Faculty

Errol Arkilic  is a Founder of M34 Capital. M34 is an investment company that focuses on seed and early-stage projects being spun out of academic and corporate research labs. Typical investments range from $750,000 to $1,000,000 and usually represent the first outside capital deployed. M34 focuses on turning science projects into companies and does so across a broad spectrum of technologies and geographies. He is also a founder of USRCA.org, a non-profit with a focus on entrepreneur education for science and engineering graduates.

Previously, Errol was the founding and lead program director for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps program. He led the I-Corps effort from its inception until July 2013. Prior to this, he was the lead software and services Program Director for the NSF SBIR program. Before his government service, Errol was founder and CEO at StrataGent Lifesciences (Acquired by Corium International: CORI) and Manager of Product Engineering at Redwood Microsystems. He received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from The George Washington University and his Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Aero/Astro Engineering from MIT.

Course: Lean Transfer – MBA 295T

Roy Bahat  leads Bloomberg Beta, an early-stage venture firm backed by Bloomberg that invests in startups making work better, with a focus on machine intelligence. Roy was the founding chairman of OUYA, a Kickstarter-backed game console, and president of IGN Entertainment. He is a board member at the Center for Investigative Reporting and educational non-profit CodeNow. He was named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, and has served in government and led a non-profit in addition to his work at established corporations and day zero startups. He graduated from Harvard College, and was a Rhodes Scholar. (Haas Profile)

Kurt Beyer is a former naval aviator and professor at the United States Naval Academy and teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Berkeley Haas Business school.Currently Kurt advises start-ups and executives in Silicon Valley through Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and lectures regularly on technical innovation. Prior to joining MSSB he was the founder and CEO of a digital media services company and has authored multiple patents (pending) on high-speed digital data processing.Kurt’s book, published by the MIT Press, Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age, was named a top ten science/technology book for 2010 by the American Library Association. Kurt received a BS in Engineering and History from the United States Naval Academy (Annapolis), MA in Economics from Oxford University, and his PhD from the UC Berkeley. He lives in Mill Valley with his wife and two sons. (Haas profile) Courses: Entrepreneurship (MBA and undergraduate)

Steve Blank is a retired serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of start-up experience in Silicon Valley. Since 1978 Steve has been a founder or participant in eight startups. Steve’s last company, E.piphany, started in his living room. 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 a text on Customer Development: The Four Steps to the Epiphany. In 2010 he was awarded Teacher of the Year in the Berkeley/Columbia MBA program. Steve serves on the board of Audubon California, California League of Conservation Voters, Peninsula Open Space Trust and U.C. Santa Cruz. In 2007 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him to the California Coastal Commission. Courses: The Lean Launchpad (MBA)

David Charron has been working in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation for over 20 years, working with Xerox PARC, Stanford and MIT and various national laboratories. He has been a founder of three companies, most notably Scientific Learning Corporation, a publicly traded neuroscience company founded on technology from UCSF. He is the Executive Director of the Berkeley Innovative Leader Development Initiative at the Haas School of Business. At the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program he runs the incubation program, and has crafted several new initiatives to improve the chances for Berkeley students and their ventures. He has travelled extensively overseas helping develop entrepreneurial ecosystems. He holds an engineering degree from Stanford and an MBA from Berkeley. (Haas profile) Courses: Entrepreneurship and Innovation | Innovation and Design (MBA)

Sean Foote is a Venture Partner at Labrador Ventures, investing in materials companies like Solaicx (sold to MEMC), software companies like GreenBorder (sold to Google), and internet companies. Before venture investing, Mr. Foote was a manager with the Boston Consulting Group and worked as a systems engineer for AT&T Bell Laboratories, developing artificial intelligence systems for testing the most complicated telecommunications circuits. He is on the boards of directors of Freedom From Hunger and Silicon Valley Microfinance Network, and is the co-founder of Toniic, an angel investor group for impact investors, and West Coast Village Capital, a combination of YPO style entrepreneur support and business plan competition style equity investment. (Haas profile) Courses: Venture Capital and Private Equity (MBA)

Whitney Hischier is a lecturer at the Haas School of Business in entrepreneurship and management as well as a faculty director for the Center for Executive Education. Prior to becoming a lecturer, she was the Assistant Dean for the Center for Executive Education and grew the business 10x over the course of 9 years. Whitney has also worked in management consulting for KPMG and Deloitte in the US and Europe. Her first job out of college was at a 5 person toy manufacturing startup in a Woodside poolhouse. She holds a BA from Stanford and an MBA from Haas. (Haas profile) Courses: Startup Lab (MBA)

