As the coronavirus continues to affect our public health and
economy, the pandemic has reintroduced words into our everyday vocabulary. What
does it mean to be “essential”? On what industries do we depend when so much
around us shuts down?
The first-ever virtual Rady Executive Breakfast Series will feature Hector Lujan, CEO of Reiter Affiliated Companies (RAC), the world’s largest multi-berry producer. On May 21st from 8-9 a.m., Lujan will speak about his experience navigating the pandemic in the agricultural industry. RAC is an exclusive grower of Driscoll’s varieties of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries across the United States, Baja California, Central Mexico, Portugal, Morocco and Peru.
Lujan, who holds a degree in business administration from Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, México, has worked for RAC since 2002, and served as CEO since 2017. He previously worked four years with a Mexican financial institution and six years in the agricultural sector. Earlier this year, Lujan was named one of the most influential people from Mexico by Lideres Mexicanos, a business and leadership magazine.
RSVP to attend the Rady Executive Breakfast Series here.
The Rady Executive Breakfast Series is sponsored by Union Bank.
Rady Executive Breakfast Series Continues Virtually with Hector Lujan, CEO of Reiter Affiliated Companies was last modified: May 19th, 2020 by Camille Cannon
Since its founding in 2013, the StartR non-profit accelerator program has provided resources, mentoring and access to funding opportunities to more than 190 teams. The program is offered in five tracks—Rady, Inclusion, Impact, Veteran and Teen, each providing unique opportunities to learn from experts and receive guidance for building a sustainable business. In total, companies that have participated in StartR have gone on to raise 118 million dollars.
Traditionally, twice a year, StartR teams have the opportunity to pitch their startups in front of the San Diego business community at a live event called StartR Demo Day. While the event will not occur in-person due to social distancing guidelines, the show will go on May 13th in a virtual format, as ten teams present to potential investors and contacts, and two of the teams will be awarded a $500 prize by a panel of judges.
Get familiar with the StartR teams below, and RSVP to attend Demo Day here.
The Bioenergy Project enables universities, restaurants, and individuals to convert the nutrients in food waste into usable products such as biogas energy and food. A prototype has been running since June 2018 and has mitigated over 23,000 pounds of campus food waste. The Bioenergy Project was the recipient of the 2019 Lemelson MIT Student Prize. (StartR Impact)
Brilliant Biome offers a personalized microbiome approach to drug addiction and recovery. (StartR Rady)
Dietary Microbe Detection (DMD) of DMD Flower explores and provides innovative, rapid and accurate detection of microbes to ensure food safety and quality. (StartR Rady)
The Helper Monkie is an assistive auditory device designed to help children diagnosed with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) to succeed in traditional classroom environments. (StartR Impact and StartR Inclusion)
H3 Heroes Helping Heroes is a social enterprise that supports veterans, first responders and their families with programming and resources to improve mental health and wellness. (StartR Impact)
Latina Grad Guide seeks to “close the academic achievement gap of Latinas in the U.S.” via workshops, conferences, digital campaigns and an app to assist with graduate school applications. (StartR Impactand StartR Inclusion)
Padfoot creates pet innovative products “that don’t exist, but should.” (StartR Rady)
Sav-E shows shoppers the environmental impact of products through an app, website and browser extension. “We believe that awareness is the key to change, and our goal is to give people that awareness. Doing so will prompt people to think critically about what, how, and why they buy what they buy, allowing them to make shopping decisions that help their wallet and help the planet.” (StartR Impact)
Tebra is working to produce a new type of key lockbox for surfers and outdoor enthusiats. (StartR Rady)
Viberent.co is developing a color-changing fabric to help reduce the excess inventory and waste by fashion retailers. (StartR Inclusion)
Meet the Teams of StartR Demo Day Spring 2020 was last modified: May 11th, 2020 by Rady School
Over the past couple of months, the world has experienced changes, challenges and grief like we have never known. Each day brings with it new hurdles to overcome, but also new reasons to be hopeful.
The UC San Diego community is working tirelessly to find solutions to the obstacles we face as a result of the the pandemic. From critical research to combat COVID-19 to making masks for healthcare workers, we are proud to witness inspiring acts of resilience and care.
In recognition of the ways the community has shown care during crisis, and to support these efforts as the crisis continues, UC San Diego has organized u.Care, a “Day of Caring” from 6 a.m. on May 14-2 p.m. on May 15. During these 32 hours, our UC San Diego community is encouraged to share inspiring stories, and, if you are able, donate a gift of any amount to make a difference.
