic consulting, financing, and trading services to small- and medium-sized companies based in North America, Asia and Latin America. He holds an MS in Economics from the London School of Economics, and a BS in Business Administration from UC Berkeley.
|
 |
Russ Holdstein was the founder, past CEO and Chairman of Payday, the largest independent payroll service bureau in Northern California. He managed the company from start-up to a position on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing companies in America, before merging Payday with S&P 500 payroll provider. He is an investor, board member and advisor to several venture financed start-ups. A frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader to a variety of business groups, he also writes a column on managing growing companies for myprimetime.com, and has published in Inc. Holdstein was named one of the Top Ten Entrepreneurs in San Francisco by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. He also served as CFO with Rolling Stone magazine during its fast growth years in San Francisco. Prior to that, he was a CPA with Ernst & Young. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Andrew Isaacs is the former Executive Director of UC Berkeley's Management of Technology Program. Isaacs is also President of California Technology International, Inc., a consulting firm he founded in 1990. CTI’s offices in Silicon Valley and Tokyo specialize in strategy and marketing for US and Japanese high tech companies. Prior to founding CTI, Isaacs was a marketing executive for public and private high tech companies in Silicon Valley, and was Senior Scientist at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. (Haas profile)
|
 |
William Kell is the Founder and Supervising Attorney for the New Business Counseling Practicum at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. The Practicum is an experiential learning course designed to involve law and business students in assisting start-up businesses in the Bay Area. Mr. Kell is also a Lecturer in Residence at Boalt, and has been teaching clinical education since 1995, specifically with business transactional clinics since 1999. Mr. Kell received his Juris Doctor from Wayne State Law School, and his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Michigan. He is licensed to practice law in California, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois. (Boalt profile)
|
 |
Lloyd Kurtz has served as Research Fellow and Program Administrator for the Center for Responsible Business’s Moskowitz Research Program since 2005. In this role he assists in the judging for the Moskowitz Prize, which is awarded each year for the best quantitative study of socially responsible investing. As a senior portfolio manager with Nelson Capital Management, he oversees the management of many socially responsible investment accounts. His recent research includes a comprehensive review of the social investment literature for the Journal of Investing and a chapter on social investing for the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility. He holds Bachelors of Arts degrees in English and Psychology from Vassar College, an MBA from Babson College, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Larry Lasky is a partner at US Venture Partners and an expert in biotechnology, a field that he has worked in commercially for over 23 years. Prior to joining US Venture Partners, Larry was a leading scientist at Genentech for 20 years, where he worked in various disciplines including vaccinology, immunology, stem cell biology, cellular signaling mechanisms, and monoclonal antibody therapy of tumors. He is co-author on over 137 publications and co-inventor on 28 issued patents. He was a standing member of the Research Review Committee, which directed research across all product development areas at Genentech. Larry has also served on numerous NCI and NIH scientific review panels and has reviewed papers for a number of prestigious journals. Larry holds BA and PhD degrees in Biology from UCLA and completed his post-doctoral studies at The California Institute of Technology. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Rob Majteles is the managing partner of Treehouse Capital LLC, an investment firm. A successful entrepreneur, he is also a Lecturer at UC Berkeley, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Mr. Majteles holds a B.A. from Columbia University and a J.D. from Stanford University. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Peter Molloy is the former President and principal owner of the Farmhouse Foods Company. He has over 30 years in the food and beverage industry and was General Manager of MJB Rice Company prior to founding Farmhouse. He was previously with Nestle for 21 years in England, Canada and the USA, where he spearheaded the growth of several major businesses and successfully introduced a variety of new products. Peter holds a Business Degree from Thames Valley University, (a.k.a. Slough College of Technology) England and a Diploma from the Institute of Marketing. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Todd Morrill manages Acquisitions, Business Development and Strategic Research at Bio-Rad Laboratories, a $1.2 billion manufacturer of biopharmaceutical research instrumentation, assays and clinical diagnostics. Prior to Bio-Rad, Todd was founding President and CEO of IO Informatics, a pioneer in the development of “intelligent agents” for the analysis of structured and unstructured data. In 2001-03, Todd served as Chief Business Officer for Trellis Bioscience, the cell-based assay and drug discovery company. From 1995 to 2001, Todd served as Managing Director for specialty merchant banks, including Venture Merchant Group, Burrill & Company, and Burrill & Craves, where he executed more than 25 major partnering and M&A transactions for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Todd received his degree in Biology from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Haas School. (Haas profile)