Jim Hornthal’s professional time is evenly divided between venture capital and entrepreneurship.His active angel investing activities are complemented by his role as a Venture Partner with CMEA Capital, an established venture capital firm with over $1 billion under management that invests primarily in early stage technology, energy and life science companies. As an entrepreneur, Jim is best known as the Founder of Preview Travel, one of the first online travel agencies. Jim took Preview Travel public in 1997, and later initiated its merger in 2000 with a division of Sabre Holdings to create Travelocity.com, where Jim served as Vice Chairman of the combined organization. Travelocity.com was ultimately re-acquired by Sabre Holdings in 2002. Jim is currently the founder and Chairman of Triporati, whose “Destination Genome Project” is changing the way travelers discover their perfect travel destination.Jim is also on the board of several private companies including KIND Snacks, PolitEar, and Via (Bangalore, India) and has been a Fellow for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley since 2002 (Haas profile) Courses: The Lean Launchpad (MBA)

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) Courses: Marketing for High Tech Entrepreneurs, Opportunity Recognition: Technology and Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley (MBA)

Aaron McDaniel is a serial entrepreneur, author, speaker, investor & advisor. Aaron was the founder & CEO of a number of entrepreneurial ventures including: Access Invest (the world’s largest mobile investment aggregator, acquired by North Capital), Tycoon Real Estate (the first real estate crowdfunding platform to be acquired), Pong360 (a consumer products ecommerce platform, acquired), and a number of other unsuccessful ventures (which were great learning experiences). Aaron is an alumnus of AT&T’s flagship Leadership Development Program, where he was a Diamond Club Honoree (Top 1% of sales leaders worldwide) and where he became one of the youngest ever to serve as Regional Vice President (at age 27). He is the author of The Young Professional’s Guide book series and is a sought after speaker for executives & managers across a number of industries on the topic of Millennials in the Workplace. Aaron is also a startup advisor, including for CoPilot (acquired by OpenTable/The Priceline Group). Aaron is a proud graduate of the Haas School of Business undergraduate program and is committed community volunteer having worked with organizations including: Big Brothers Big Sisters, Junior Achievement, the Full Circle Fund and is the founder of the Jill Wakeman Foundation for Equality. (Haas profile) Courses: Introduction to Entrepreneurship (Undergraduate)

Peter Molloy was President and Principal Owner of the Farmhouse Foods Company based in Union City, California, from 1991 until it sold to General Mills in 1999. His career spans over 30 years in general management and marketing. He started his 21-year career with Nestle in London, England and was transferred to Toronto, Canada and then to New York. Throughout his career, he specialized in launching new products, turning around businesses and building brands. In 1991, Peter and his business partner bought the MJB Rice Company from Nestle and changed the brand name to Farmhouse. Since 1999, Peter has been teaching Entrepreneurship and Ecommerce Marketing at the Haas School of Business. He was a member of Vistage (an international organization for CEO’s) for 10 years and has consulted to a number of food and agri-business companies. He is also on the Advisory Board of the Young Entrepreneurs at Haas (YEAH). Peter has a Business Degree (HND Business Studies) from Thames Valley University (formerly Slough College of Technology) in England and the Institute of Marketing Diploma. (Haas profile) Course: Perspectives on Entrepreneurship (undergraduate)

Adair Morse is Associate Professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, where she teaches New Venture Finance. She is faculty mentor to the Haas Impact Investing Network, FinTech Club, Gender Equity Initiative, and Impact Research Prize. She holds a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Michigan. Adair’s research spans three areas of finance: household finance, corruption, and asset management, with the unifying theme that she tries to choose topics useful for leveling economic playing fields. She has won a number of top finance research prizes, including the Brattle Prize, the Jensen Prize, the WFA Prize, and the Moskowitz Impact prize, and her various works have been directly implemented into policy. Within household finance, Adair has a particular interest in household debt and welfare, studying low and middle income credit products and their use via both observational studies and field experiments with companies. Her recent work studies many aspects of marketplace lending/crowdfunding. Examples of Adair’s other noteworthy publications in household finance include work on the effect of income inequality on consumption and disclosure in financial services. Adair’s new research include topics in impact investing, pension fund governance, and asset management delegation efficiency. Her ongoing research in Impact Investing provides evidence on the demand for impact and the tradeoffs in returns needed to generate social and environmental goals. (Haas Profile) Courses: New Venture Finance

Carl Nichols has spent 30 years in the technology industryand is currently Managing Director of Outlook Ventures, an early-stage venturecapital firm. Over the past 15 years Carl has has made investments acrossthe information technology, internet and mobile sectors and has served onnumerous Boards. Previously Carl led corporate strategy forAT&T/Pacific Bell where he was responsible for identifying new growthopportunities and business lines, developing strategic partnerships andoptimizing the company’s investments. He earlier held a number of rolesin Fortune 500 firms and management consulting addressing new conceptdevelopment, market expansion and operations improvements. Carl iscurrently active in a number of youth and education-oriented nonprofits. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from BrownUniversity and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Courses: Entrepreneurship (MBA)

