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Two Prestigious Organizations Laud Rady School of Management MBA Program for Excellence in Entrepreneurship

written by Hallie Jacobs

Rady School of Management at UCSD.

The MBA program at the Rady School of Management at the University of California San Diego has been recognized as one of the top programs for entrepreneurship in the U.S. by the Princeton Review and Bloomberg Businessweek. The school’s MBA program ranked 16th in The Princeton Review’s “Top 25 Graduate Schools for Entrepreneurship of 2019,” and 24th in the Bloomberg Businessweek “Best Business Schools” entrepreneurship category.

Both rankings recognize the best programs for students aspiring to launch their own businesses.  In the Princeton Review ranking, the Rady School ascended from 25th to 16th in this year’s 2019 ranking, placing the school’s MBA program among the elite programs for entrepreneurship in the U.S.

“Since its founding, the Rady School has been dedicated to providing an outstanding education focused on innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Rady School Dean Robert S. Sullivan. “This ranking recognizes that the Rady School is a leader in entrepreneurial education. The incredible companies founded by our students and alumni are transforming our world and are proof-positive of the quality of entrepreneurship education the school provides.”

Since the school’s first MBA class graduated in 2006, students and alumni have started over 150 operational companies, contributing over $2 billion to the economy. The rapid success of startups originating at the school can be attributed to the unique structure of the Rady School’s MBA program, which integrates entrepreneurial education into the program through its capstone Lab to Market course sequence.

 

 

November 14, 2018 0 comment
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Meeting With Top Companies in the Bay Area

written by MJ (Vargas) Montoya

The Rady School of Management immediately stood out to me as the top choice among business schools in the US. I was drawn here because of the school’s focus on entrepreneurship, as I myself have been an entrepreneur for the last six years. I am now a second year FlexEvening Student graduating in March 2020. While going through my classes, I’ve realized that there’s so much to learn from big companies, especially those that value entrepreneurship within their organizations. As I transition away from my first company, I’m looking for opportunities within mid- to large-sized corporations that would suit my skill set and give me the opportunity to contribute to a team. The Bay Area Trek felt like the perfect opportunity to take the first step in that direction.

The Rady Graduate Career Connections organized the Bay Area Trek, arranging visits with dozens of incredible companies, including many Fortune 500 companies. The team sent out a survey where students each allocated 100 points to the various visits they’d like to attend. I chose to visit PayPal, LinkedIn, and Google San Francisco. There was a Bay Area Trek prep meeting about a week before the trip where logistics and etiquette were addressed. Each student also received detailed information and contacts for each company, along with a student point of contact for each visit. Every detail was covered for us; all we had to do was get ourselves over to each location!

My first stop was PayPal, where we were greeted by Megan Harvey, university programs manager. After getting proper security badges, we were given a warm welcome by Jim Van Over, experiential marketing & innovation specialist, who guided our group through an interactive experience that PayPal calls its Innovation Showcase. PayPal’s mission is to “democratize financial services, and serve the underserved,” and Jim showed us several ways that they’re implementing that mission in data security, risk management, products, and services. We then got to hear from a panel led by Mike Todasco, director of innovation. He and his team talked about their culture of innovation that extends across this global company, and how PayPal works worldwide to enable billions of safe payments without being a bank.

Next I headed over to LinkedIn. I had the pleasure of carpooling with Rady’s outgoing director of Rady Graduate Career Connections, Terra Saltzman-Baker. It was interesting finding our way to our destination because there are about a dozen buildings in one small cluster that all belong to LinkedIn! We observed what looked like LinkedIn’s own little universe complete with bikes, helmets, and umbrellas at the entrance of each building. As soon as we walked in we were greeted by Rady Alum, Anindita Gupta, who is a principal product manager at LinkedIn. I really enjoyed this visit!