We are so proud of the many Rady School alumni, partners, staff, students, and faculty who have found ways to support others in this difficult time. We have shared several of these inspiring stories below:
You can also dedicate your gift to UC San Diego’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund and participate in a $350,000 match thanks to a generous challenge grant from The Conrad Prebys Foundation.
Richard Castle (FlexWeekend MBA ’13), the co-founder and president of Cloudbeds, a hospitality management software, launched the #HospitalityHelps initiative. The online platform facilitates connections between hotel properties that want to make their beds available to healthcare agencies, organizations or individuals who need them. Within a few days, the more than 1.2 million beds had been pledged at HospitalityHelps.org.
Alumni working at the Scripps Research Institute are conducting a study to improve the real-time surveillance of contagious respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19 using data from smartwatches and activity trackers. Through the app-based DETECT study, Katie Baca-Motes (MBA ’09 and Director of the All of Us research project), Royan Kamyar (MBA ’10, physician and CEO and founder of Owaves app) and project manager and incoming MBA FlexWeekend student Lauren Ariniello, along with their colleagues, are crowdsourcing anonymized data across the United States.
“By evaluating individual changes to
heart rate, sleep and activity patterns, as well as logged respiratory symptoms
and diagnostics test results, the Scripps’ team hopes to complement traditional
public health surveillance methods, potentially leading to earlier detection
and containment of current and future outbreaks in various geographical
locations,” said Baca-Motes.
Three MBA 2021 students have organized a GoFundMe campaign to manufacture and distribute 3D-printed mask kits. Since organizing the campaign in early April, Amir Hassan and Nicholas DiGirolamo (MBA ’21) and Mark Schultzel (FlexWeeend MBA ’21) have delivered more than 500 face mask kits to local organizations in need.
Snehanshu Tiwari, Vishnu Sharon R. and Sakshi Sharma (MSBA ’18) contacted Professor Ken Wilbur to offer their help reviewing resumes, preparing for interviews or make introductions for current MSBA students graduating this summer. When Professor Wilbur shared this update on LinkedIn, even more alumni offered to help!
Sean Haggerty (FlexWeekend MBA ’17), founder of Protector Brewery, made curbside pickup and delivery available, in addition to offering the brewery’s supply of filtered water available to those in need. Protector Brewery has pledged to donate $1 from each order to Team Rubicon, a non-profit organization supporting veterans impacted by COVID-19.
Grace Evans Cherashore, a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council and Executive Chairwoman of Evans Hotels, is leading an effort to make hotel rooms open and available to healthcare workers. Medical workers who present ID at The Lodge at Torrey Pines, Catamaran and Bahia Resort Hotels are eligible to receive a discount of more than 50%. “The medical workers want to be in this fight as long as they can and a hotel allows them to be isolated,” Bill Evans, co-owner of Evans Hotel told 10 News. The Evans family has been a generous partner to the Rady School.
Jaden Risner and Clay Treska (FlexWeekend MBA ’19) founded Family Proud an app to help patients and their caregivers and loved ones manage their care, while they were students at the Rady School. In Spring 2020, the Family Proud platform was updated to include resources and support for those affected by COVID-19.
Steve Prestrelski (FlexWeekend MBA ’06) is the founder and chief scientific officer of Xeris Pharmaceuticals, which is offering its GVOKE Pre-Filled Syringe—an injectable treatment for diabetes patients who experience severe hypoglycemia—for $0 copay through May 31st.
The team at Indigo Marketing Agency, founded by Claire Akin (MBA ’10). prepared a list of tips for working from home. “Indigo Marketing Agency is a company run almost completely virtually by mothers of young children,” said Akin. “We saw so many of our clients struggling to adapt, so we wanted to offer our tips and tricks for working at home (even with small children) … I believe that we are helping our team members support their families and spend time with their children. It’s the best of both worlds and it provides a highly fulfilling lifestyle!”
Rady Alumni Board president Josh Kuss is the Senior Director of Commercial Strategy at Illumina and the commercial lead for the company’s San Diego Emergency Management Team. The team has been working since March “defining and implementing the strategies for how we keep Illumina’s employees safe, while ensuring supply to our customers, many of which are on the front line of SARS-COV-2/COVID19 research, tracing, and treatment. We tackled how to transition to work from home, and are now in the process of determining a sound return to work strategy,” said Kuss.