Maura O’Neill Relentlessly focused on sourcing and scaling breakthrough ideas, Maura has been thrilled to grow businesses, teach and mentor others wanting to make a big difference. In 2009 she was appointed by President Obama to be the first Chief Innovation Officer of the US Agency for International Development. Serving until summer 2013 she had responsibility for inspiring and leading breakthrough innovations in foreign assistance and development worldwide. Maura is most well-known for adapting venture capital and drug discovery methods to global development by co-creating the Development Innovation Venture Fund. Maura served as a member of the White House Innovation Cohort assisting in innovation across federal government. Prior to joining the Administration she served as a Chief of Staff in the U.S. Senate. Maura teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford and Columbia Universities, and she is also actively advising start-ups, foundations and global government agencies. A serial entrepreneur, O’Neill founded four companies in the fields of electricity efficiency; smart grid and customer info systems/billing; e-commerce and digital education. In 1989, she was named the Greater Seattle Business Person of the Year. Maura has MBAs from Columbia University and University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD from University of Washington, where her research focused on narrow-mindedness and errors it leads to in science, medicine, business and political decision-making. She helped found a public charter school, Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women (grades 6-12) and continues to serve as Vice Chair. Maura is married and has two grown kids, a digital journalist and a basketball-playing particle physicist. (Haas profile) Courses: New Venture Finance

Terry Opdendyk has specialized in working with technology based startups 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, new media, security, and medical technologies.(Haas profile) Course: Venture Capital and Private Equity (MBA)

Kim Polese is the Chairman and co-founder of CrowdSmart, a collective intelligence prediction platform that uses human-powered AI to help teams make smarter decisions.

Kim began her career in Silicon Valley at IntelliCorp, the first AI company to go public, where she helped Fortune 100 companies implement expert systems. At Sun Microsystems, Kim led the launch of Java as its founding product manager. Kim has co-founded and led multiple technology companies including IoT software pioneer Marimba, where she served as CEO and Chairman and led the company to profitability, an IPO and a successful acquisition by BMC. Today Marimba is Samsung’s IoT platform, delivering three billion endpoint updates per year globally.

Kim received her degree in Biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley, completed post-baccalaureate study in Computer Science at the University of Washington and holds an honorary doctorate in Business and Economics from California State University.

Kim advises numerous early stage companies and serves on boards including the Long Term Stock Exchange, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, TechNet, the Public Policy Institute of California and the Long Now Foundation. She is an Aspen Institute Crown Fellow and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including Information Week’s “Top Technology Executives” and Time Magazine’s “25 Most Influential Americans”.

Rhonda Shrader is Executive Director of the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program as well as the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program for the Bay Area Node. She has founded or was an early stage team member of start-ups in biotech, behavioral health, retail, non-profit and AI. She served as a long-time mentor for UCSF’s Idea to IPO course, is an active advisor for NASA spinoff BrainAid, and recently lead the winning teams for both the Health Tech Forum Codeathon and the San Francisco MedHack 2.0 Hackathon.  She graduated from Harvard with a degree in neuropsychology and holds an MBA in strategy and operations from Berkeley-Haas. Course: Lean Transfer – MBA295T

Toby E. Stuart is the Helzel Chair in Entrepreneurship, Strategy, and Innovation, and the Faculty Director at the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program. Previously he was the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and the Arthur J. Samberg Professor of Organizations and Strategy and Academic Director of the Eugene M. Lang Entrepreneurship Center at Columbia Business School. He was also course head for Strategy Formulation. From 1995 to 2003, he was on the faculty at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, where he was the Fred G. Steingraber-A.T. Kearney Professor of Organizations & Strategy. He received his Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. He holds an A.B., summa cum laude, in economics from Carleton College. Prior to earning his Ph.D., Dr. Stuart was a Research Associate at the Harvard Business School. Professor Stuart is the recipient of the 2007 Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship, which is granted every other year to recognize one individual’s contributions to entrepreneurship research. He has also received the Administrative Science Quarterly’s Scholarly Contribution (best paper) award, as well as the Columbia Business School’s Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence.(Haas profile) Courses: Entrepreneurship (MBA) and Silicon Valley Immersion Week (EMBA)

Arman Zand Arman has 16+ years experience working with technology startups and innovation in the US, India, EMEA, and most recently China where he helped co-found China’s first joint venture technology bank. His experience includes corporate open innovation, startup acceleration, and venture finance to technology and life science startup companies, globally. Arman is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. (Haas profile)