After leaving LinkedIn we made our way to the Rady Alumni Mixer at Porterhouse in San Mateo. We were greeted by Yvonne Wu and the rest of the Rady careers team that traveled to the Bay Area. This hosted event was one of the highlights of the Trek experience. I got to reconnect with several recent alumni that I got to know over the first year of my MBA. It was fun to see Chiara Dorigo, who is currently an associate at Schaffer & Combs, and the inaugural president of the Women of Rady. I also got to meet other alumni who all had the inspiration to pass on from their post-graduate journeys at venture capital firms or companies like Gap and Tesla.

The following afternoon I went to Google San Francisco, which was the best way to wrap up this experience. While PayPal and LinkedIn had huge campuses with multiple buildings, this Google location was near downtown San Francisco within a larger building that overlooked the Bay Bridge. There are several other large companies like Amazon located within a short walking distance from Google. Our group was greeted by panelists and UC San Diego alumni, Philip Jia and William Lee, along with UC Berkeley Alum Shahed Sajadieh, all of whom happily shared their stories about how they became “Googlers”. After learning more about Google’s hiring process, company culture and team values, we were guided through the most amazing tour that included a plethora of fun, open, and lively, yet quiet workplaces that were ripe with enthusiasm from the hundreds of employees we encountered. The creativity of this firm was palpable. Each conference room has a fun name and each floor has a theme. Of all three companies that I visited, this one was my favorite!

I’m incredibly grateful for the experience that the Rady School of Management curated for me and my fellow students. I can now say I have a good idea of what life in the Bay Area would be like for a Rady MBA. I’ve gained some clarity for my own job search and made such wonderful connections with both current students and alumni. I appreciate that I’ll have a Rady network, almost anywhere I choose to go!

 

November 9, 2018 0 comment
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Emphasis on Soft Skills at Rady School Develops Effective Leaders

written by Hallie Jacobs

Soft skills – social and communication skills, including team work, leadership and public speaking – have always been part of Rady’s MBA curriculum. As the School has grown, Rady has both expanded its soft skills-related curriculum for MBAs and has added such coursework to our specialized Masters’ programs.  An emphasis on leadership, teamwork and communication is a cornerstone not just for the MBA, but for the Master of Science in Business Analytics and the Master of Finance and of Professional Accountancy programs as well.

JoAnne Starr, Assistant Dean of Strategy, Curriculum and Rankings at the Rady School, emphasized the importance of soft skills in professional environments.

“Soft skill development is critical because every business professional needs to work in teams and communicate effectively,” she said. “You can do lots of analyses and compile crucial data points, but unless you can work with your team and can explain why the data is important and what value it has for business decision-making, your impact will be limited at best.”

Courses at Rady, including Management Communication, Strategic Communication and Storytelling, Leadership in a Crisis, and Negotiation, enable students to enhance their soft skills.

“From the beginning of our MBA program, we’ve offered courses focused on teamwork and leadership.  These enable students to gain self-awareness and improve their abilities as professionals and managers,” Starr said. “Teamwork requires speaking and listening, taking feedback, understanding roles and being flexible and adaptable. Teamwork is not simple – it’s a multi-faceted set of skills.”

Many soft skills courses center on teamwork, leadership and communication.  The addition of new courses in these areas has been driven both by student interest and by a recognition that these are among the top skills employers look for in new hires.  One very timely subject in which students have expressed increased interest is working with diverse groups.

“Our MBA students have long told us that the diversity of their class, particularly the international diversity of their classmates, is incredibly useful as a learning experience,” Starr said. “In response to these comments, we are adding an elective focused on diversity in the workplace. It will answer questions such as ‘What are companies really doing now?’ and ‘What is the business case for diversity?’”

“Everything about business is built on communication,” Starr said. “To have real impact, you want to develop the best possible skills for communicating up and down and inside and outside your organization. Rady really gives you the ability to do that.”

