Category: Business and Economics

Gordon Moore ’50

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A few years before co-founding Intel, one of the largest and most revered semiconductor chip makers in the world, Moore wrote that the amount of transistors on integrated circuits — essentially, the complexity of computers — doubles every two years. Now called “Moore’s Law,” that estimate is gospel in the computer industry, and Moore a prophet of Silicon Valley. In the early years, as electronics were being installed into almost every consumer item, “we had the feeling that this was the basic technology of some kind of a revolution,” he said in a 2012 NPR interview with himself and fellow Intel icon Andy Grove Ph.D. ’63. Still wanting to do more, Moore and his wife began the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in 2000 to support their combined passions: environmental conservation, patient care, science, and Bay Area-focused projects. The foundation emphasizes planning, partnership, and — when necessary — learning from mistakes. “Failures are not something to be avoided. You want to have them happen as quickly as you can so you can make progress rapidly,” Moore once said. He received the Berkeley Medal in 1996, the university’s highest honor.

 

Business and Economics, Honors and Awards, Innovators, Technology and Engineering

Danae Ringelmann M.B.A. ’08

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In 2002, as a young analyst at J.P. Morgan in New York, the arts-loving Ringelmann excitedly attended an event expecting to rub elbows with movie stars. Instead, she found herself surrounded by starving artists, “all hoping they’d meet their angel that night, someone who’d give them the money to finally go make their big project,” she explained in a 2011 Tedx Talk in Dubai. Fueled by the desire to democratize finance, she entered Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, where she met her future partners. “I wanted to be in an environment that would allow me to really think big,” she said in a video. In 2008, they launched Indiegogo, an online platform that makes it easy for ideas to go viral and gain multiple donors, who receive fun perks over profit shares. The first and now largest crowdfunding site, Indiegogo distributes millions of dollars every week to people worldwide for everything from solar roadways to graphic novels, high-fashion wetsuits to the world’s first crowdfunded baby. “Friends, family and even complete strangers wanted to help make our dream come true,” said Jessica Haley in a Sydney, Australia, newspaper on her successfully funded infertility treatments. Follow Ringelmann on Twitter @gogoDanae.

Business and Economics, Innovators, Technology and Engineering

Andy Grove Ph.D. ’63

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In 1956, as Grove fled Communist-occupied Hungary and a Holocaust-haunted past, little did he foresee becoming a legend of the high-tech industry. A few years after finishing his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Berkeley, he was the first hire at Intel — co-founded by Gordon Moore ’50 to push the edges of the fledgling microchip — and later led Intel to great acclaim. “Every pestilence that could kill a microchip hit it,” Grove said in an NPR interview, recalling its bumpy start. But they finally struck gold — and continued uncovering gems over the decades with the microprocessor and personal computer. In 1997, Time magazine named Grove its Man of the Year. Driven by personal frustrations with treating his own illnesses, Grove has recently turned his attention toward speeding up the delivery of new medical therapies. In 2010, he made a gift to UCSF and Berkeley’s bioengineering department to jointly launch the first-ever master’s degree in translational medicine, which graduated its first class in 2014.  “What we have learned from decades of rapid development of information technology is that the key is relentless focus on ‘better, faster, cheaper’ – in everything,” Grove said, including curing life-threatening diseases.

Business and Economics, Innovators, Technology and Engineering

Patrick Awuah M.B.A. ’99

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Awuah left his home in Ghana in 1985 with $50 in his pocket and a full scholarship to Swarthmore College. Today he is one of Africa’s most respected leaders. After rising through the ranks at Microsoft, the birth of his first child inspired him to shift his focus toward home — and the belief that higher education could revitalize a nation beset by poverty and corruption. He enrolled at Berkeley-Haas and turned an audacious idea to establish Africa’s first private liberal arts college into a student project. Founded in 2002, Ashesi University (which means “beginning”) has graduated more than 500 students and is setting its sights on expanding the academic program and recruiting more African students beyond Ghana. “There have been times when it has seemed like Mission Impossible, but magic is happening,” he said in the Berkeley-Haas magazine. Although Awuah told CNN that only 5 percent of Ghana’s children go to college, he is courageously developing a generation of ethical, entrepreneurial leaders who will one day run the country. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickAwuahJr.

Business and Economics, Education, Innovators

Cher Wang ’82

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Although Wang dreamed of becoming a classical pianist, a tough talk with her Berkeley adviser shifted her ambitions. Today she is one of the world’s most influential women in technology. Dubbed “the pride of Taiwan,” she co-founded HTC Corporation, a leading maker of smartphones, and VIA Technologies, a chief developer of power-efficient PC silicon chips. A devout Christian, Wang uses her wealth to support education, including two partnerships between Berkeley and China’s Tsinghua University aimed at nurturing future leaders in global technology and understanding the psychological impacts of change on China’s people. She also established a vocational school in one of China’s poorest areas that fully funded 86 percent of its 300 freshmen during its first year. When Entrepreneur asked her what mistake tech leaders should avoid, Wang said, “… standing still. We must continue to ask ourselves ‘What’s next?'”

Business and Economics, Innovators

Giovanni Dubois ’02, M.S. ’05

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As an engineering student at Berkeley, Dubois felt the sting of being the only Hispanic in his fluid dynamics class, driving a need that still continues to build community and share his love for Latin American culture. What started off as informal gatherings with friends has evolved into the Bay Area’s No. 1 social network for Latino professionals, the LAM Network. With nearly 5,000 members, the organization offers educational, social, and philanthropic activities and plans to expand nationwide, starting with Los Angeles and New York in 2013. The South by Southwest Interactive Festival has nominated Dubois for its El Innovator Revolucion Award, which recognizes Latinos using social media as a platform for change. Dubois, who was born in Guatemala and moved here at age 14, met his wife, Sara Bakhtary ’04, at Berkeley’s International House. They have traveled to more than 40 countries and maintain a blog with photos, accounts, and tips.

Business and Economics, