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Lab to Market Team Receives Grant from NASA

written by Hallie Jacobs

A recent graduate team of the Rady School of Management’s Lab to Market program is heading for the stars with a $50,000 grant and partnership with NASA.

The Ateios team – which joined the Rady School Lab to Market program as part of the Institute for the Global Entrepreneur collaboration with the Jacobs School of Engineering – entered the Rice Business Plan Competition with help from finance students at the Rady School. The team is comprised of Kartik Sharma, Jennifer Miller, Carlos Munoz, Rajan Kumar, Karan Sheth, Keita Okuyama, Tom Yuki and Professor Ricardo Dos Santos.

Ateios developed a battery that is stretchable and printable and able to function when bending. The average battery loses up to 20 percent of functionality when it is bent, but the Ateios battery is able to operate at full capacity.

Eager to learn more about the business side of technology, Carlos Munoz, a graduate student at the Jacobs School of Engineering, and his team joined the fall 2017 Lab to Market cohort to maximize Ateios’ potential. Through the rigorous coursework, Ateios team members learned all about customer discovery, business model development, fundraising and more.

“The Lab to Market program been great for us,” said Munoz. “We entered the program as a group of engineers who started with a nice shiny object, but had no idea how to develop the business side of things. Working with Rady School professors and students helped us realize the marketability and profitability of our product.”

The IGE collaboration between the two schools enabled the Ateois team to submit their business plan to the prestigious Rice Business Plan Competition. More than 600 teams applied and only 42 were accepted to compete in the competition. Ateois made it to the semifinals of the competition, placing among the top 16. Although the company did not win, they received the grant from NASA which will allow them to collaborate with the space exploration giant in the future.

“Thanks to our time with the Lab to Market program, we were able to submit an exceptional business plan that represents the potential of our business,” Munoz said. “We stuck to what we knew, which is the technology, but left the business side of things to the experts. These competitions aren’t just focused on the technology – they want to make sure businesses are profitable. Lab to Market helped us prove that our business has a great deal of market potential.”

Moving forward, Munoz and his team are looking forward to continue developing the Ateois technology and secure funding to bring the product to market.

“This has been a very exciting experience for us because people are generally interested in our technology and the future of our business,” Munoz said. “They see potential in our product.”

May 16, 2018 0 comment
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FacultyStudents

Master of Finance Program Receives Designation From CFA

written by Hallie Jacobs

The Rady School of Management Master of Finance program was selected to participate in the esteemed Chartered Financial Analyst University Affiliation Program — a program that supports students pursuing degrees in finance through coursework integration, scholarships and networking.

According to Michael Melvin, Executive Director of the Master of Finance program, the CFA designation is held in high esteem in the industry.

“When I was at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management company, we recognized that someone with the CFA designation possessed knowledge that set them apart from other job candidates,” he said. “In addition, they were recognized for their diligence and hard work to pass all three levels of the CFA exam.  Many of our Master of Finance students pursue a CFA and it is great to now be a University Affiliate.”

Recognized for the program’s commitment to excellence, the Master of Finance program at the Rady School will have the opportunity to work with the CFA Institute to develop relevant and exciting curriculum into the coursework. The designation also provides student scholarships for the CFA exam, exclusive access to all three levels of the CFA Program® eBook curriculum, and access to sample exams for each level of the CFA Program.

In addition to scholarly and financial support, participation in the University Affiliation Program also gives students access to local Institute member societies to support student teams in the annual Research Challenge — an annual, global competition that challenges university students to research and analyze a local, publicly traded company and create a report detailing why they recommend buying, selling or holding the company.

Distinctions from revered organizations reaffirm what makes the Rady School Master of Finance program stand out from other competitive programs. In addition to the cutting edge quantitative finance curriculum, the Master of Finance curriculum offers CFA prep courses to help the students prepare for the Level 1 and Level 2 exams. To gain CFA University Affiliate status, a program must meet high standards with regard to accreditation and curriculum, offering courses that reflect CFA values with regard to ethics and finance topics.

May 8, 2018 0 comment
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Students

Rady School Students Selected to Participate in Prestigious MBA Conference

written by Chiara Dorigo

Chiara Dorigo (MBA ’18) shares her experience at a unique conference designed to connect business students with triple-bottom-line businesses in the food industry. 

The archetypal MBA graduate has historically taken his or her newly minted degree and (re)entered the workforce as a consultant, an investment banker or a venture capitalist, making the degree a professional maximizer of shareholder value. However, as Sarah Emerson from Conscious Capitalism communicated during her Spring 2018 seminar at the Rady School of Management, business is necessarily starting to prioritize stakeholders like employees, communities and the environment.