June 4, 2018 0 comment
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Rady Teams Sweep UC San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge

written by Hallie Jacobs

Each year UC San Diego hosts the annual Entrepreneur Challenge to celebrate innovation on campus. And each year, Rady School of Management students and alumni bring their brilliant startup ideas and launched companies to the stage to compete with fellow Tritons, sweeping the competition and earning thousands of dollars to continue developing the product or technology. The 2018 Entrepreneur Challenge was no different.

The majority of teams competing in the competition were affiliated with the Rady School and worked with one of the School’s many accelerator programs. The competition featured three tracks — Clean Technology, Life Technology and High Technology – and Rady School affiliated teams won first prize in two out of the three tracks.

Rady School affiliated teams swept the High Technology track, earning first, second and third place. StartR team GLXY – technology for weight training by preventing injuries and plateaus for athletes – earned first place. Family Proud – a mobile-application based patient advocacy software solution that provides hospitalized patients and their families easy and secure access to all their essential social, medical, and logistical resources – took second place. Beggy, mystartupXX and StartR team developing a new and trendy approach to convenient and functional Smart Bags, earned third place.

Navega – a mystartupXX team – took home first place in the Life Technology category. The company is developing technology to conquer the opioid addiction epidemic in the United States using addiction-free pain management. CReATE Medical,a StartR team, earned second place in the competition. CReATE is a patent-pending algorithm that analyzes routinely-collected patient data utilizing machine learning techniques to predict highly accurate patient-specific outcomes to pacemaker-related heart surgeries.

Green Stop won second place in the Clean Technology. The Green Stop is a mobile, solar-powered, waste-free refill station that can be used at the beach to reduce plastic pollution and provide filtered and chilled drinking water to beachgoers.

Pierre Sleiman (MBA ’13) gave the keynote address at the event, detailing how he was able to start his successful business, GoGreen Agriculture. He credited the Rady School for helping him develop the necessary entrepreneurial skills to launch and sustain a successful business.

May 25, 2018 0 comment
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Kriegler Lecture Celebrates Entrepreneurial Journey

written by Hallie Jacobs

It’s a path several Rady School of Management students have embarked on – entering as a scientist and graduating an entrepreneur. This journey will be the topic of the annual Dr. Michael Kriegler Memorial Lecture, featuring Dr. Magda Marquet. Dr. Marquet will share her journey detailing her evolution into a scientifically-minded entrepreneur, as well as her view of San Diego as a major hub for biotech innovation.

The lecture will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15 in the Beyster Auditorium at the Rady School of Management. Guests are invited to the courtyard for tacos and ice cream after the event to discuss the lecture topic.

Please RSVP if you are planning to attend.

About Dr. Magda Marquet

Magda Marquet, Ph.D., is a life sciences entrepreneur, investor and community leader. She is the co-founder and co-CEO of ALMA Life Sciences LLC, an investment and consulting firm with a portfolio of 20 private investments. She is also the chairman and co-founder of Althea, and served as co-president and CEO for 10 years before the company’s acquisition by Ajinomoto.

Marquet co-founded Althea Dx, a spin-off of Althea Technologies focusing in precision medicine. She previously held management positions at numerous biotechnology companies including Vical Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Protein Polymer Technologies, Syntro Corporation and Transgene. She currently serves as a board member for Sente, Independa and Portable Genomics, as well as an advisor for many other companies.

As a business leader passionate about entrepreneurship, Marquet plays an important role in building a strong innovation economy. For example, she is currently on the Executive Committee of the Board of Visitors of the UCSD Moores Cancer Center. Marquet holds a Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from INSA/University of Toulouse, France, and has received numerous awards throughout her career including the 2005 Regional Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Life Sciences category, the Athena Pinnacle Award, the Exemplary Service Award from the San Diego Business Journal and the Director of the Year award from the Corporate Directors Forum. She was also the first woman inducted into the CONNECT Hall of Fame.