Academic Assessment Senior Analyst Christine McMahan volunteers with a national organization that has provided 100,000 masks for front-line workers. McMahan also offered to sew masks for Rady School staff and faculty in need. She made 65 in total, sewing every evening until she ran out of supplies.
Krithi Bindal (MBA ’17) is the founder and president of Aroga Biosciences, a regulatory writing biopharma firm which has been donating their scientific expertise to peer-review pre-print literature related to COVID-19 research.
“We are in a period of information overload,” said Bindal. “Misinformation about COVID-19, especially information lacking scientific rigor, can lead to significant risk to the public. I feel it is our duty as scientists to ensure effective communication and to help delineate scientific factual results from fiction. After all, our job as scientists is to find the truth.”
“The name of our company Aroga is based on the sanskrit term ‘arogya”, which means free of disease. We hope to continue to contribute to freeing the world of disease as we help to develop treatments for ailing patients. As we navigate these challenging times, our mission is unchanged and is stronger than ever.”
Sara Jones (Flex Weekend ’13) is the CEO of Plum Blossom Creations. She is offering free workshops on The Big Four of Mental Toughness.
“As an Unbeatable Mind student, I learned first-hand the power of the Big 4 of Mental Toughness in my fight against Triple Negative Breast Cancer. I used the Big 4 to feed my Courage Wolf, stare down my fears and thrive through the health crisis that threatened my life…
As lives were disrupted by homeschooling, layoffs, new routines and all the rest, I wanted to do what I could to help. As an Unbeatable Mind Coach, I had access to the four habits, tried and tested by warriors for 1000s of years, made simple and doable by Mark Divine, retired Navy SEAL through the Unbeatable Mind Academy. And I wanted to share those tools with others.”
To learn more about the Big Four of Mental Toughness, connect with Sara by email sara.jones@unbeatablemind.com or onLinkedIn. To sign up for coaching, visit https://bit.ly/UMCoachingwithSaraJones.
More ways in which the UC San Diego community is responding to COVID-19:
Medical school researchers launched “MyWellnessCheck,” an online platform to help identify how certain attitudes and behaviors may help increase well-being during a crisis.
UC San Diego Health is offering virtual appointments for people that have tested positive for COVID-19 but don’t require hospital care
UC San Diego physician-scientist Dr. Eliah Aronoff-Spencer, along with a team of researchers, built a rapid response platform to connect clinicians with answers to COVID-19 questions, resources and potential solutions to the challenges they face.
Read more about UC San Diego’s response to COVID-19 here.
Are you a member of the Rady School community who would like to share a story of care? Please fill out this form or email cacannon@ucsd.edu.
How the Rady Community Is Showing Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic was last modified: May 14th, 2020 by Camille Cannon
A message from the Rady School of Management Development Team:
We believe that generosity has the power to unite and heal
communities in good times and bad. A global threat like COVID-19 touches every
person on the planet, and it presents an opportunity to come together as a
global community.
#GivingTuesdayNow is a new global day of giving and unity
that takes place on May 5, 2020 (in addition to the regularly scheduled December
1, 2020 #GivingTuesday) as an emergency response to the unprecedented need
caused by COVID-19.
If you are in a position to give and had plans to
participate in this universal movement, we invite you to join the Rady School
of Management in creating a wave of generosity, community engagement, action
from individuals, businesses and philanthropy, and support our student
community that needs it most.
As UC San Diego mobilizes a holistic response to the challenges
of the coronavirus, we are more aware than ever before that our students rely
on us for far more than their education. By making a gift to the Rady
School of Management Innovation Fund, you can help us protect the academic
and financial needs of our students, and provide compassion and care that
reminds them that we are all in this together.
We also encourage you to join us for UC San Diego’s Day of Caring, u.care, May 14 and 15, 2020 and share stories of care with your community using #UCSDCares and #RadyCares.
Ways to Support Rady School Students on #GivingTuesdayNow and Beyond was last modified: May 5th, 2020 by Rady School
Teams of students from the Rady School Master of Finance program placed first and third at the 2020 Chicago Quantitative Alliance Investment Challenge!
From October 2019-March 2020, the students managed a portfolio
with the goal of achieving the best risk-adjusted performance. “As we all know, this has been a very challenging time
for equity investing and our teams did a great job,” said MFin Executive Director
Michael Melvin, who served as the teams’ faculty advisor.
The teams scores were based 80% on risk-adjusted performance
and 20% on a ten-minute video presentation about their investment strategy. The
Rady MFin teams were mentored by CQA member Tom Anichini of Guided Choice.
Rady MFin Students Win First and Third Place in CQA Investment Challenge was last modified: April 28th, 2020 by Rady School
Students in Professor Chris Girand’s Master of Finance 418 class used satellite imagery of beach houses in Encinitas, California to design the most optimal grids for producing energy.
Sixty houses were selected based on size, roof direction and lack of shading. Each student was assigned one house. The student measured the south-facing portion of the roof using satellite imagery from Google’s Earth Viewer. Various panel layouts were configured to get the maximum number of panels on the south-facing surface.
The students employed a simple, grid-tie photovoltaic system and priced the system based on market prices for the individual components. Each house ended up with a slightly different solar array to make optimal use of the particular roof.
The students made assumptions about the typical electrical consumption of an Encinitas household (10,000 kWh per year) and future prices of electricity. The students calculated what each system would produce to offset that consumption. The savings created by the solar system was treated as a future positive cashflow. The present value of these cashflows was netted against the initial cost of the system. Cumulatively, the net present value of the 60 systems was $1.5 million.
The assumptions are dynamic variables. Interested readers may log on to the Google Sheet to adjust variables as they see fit and see the actual houses that were selected (all from publicly available sources). Over the last decade, the price of residential electricity in San Diego has gone up 3.5% per year. The students modeled 3% annual increase for the next 25 years. If a user thinks future electrical costs will increase at 4% per year the net present value of the 60 systems is $1.9 million.
Since it is Earth Day, it is nice to know that the 60 systems would generate enough excess electricity (482k kWh/year, beyond what is needed for the houses) to power 120 Teslas – 2 for each household. Each Tesla could drive 12,000 miles per year off the excess power – saving a total of 552 metric tons of carbon dioxide.
Disclosure: These houses were the low-hanging fruit of solar candidates with south-facing, unshaded roofs – not all residents of Encinitas are so lucky! Some houses may require expensive things like a new roof or an upgraded electrical panel before a solar installation can be performed. Students did not actually visit the houses in-person, climb up on any ladders or speak to the residents. A 30% Federal tax credit to help offset purchase price of system was not included.
Rady MFin Students Use Satellite Imagery to Design Optimal Solar Panel Systems for Earth Day was last modified: May 13th, 2020 by Rady School
The Rady School of Management at UC San Diego is pleased to offer a unique fellowship opportunity for graduates of any University of California campus who are interested in pursuing a Master of Finance (MFin), MS in Business Analytics (MSBA), or Master of Professional Accountancy (MPAc) after graduation.
The Rady UC Fellowship guarantees $10,000 in fellowship
funding to qualified admitted students.
In order to be considered for this fellowship, individuals must apply and be admitted to the Rady MFin, MSBA, or MPAc program, and must have completed or be on track to complete a degree from one of the ten University of California schools: UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, UC Merced, and UC San Francisco.
For more
information on the programs and the admissions process, please visit:
Faculty at the Rady School of Management are leading a series of webinars aimed at analyzing the ongoing challenges businesses face during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beginning Friday, April 24th and continuing for the next five weeks, distinguished faculty experts will deliver a free lunchtime webinar. The first webinar will discuss the “Four Stages of a Pandemic Response,” highlighting steps that individuals, business owners and the economy are moving through as we all experience the unprecedented global pandemic. This webinar will be led by Professor of Marketing On Amir, associate dean of the Rady School and chief behavioral officer at Fiverr, Inc.
“The human condition during a crisis is characterized by distinct psychological changes,” Amir said. “This webinar will examine these changes through observed marketplace behavior. I will also explore how data from a large global marketplace for digital services can reveal these changes in behavior and point to ways in which individuals and businesses can recover from the effects of the pandemic.”
Friday, April 24:
Four Stages of Pandemic Response
Speaker: On Amir, Marketing Professor and Associate Dean at the Rady School of
Management
Moderator: Uma Karmarkar, Assistant Professor of Marketing/ITO
Friday, May 1:
How Do Fiscal Stimulus Checks Impact Consumer Spending?