|
 |
David Mowery is the William and Betty Hasler Professor of New Venture Development. Prior to joining Haas, Dr. Mowery taught at Carnegie Mellon University. He has served as the Study Director for the Panel on Technology and Employment of the National Academy of Sciences and served in the Office of the United States Trade Representative as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. His research deals with the economics of technological innovation and with the effects of public policies on innovation. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Noel Nellis is a partner at the law firm of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. He focuses his practice on negotiating and documenting transactions in the areas of financing, leasing, development, construction, and operation of real property. Mr. Nellis is a charter member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and has served on its Board of Governors. He is a charter member of the Anglo-American Real Property Institute and the American College of Mortgage Attorneys, and is a member of many real estate associations. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the University of California Berkeley Foundation and the Policy Advisory Board of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics. Mr. Nellis has written numerous articles on a variety of real estate law topics, with an emphasis in recent years on realty joint ventures, leasing transactions, the legal aspects of investments in real estate by pension funds and foreign investors, and REITs. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Carl Nichols co-founded Outlook Ventures in 1996 and has more than 20 years of experience in the software, computer, telecommunications and consumer products industries. He has held senior positions in strategic planning, business development, operations management, market development and finance at several major companies, including SBC/Pacific Bell, where he headed strategic and financial planning, and Scrivner, Inc., where he led the company's business development efforts. Nichols has represented Outlook on the boards of portfolio companies such as ClairMail, Lasso Logic, Epicentric, MarketHome, Arthas, Toolwire, Vantos and Kinecta. Nichols received a BS in Computer Science magna cum laude from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard's Graduate School of Business. (Outlook Ventures profile)
|
 |
Maura O’Neill has focused on developing solutions to some of the toughest problems in the energy, environment, high technology and life science areas. Maura has founded three companies, including one where she served as the CEO of a subsidiary of a public company (NYSE: PSD). In each, she has sought to create profitable ventures that leverage structural changes in the industry and at the same time improve our communities. The companies include a national consulting firm, a utility technology company (wireless meter reading, customer information and billing and distribution automation), an Internet company, and a strategy and development firm. Over the last two years, Maura was asked to be the founding CEO and launch a biotechnology public-private venture. Alongside building businesses, civic and political leadership has been a passion of hers throughout her career. She garnered wide coverage in the Wall Street Journal, TIME magazine, FOX News, and local, business and trade press throughout the U.S. Maura has received numerous awards, personally and on behalf of her companies/clients, including 1989 Greater Seattle Businessperson of the Year. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Terry Opdendyk has specialized in working with technology based start-ups for more than 30 years. He founded ONSET Ventures, a premier Silicon Valley venture capital firm, in 1984, where he is Managing Director and General Partner. Prior to that, Terry was president of VisiCorp, guiding the software publishing company from inception into an industry leader. Earlier, he worked as a technical manager for Hewlett-Packard as a part of the original group of individuals that started HP’s computer business. He later headed Intel Corporation’s microcomputer systems business, microprocessor architecture activities, several international ventures and human resources. At ONSET Ventures, Terry maintains a broad spectrum of investment interests including software, communications and new drug delivery technologies. (Haas profile)
Courses: Venture Capital and Private Equity |
 |