About the lecture series

The Michael Kriegler Memorial Lecture Series was created to perpetuate Dr. Michael Kriegler’s spirit and enthusiasm for science by establishing programs that educate and motivate students and scientists — just as Dr. Kriegler did throughout this life. To accomplish this, his wife, Jan Tuttleman, established this lecture series to bring together the San Diego biotech community with the University, the faculty and students to build relationships and to share ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 8, 2018 0 comment
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Expand Your Network, Secure Your Dream Job

written by Jeanette Meliska-Romero

Networking – It is a soft skill we all need, but for many, we are not comfortable using.  For some, networking just feels awkward – while for others – it can feel pointless.  When you are a graduate student and trying to break into a particular career field, networking can seem like a daunting challenge.  However, even if you feel some apprehension towards it, networking is a valuable skill that can be vital toward a successful job search.

According to PayScale.com, somewhere between 70 to 85 percent of jobs are found through networking and approximately 80 percent of jobs are never publicly listed, but instead filled through networking and referrals.  This is known as the “Hidden Job Market” and is definitely a faster route to landing a job rather than only sending out standard applications through company websites.

At the UC San Diego Rady School of Management, we understand how valuable networking can be for students and alumni, and provide multiple avenues to practice and effectively utilize this skill.  For students, we offer opportunities to learn and connect with employers and alumni through, Employer Insights Panels, Information Sessions, Company Tours, and financial stipends to attend national conferences.  For students AND alumni, we provide opportunities to network through career fairs, The Rady Network, Company Treks, and the CareersRady online platform.

Still unsure where to begin?  If you are a current Rady student, you can try reading Jaymin Patel’s The MBA Guide to Networking like a Rockstar, which is available for checkout at the Career Connections front desk.  I also recommend reading Learn to Love Networking from Harvard Business Review.  It breaks networking down into four easy strategies that you can use the next time you want to reach out someone new.

 

April 20, 2018 0 comment
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Negotiating For What You’re Worth

written by Terra Saltzman-Baker

Negotiation isn’t always easy. Typically, people don’t like this part of the interview conversation or talking to their boss about a raise, but still fixate on it.  Negotiating is an art, not a trick.  At the UC San Diego Rady School of Management, students learn the following steps from their Careers Team:

  1. Forget about the money.  Too much time is spent “researching” salaries and anticipating a low offer.  Focus on getting the interview, then WINNING the interview.  Without this, you won’t have an offer to negotiate.  It is when the hiring manager determines that you’re the right person for the job that you now have leverage.  Focus on what’s important.
  2. Understand YOUR worth.  That’s right, it is about your history, what you’ve learned in grad school, and how that all matches with what the employer is seeking.  Also, all candidates are not made equal.   Specific skills and experience are worth more to certain employers, it’s not only about the degree or years of experience.  It’s best is to talk to someone close to the industry or the hiring market to get real time input on realistic salary expectations.
  3. Be careful when doing the research. size of the company, the industry, where the job is located all factor into the numbers.  A small public company in the southwest will pay differently than a public company in the northeast.  Use validated compensation data tool, such as com, which includes the complex factors, or again talk to someone close to the industry to help set your expectations.
  4. Be a good judge of your counter negotiation.  It’s not about the dollar difference, but the percent difference.  If someone offers you $80K, I’d strongly advise that you don’t counter with $100K.  You’re thinking “it’s only $20K more” but really it’s a 25% increase.  I doubt anyone is going to try and lowball their offer to you by that much.  It’s not logical.  So take emotion out of it and think about what a reasonable response is (suggest starting with a “thank you for the offer…can we discuss” approach).  And remember, if you like the offer, it is ok to accept without negotiating.  Some companies start with their best offer, knowing the market is tight and the best talent is important for the company’s success.
  5. Set yourself up for a non-emotional conversation when it comes to compensation.  Build an Excel spreadsheet of either your last or current compensation package in one column (line item specific – base salary, bonus, 401K, vacation, benefits, stock, etc.) and then the offer in the adjoining column.  This side-by-side comparison opens the conversation up to a simple business discussion and allows both sides to come to an offer that is fair. 