Speaker: Kanishka Misra, Associate Professor of Marketing
Moderator: Karsten Hansen, Professor of Marketing
Friday, May 8:
Physical and Mental Health During COVID-19
Speaker: Sally Sadoff, Associate Professor of Economics and Strategic Management
Moderator: Uri Gneezy, Epstein/Atkinson Endowed Chair in Management Leadership and Professor of Economics and Strategic Management
Friday, May 15:
Supply Chain Insights and Modifications in a Pandemic
Speaker: Zal Phiroz, Rady Lecturer
Moderator: Hyoduk Shin, Associate Professor of Innovation, Information Technology and Operations
Friday, May 22
Stock Market Investor Sentiment During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Speaker: Joey Engelberg, Professor of Finance
Moderator: Will Mullins, Associate Professor of Finance
Friday, May 29
Panera During COVID-19: Lessons in Leadership
Guest Speaker: Niren Chaudhary, CEO of Panera Bread
Moderator: Amy Nguyen-Chyung,Visiting Assistant Professor
As we all navigate a new reality as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, job searching can feel like particularly shaky terrain. To address concerns around the job market, FlexMBA and Alumni Career Consultant Linda Kurtz recently led virtual workshops for Rady School students. Below, we’ve compiled expertise shared by Kurtz and fellow Career Management Center staff to help provide guidance for the Rady community.
Research industries
of interest and look for trends.
“I want to be transparent,” Kurtz said during the workshop.
“Some companies are actively hiring and recruiting, some are putting things on
pause, and some are laying people off.”
To discover which companies and industries are actively hiring,
Kurtz and the Career Management Center staff shared several resources.
Industries of particular interest to Rady School graduates
such as consulting & services, business software and financial services are
showing a lot of hiring activity.
Startup San Diego, CONNECT San Diego and San Diego: Life Changing, a division of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Council, has put together this list of companies with current job openings.
“Think about the functional areas that are being impacted,” said
Mitchell Kam, Assistant Director of the Career Management Center. Ecommerce
companies experiencing an increase in online orders are also experiencing an
uptick of data. They’re likely to seek data analysts not just during the pandemic,
but in the aftermath as well.
Create a job search
plan.
While uncertainty can feel overwhelming, creating a plan can
help you prioritize and take action. Kurtz recommended these three steps:
Write down your goals. Where would you like to
be professionally in the next three to five years? What short-term adjustments
might you need to make to get there?
Create a list of desired industries, roles,
companies and locations. Include relevant advocates and contacts.
Continue applying to jobs and follow up on your
applications.
“Even if an interview process is put on pause, the good news
is that you are likely to be considered when interviewing resumes,” Kurtz said.
Be “politely persistent” as you follow up, and keep in mind that everyone you
are in contact with is likely experiencing their own concerns about the
pandemic.
Continue to network
online.
Without the opportunity to attend in-person networking events or schedule casual coffee chats, a thoughtful online networking strategy is more important than ever. You may find your inbox bombarded with Zoom happy hour invitations, connection requests, or colleagues checking-in.
Kurtz recommended prioritizing your networking efforts according to your job search plan so that you can maximize your time and make the most meaningful online connections. “Companies need the right talent to help them move their business forward,” she said. Conversations with your network can help you learn early about new opportunities, or learn about ways in which a business is shifting its priorities.
“It’s a better time than ever to be reaching out on LinkedIn,” said Graduate Career Advisor Michelle Sedgwick. “A lot of us have been through ups and downs of the economy in the past and people want to be able to provide some support.”
Now is also a good time to make sure your LinkedIn profile
(and website, if applicable), are up-to-date. When requesting new LinkedIn
connections, be sure to include a brief message about why you’re interested in
talking to them, and what you have in common. A little customization can go a
long way, and gives a personal touch to electronic communication.
Upskill (in a way
that makes sense for your goals).
Many online learning sites are currently offering free or
discounted courses. Research which programs can get you closer to the goals you
outlined in your job search plan. Students can arrange a meeting with Rady
Career Management Center advisors to personalize their plan. Online learnings
options to consider include:
It’s absolutely normal to feel overwhelmed by this pandemic. As you continue your job search, remember to look out for your health, too. UC San Diego has compiled a list of resources for coping with coronavirus stress that includes tips for preserving your mental, physical and emotional health. Your well-being comes first!
Tips and Resources for Job Searching During the COVID-19 Pandemic was last modified: April 21st, 2020 by Camille Cannon