Enter MBArk (pronounced “embark”): a program centered around Expo West—the world’s largest natural products convention—and designed to immerse MBA students from around the country in the world of healthy, sustainable consumer packaged goods (CPG) for a weekend. Josh Sherman (MBA ’19) and I had the honor of being selected to participate in this annual program, along with 50 other MBA students from Yale, Sloan, Haas, Marshall, Kellogg, Stanford and more.

The scale of Expo West was staggering. Expo veterans we encountered throughout the weekend marveled at the relative quaintness of the conventions in decades past, during which it could hope to attract a couple thousand attendees per year, at best. This year, more than 3,500 exhibitors and 85,000 attendees descended upon the Anaheim Convention Center to secure distribution contracts, raise capital, build strategic alliances and sample thousands of products, as if they were walking through the world’s biggest Costco. Within the span of 100 meters, we tasted heirloom olive oil, cricket chips, vinegar cocktails and pulled pork-style jackfruit sandwiches. The future of food, in one giant building.

MBArk also built a program of unique learning and networking opportunities for its participants around this event. We heard origin stories straight from the entrepreneurs behind Califia Farms, Annie’s, Clif Bar and Honest Tea. We sat in on a dialogue between impact investors from a boutique firm and a large corporate venture arm regarding different approaches to funding innovation. There was “speed dating” where we had an opportunity to sit down with CEOs from the CPG industry over French toast. And finally, we dined with MBArk alums, several of whom have started their own ventures since graduating.

In addition to meeting these current and aspiring industry revolutionaries throughout the weekend, we had the chance to connect with fellow Rady School folks in the crowd. Rafael Cortes (MBA ‘18) built and ran the booth for his employer, Kona Red. Matt Mackenzie (MBA ’18) walked the floor with his employer, AFT Holdings. I even ran into Adam Evans (MBA’14), COO of Rady Made startup Ginger Shots, while he managed the company’s booth on founder Zeyad Moussa’s (MBA ’11) behalf.

After three days, I left MBArk and Expo West full, fully networked and optimistic about the role that MBAs—especially Rady MBAs—could play in reimagining the global food system. This is a call to action to use your business skills to do it, so contact me if there is any way I can support you in the effort, and/or to reach out with any questions on this awesome program!

May 1, 2018 0 comment
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Students

People of Rady: Robert Sweetman (MBA ’19)

written by Hallie Jacobs

Robert Sweetman

Program and Year: FlexWeekend MBA, 2019

Describe your professional background.

From the age of seven, I have been an entrepreneur. I have started many endeavors. I excelled in business in my 20’s. I built three businesses that were profitable. The first was an insurance brokerage. The second was a promotions company. The third was a food service business. At 29, I enlisted in the Navy to serve my country. I was medically retired this year.

What attracted you to the Rady School?

I love the idea of a business school next to Jacobs School of Engineering. The final decision was because of the Lab to Market courses. I want to take my business from Lab to Market.

What do you believe differentiates Rady from other business schools?

The proximity to San Diego is the number one reason. Not only because of how beautiful it is. San Diego is on the brink of a technological explosion in business. I want to be in the middle of it.

What is your favorite Rady School class?

The Lab to Market series is the reason I chose Rady. I am so excited about completing these three courses.

How has your MBA course work applied to your current work? Have you been able to use what you’ve learned?

Absolutely. I launched a company last year. I use each class to refine the business plan.

How do you feel a Rady MBA will affect your career? What do you hope to achieve after you graduate from the Rady School?

I want to scale a company that can reach people across the country.

What would you tell a prospective student about why they should attend Rady?

The experience of learning (in the beautiful La Jolla weather) with an internationally diverse environment from world class professors is delightful!

How does your chosen Rady MBA schedule work for you?

FlexWeekend was a great choice. It allowed me to finish my Naval career and transition into full-time school with a business.

Anything else you’d like to add about your experience at Rady?

Yes. There are lots of opportunities outside the classroom for pitching and building your business!

April 26, 2018 0 comment
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Rady SchoolStudents

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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AdvancingAlumniStudents

Negotiating is an Art: Tips from Rady Graduate Career Connections

written by Terra Saltzman-Baker

Negotiating for what you’re worth can be a challenge even for seasoned professionals.  Typically, people don’t like this part of the interview conversation or talking to their boss about a raise, yet they still fixate on it.  Negotiating is an art, not a trick.  At the UC San Diego Rady School of Management, graduate students learn these helpful tips 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 Payscale.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 $80,000, I’d strongly advise that you don’t counter with $100,000. You may be thinking “it’s only $20,000 more” but it’s really  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 (I 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. Last, set yourself up for a non-emotional conversation when it comes to compensation. Build a 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! 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 9, 2018 0 comment
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StartupStudents

UCSD Accelerator Launches Socially Conscious Student Endeavors

written by Hallie Jacobs

One of the most important aspects of entrepreneurship is adaptability. Being able to shift focus to meet the needs of ever-changing market trends, cycles and consumer interests at the drop of a hat is crucial for succeeding in the marketplace. When UC San Diego students expressed interest in learning more about one of the most popular current business models – Social Innovation — experts at the Rady School of Management launched a unique accelerator designed to meet the needs of these social entrepreneur hopefuls.