Yes, it can be that simple folks.  Remember, both sides want the offer to work out and to start you out as a happy employee.  Keeping this in mind should decrease some of the stress you’re already feeling.  Good people want to hire good people – the rest is simply a professional conversation.  Happy negotiating!

April 16, 2018 0 comment
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Rady School

Leadership Development Training for Millennials

written by Nancy Drew

Millennials – those born from 1981 to 1996 — may be the most studied generation in history. According to the Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, Millennials will comprise more than one in three adult Americans by 2020 and 75 percent of the workforce by 2025. This generation will steadily reshape corporations and how business is conducted. Given their majority in the workforce it is important to develop training programs that will empower them to grow as employees and leaders.

As Baby Boomers and Gen Xers retire or take on different roles, more Millennials are taking on leadership roles. Although some view Millennials’ attention to screens, phones and tablets as a detriment, growing up with technology has provided this generation with a unique set of skills – but also unique challenges. More technology means less face-to-face interaction. Developing soft skills can greatly benefit Millennials as they move into leadership positions and advance in their careers.

So where do we start?

You can’t expect great results from a one-size-fits-all online program or by shoving them in a conference room with dated information and visuals. They want a personalized learning experience. Millennials are hard-working, never satisfied with the status quo and hungry for continuous learning. They are looking for innovative ideas and new content. Millennials will be fully engaged when the training presented is relevant to their career goals, allows for continuous learning as they progress, and provides opportunity for collaboration, problem solving and instant feedback.

What training do they need?

Millennials are the most connected generation in history. Most of the Millennial’s time has been spent on computers consuming large quantities of information. Therefore soft skills training that promotes interconnectivity, face- to-face communication, and develops patience and persistence will help the Millennial succeed in the workplace.

Gone are the days when training consisted of an employee handbook and three or four months of “learning the ropes” by making mistakes. A study from Gallup reveals that 87 percent of Millennials state professional growth and development is important to them. Millennials are the most energized, skilled and capable generation to enter the workforce. Train them well and they will ensure your organization has a bright future!

The Mindful Executive, Leadership, Communications certificate programs and the Strategic Thinking for Managers class are just a few of our excellent Rady Executive Education programs for Millennial career success.

 

 

 

March 28, 2018 0 comment
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Rady School Ignites Innovation at UC San Diego Conference

written by Hallie Jacobs

Entrepreneurship and innovation are integral aspects of a Rady School of Management education. So when Ignite UC San Diego – the university’s conference celebrating entrepreneurial risk-takers and innovation change-makers – announced a call for startups and speakers, Rady School students, faculty and alumni eagerly answered the call.

Held on March 6 and 7, the second annual event connected campus and community for two days of jam-packed networking and entrepreneurial learning. More than 800 attendees gathered at the Price Center on the UC San Diego campus for a pitch competition, keynote addresses, mentorship sessions and industry updates.

The conference kicked off with a Startup Fair, with eight Rady led or co-led teams participating. Additionally, five Social Venture Accelerator and mystartupXX teams participated — both entrepreneurial accelerators housed in the Rady School.

After the fair, startup teams were invited to participate in the Elevator Pitch Competition for the chance to win cash prizes for top pitches. Thirty one teams gave 90-second pitches to an esteemed panel of judges. Among the six winners were CReATE, a company co-founded by David Dallas-Orr (MBA ’18) that is developing an algorithm used to predict accurate patient-specific outcomes to pacemaker-related heart surgeries, and Osteolux, a mystartupXX team led by bioengineering students implementing a bone cement curing device to improve operating room efficiency.

Later in the day a total of 25 teams from UC San Diego and other universities from across the country presented at the semi-finals for the Pitch @ Ignite competition for a chance to be one of six teams selected to compete for over $21,000 in cash prizes during the evening event. All three UC San Diego teams to make it to the final pitch had Rady ties.