Mario Rosati is an Adjunct Professor at the Haas School of Business and a partner of the law firm of Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, which he joined in 1971. He specializes in corporate law, especially as it relates to high technology companies. Mr. Rosati participated on the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Task Force to the office of the then-President Elect Ronald Reagan. He has sat as Judge Pro-Tem in the Superior Court, State of California, San Mateo County. A director of a number of public and privately held companies, Mr. Rosati is also Managing Partner of WS Investments, a venture capital investment partnership. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Ron Star is a director at the law firm of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin in San Francisco and Menlo Park. He focuses on securities law, venture capital and other capital raising activities, intellectual property, strategic partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions. He works closely with start-up and private companies on issues related to entity formation, equity and financings, licensing matters, the structuring of executive compensation (including stock arrangements), strategic ventures, acquisitions and management buy-outs. He has been recognized by Law & Politics as a Northern California Super Lawyer. Mr. Star’s engagements run the gamut from representing start-up companies in formation to representing major multinational companies in strategic investments. He specializes in computer software and hardware, semiconductors, information services businesses, internet and multimedia companies, medical technology, food related companies, retail operations and financial services companies. (Haas profile)
|
 |
David J. Teece is the Thomas W. Tusher Professor of Global Business at the Haas School of Business and Faculty Director of Research of the Lester Center. Before coming to Haas, he taught in the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, from 1975-1982. His interests lie in industrial organization, antitrust, and the economics of technological change. Professor Teece has co-authored over 150 publications, including “Profiting from Technological Innovation,” Research Policy (1986), and Managing Intellectual Capital (Oxford University Press, 2000). In 2003, he received the Viipuri International Prize in Strategic (Technology) Management and Business Economics, and also the Strategic Management Society’s best paper award for his article (with Gary Pisano and Amy Shuen) titled “Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management,” Strategic Management Journal (1997). (Haas profile)
|
 |
Jennifer Walske is currently a managing director of Myriad Investments LLC. Prior to founding Myriad Investments, Jennifer was an institutional All American-ranked software analyst and held numerous marketing and sales positions within high tech firms. Jennifer has taught and created entrepreneurship courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and recently completed a two-year visiting scholar post at Babson College. Jennifer holds a Doctorate in Business Administration.
|
 |
Jane Wei-Skillern is a visiting assistant professor at Haas and a lecturer in Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Prior to relocating to California, she was on the faculty at Harvard Business School in the Social Enterprise Initiative where she taught social entrepreneurship and nonprofit strategy courses in MBA and Executive programs at HBS, and the MPA program at the Kennedy School of Government. Professor Wei-Skillern is the author and co-author of dozens of HBS case studies, book chapters, and journal articles. She is the lead author of the casebook Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector (Sage Publications, 2007), and her research on the leadership and management of social enterprises examines the topics of nonprofit growth and management of multi-site nonprofits, and most recently has been focused on nonprofit networks. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Godwin Wong serves as a management consultant, specialist and strategist to various organizations including banks, corporations, government agencies, other consulting firms and private business enterprises. He has assisted multinational companies in the conduct and negotiation of businesses with China and Asia, especially in mergers and acquisitions; and has been involved in the turnaround and purchase and sale of troubled financial institutions. He has headed his own management companies in real estate, consulting, trading, and investment management. Dr. Wong has also served on the Boards of Directors of several California banks and several high-tech ventures in Silicon Valley. His graduate work includes a Master’s degree from U.C.L.A., and Master’s and Doctorate degrees from Harvard University. (Haas profile)
|
 |
Naeem Zafar is the founding partner of Concordia Ventures, a company dedicated to educate and help entrepreneurs with all aspects of starting and running a company. Naeem has been with six start-ups and has extensive experience in mentoring and coaching CEOs. His last assignment was the president and CEO of Pyxis Technology Inc., a company specializing in advanced chip design software for nanometer technology. He has been president and CEO of two other high-tech start-ups. Naeem serves as a board member or as an advisor to six companies. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Brown University (magna cum laude) and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. His eBook “7-Steps to a Successful Startup” was published in 2009. (Haas profile)
|