The Social Venture Accelerator housed at the Rady School supports students interested in creating social impact through entrepreneurship through workshops, mentorship sessions, pitch practice and more. Born out of a need to create more socially-conscious companies, the Social Venture Accelerator helps students scale and develop innovative companies addressing important social issues. The pilot program recently wrapped up, launching six business endeavors with companies ranging from sustainable farming to technology that prevents senior citizens from falling.

From November through February, more than 20 students gathered at six workshops to learn about relevant topics. Topics included creating the perfect pitch, developing business models, crowdfunding, key traits of social entrepreneurs and more. The pool of participants was diverse – from nascent state ideas to emerging companies, each team had the opportunity to grow their venture guided by experts from the Rady School.

“The Social Venture Accelerator is a vital part of UC San Diego’s entrepreneurial blueprint because we see social impact ventures becoming a much bigger part of the start-up ecosystem,” said Kim Davis King, Co-Director of Accelerator Programs. “We cover different social impact corporate structures so participants get a comprehensive look at what it takes to launch a successful social venture.”

Although the accelerator is open to the entire campus, the majority of participants were Rady School students eager to bring their innovative ventures to life. Mauricio Varon (MBA ’19) developed a luxury bed and bath linens brand where for every bed sheet purchased, a recycle fiber blanket will be donated to Peruvian communities located in the Andes region.

“I chose to get involved with the Social Venture Accelerator because I believed it was a good idea to gain knowledge, network and exposure to my idea,” Varon said. “Throughout the process of the accelerator program I learned about social venture business models. I am planning to leverage my time with the Social Venture Accelerator and lessons learned in my MBA classes to make this company successful.”

The program also caught the eye of Scripps Institution of Oceanography graduate of the Masters of Advanced Studies program Brant Chlebowski, who was searching for programs on campus in support of student ventures. His company, California Seaweed Co., provides a sustainable approach to developing high quality native seaweeds for the culinary market while supporting scientific research and development of aquaculture technology.

“The Social Venture Accelerator stands out on campus, as it was uniquely focuses around the social transformative component,” Chlebowski said. “I learned there is a wide range of models and methods available for businesses to include a social and transformational component in their strategy. A company has opportunities to support positive social outcomes at every stage of the business model from human resources, full supply chain management, marketing and end user engagement.”

The accelerator culminated with a pitch presentation where six teams shared their companies to JoAnne Starr, the Rady School Assistant Dean, Strategy, Curriculum and Rankings, and Ayelet Gneezy, a professor at the Rady School. The teams received feedback on their presentation and business ideas.

Due to the success of the pilot program, the Social Venture Accelerator will launch another program in the fall.

“Our participants really enjoyed the program, but also provided some feedback on what they would have liked more of,” said Lada Rasochova, Executive Director of the California Institute for Innovation and Development, housed in the Rady School. “Participants mentioned they would have liked more time with mentors and a broader audience to pitch to at the final presentations, so we will be incorporating their suggestions into our curriculum for the next cohort.”

Moving forward, King and Rasochova are anticipating the growth of the accelerator.

“UC San Diego and the Rady School are committed to providing innovative and relevant approaches to entrepreneurship,” Starr said. “The Social Venture Accelerator meets the needs of our socially-conscious and entrepreneurially-minded campus community and supports their ideas that will change the world for the better.”

The Social Venture Accelerator is funded by the Center for Social Innovation and Impact – a center dedicated to inspire students and alumni to address the big issues and big challenges our society is facing. The development and launch of the accelerator is one of the actions that Rady is taking as part of our role in the broader Changemaker Campus plan at UC San Diego, which encourages the campus community to actively engage in serving the global community.

March 13, 2018 0 comment
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AlumnimystartupxxRady SchoolStudents

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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mystartupxxStartupStudents

8 Teams Join Female-Led Accelerator

written by Hallie Jacobs

The mystartupXX program is a one-of-its-kind accelerator that was created to increase and encourage diversity in entrepreneurship. Participants take part in mystartupXX workshops focused on various aspects of launching startups – team building, leadership, performing a market assessment and obtaining customers’ feedback, creating a value proposition, validating business models, and understanding financing strategies needed to launch the business. Each startup works with a mentor and meet regularly with advisors to monitor and encourage their progress.

Eight new teams joined the most recent cohort.

Beggy

Beggy gives women convenience and connectivity with a highly functional and stylish Smart Bag.