CReATE won a second place prize of $6,000. The team is part of a joint partnership between the Rady School and Jacobs School of Engineering Institute for the Global Entrepreneur, as well as a current member of the StartR Accelerator.

The other two teams to make it to the top six were Navega, a Jacobs School of Engineering team that is currently participating in mystartupxx, and USYNO, a company founded by Jimmy Wu (MBA ’17) who  participated in both StartR and mystartupXX, and is currently in EvoNexus.

A new fun element this year was the evening Startup Rap Battle. Participating (and each winning their “battle”) were Rady alum Brett Blazys of Doggie Doo Don’t and mystartupXX participant Isaiah Weiss of Celeride.

In addition to a number startup participation, expert Rady alumni shared their knowledge and skills through keynote addresses focused on setting goals, San Diego-centric innovation and strategies for building entrepreneurial ventures. Lada Rasochova, executive director of the California Institute for Innovation and Development (CIID) at the Rady School, presented as part of a panel in the “SOS! The Entrepreneur’s Guide to San Diego” afternoon breakout session. Rady alumna Silvia Mah (Flex Weekend MBA ‘10) led a discussion on the value of creating vision boards to enhance creativity and direction. Current Rady student and CEO of the student-led Entrepreneur Challenge Alex Boone hosted the Elevator Pitch Competition and moderated a conversation with Kim Kovacs. Alumni Sean Haggerty (Flex Weekend MBA ‘17), founder of Protector Brewery, was a featured panelist in the “Leverage Your Fear, Kick Entrepreneurial A$$” session.

“In just its second year, the Ignite Conference is proving to be one of San Diego’s premiere events for entrepreneurs,” said Karen Jensen, program manager of CIID. “The opportunity it provides particularly for our students to pitch their ideas in front of an audience that includes potential investors or partners, whether through the competitions, Startup Fair, or conversation is unparralled.”

 

 

March 8, 2018 0 comment
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Rady School Hosts International Finance Conference

written by Hallie Jacobs

The Rady School of Management was home to the recent Global Interdependence Center Money, Models, and Digital Innovation conference – an event dedicated to exploring current trends and their effects on portfolio management, big data and machine learning and crypto-digital currencies.

The conference brought together Rady School academics and practitioners to discuss exciting innovations, the current economic climate and trends that are shifting the world of finance.

According to Michael Melvin, Executive Director of the Master of Finance program: “We are delighted that the GIC chose the Rady School of Management as their partner to host this important conference and bring 75 distinguished finance practitioners to our campus. This reflects the growing stature of our School in the eyes of the global finance community.”

Rady School professors participated in the event as moderators and lecturers. Allan Timmermann, Professor of Finance, presented a talk titled “Quantitative Methods and Judgment: Competitors or Complements?”Michael Melvin served as a moderator for the panel. Finance professor Ross Valkanov gave a lecture detailing different strategies to optimize portfolios. Accounting and finance professor Harry Markowitz — who started the modern portfolio era with his pioneering work on risk and portfolio selection — gave a presentation about his life and the theory that earned him a Nobel Prize in Economics.

The conference also served as a platform to award Eric Rosengren, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, with the Fredrick Heldring Award for Global Leadership. In his keynote address titled “Considering Alternative Monetary Policy Frameworks: An Inflation Range with an Adjustable Inflation Target,” Rosengren discussed the current United States economic climate and suggested alternative frameworks for Federal Reserve inflation targeting policy.

“We were honored to host the GIC Conference,” said Rady School of Management Dean Robert Sullivan.  “The Rady School’s increased focus on quantitative finance and data analytics was perfectly aligned with the theme of the conference.”

About the Global Interdependence Center

 The Global Interdependence Center is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization with a global reach. Its mission is to encourage the expansion of global dialogue and free trade in order to improve cooperation and understanding among nations, with the goal of reducing international conflicts and improving worldwide living standards.

 

January 17, 2018 0 comment
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