Celeride

Celeride is America’s first “open market” ridesharing platform that gives users pricing power, ensures all rides/drivers are insured, and assists drivers with collecting and remitting taxes.

GoboEco

At GoboEco we are redefining the way you buy mascara.

ICE Cosmetics

ICE Cosmetic provides you high level of customization/personalization of cosmetic products and high involvement in cosmetic making classes/events.

Melio Labs

Rapid Broad-Based Platform for Microbial Identification.

Navega Therapeutics

Our technology enables precise, long-term, and addiction free pain management, thus enabling a new paradigm for improving the quality of life in patients with debilitating pain.

OsteoLux

By implementing a bone cement curing device to improve operating room efficiency, OsteoLux aims to minimize the financial burden of orthopedic surgeries on the U.S. healthcare system and eliminate ergonomic hindrances for orthopedic surgeons.

ThrIV

ThrIV offers revolutionary vitamin/electrolyte delivery through microneedle skin patch technology to enhance performance and overall health.

March 5, 2018 0 comment
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Students

My Bay Area Trek Experience

written by Lauren Murphy

As a first-year full-time MBA Student at Rady, I was excited to go on the Bay Area Trek this past January.  San Francisco is the city with the second-biggest population of Rady Alumni living there, and I was excited to visit new companies and make a fun trip out of it.

Rady Career Services organized company visits from the financial, tech, biotech and healthcare industries, and had us rank our favorite options as we prepared for the trek.  Some examples of company visits include Flex, Splunk, Paypal, Google, Kaiser, Thermo-Fisher, and many others.  I was most interested in visiting Kaiser because of my background in the healthcare industry; I also thought it would be fun to visit OpenTable and Facebook so I could see what these customer-facing tech companies were like.

I was excited to visit San Francisco. I stayed in a hotel in Lower Knob Hill with two of my girlfriends from Rady. It was fun to bond with them and make a girls’ trip out of the trek. We especially enjoyed trying out different coffee shops throughout the city, and exploring new neighborhoods.

My first company visit was Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA. This was a short BART ride from our hotel, and one of the Rady Career Advisors met us in the lobby to help coordinate the visit with the Kaiser personnel.  Kaiser gave us a really nice welcome, and provided an in-depth presentation on its structure, vision, and opportunities for graduate internships and post-MBA full-time positions and rotational programs.  After the presentation, we had time to talk with the recruiters and a representative from the Business Development division. They were all extremely generous with their time, offering us their contact information and encouraging us all to keep in touch.

After our Kaiser meeting, I was able to have an impromptu visit Pandora Radio through another Rady student’s personal connection with the company. Pandora was a really cool company to visit: it had that quintessential San Francisco tech company feel with open spaces encouraging collaboration and innovation, along with lots of nooks and crannies for someone to hideaway and get work done when on a deadline.

On Friday morning, I visited OpenTable which has a great location in the heart of downtown San Francisco. I was able to walk a short 15 minutes from our hotel to get there. I had used OpenTable’s restaurant program during my time working in the restaurant industry while in college in Boston, and was excited to see what the company was like. We met with Scott Lavelle, Marketing Director, and Rady Alumni 2009. He gave us a tour of the company, and talked about its vision, and latest efforts to form new strategic partnerships to support the company as it attempts to scale across the globe.

At our visit to Facebook on Friday afternoon, we got to meet with representatives from their supply chain department.  They were extremely welcoming of us, giving us lots of facebook swag, and offered plenty of time for questions.  Afterwards, we had an awesome tour of their campus. It’s huge! They have awesome amenities for their employees: an arcade, restaurants and bars, and even a sweet shop with ice cream and other dessert options—which we got to enjoy! It was interesting to see such a big company campus-it almost felt like a mini-city created just for its employees.

Another great aspect of the trek was the Rady Alumni mixer at the Boudin Bakery Museum in Fisherman’s Wharf. This was a great opportunity to connect with local Rady alumni in the Bay Area. I had a great time meeting them and hearing about their post-Rady journeys. It was inspiring to see our alumni out in the world doing great things with their education.  Everyone I met was so generous—offering to make an introduction or provide general career advice. We even ended up going to In-N-Out with a few for a quick dinner after the mixer!

All in all, the Rady Bay Area Trek was a great experience for me. I got to make some new contacts at some prestigious companies in San Francisco and see firsthand what they’re like inside. But even more importantly, it was a great chance to bond more with my fellow students and form new friendships with Rady Alumni.

Lauren Murphy is a first-year Full-Time MBA student at the Rady School of Management. She has a background in the healthcare industry, and wants to transition to a career in the healthcare and tech space in business strategy, operations, and business development after obtaining her MBA.

February 21, 2018 0 comment
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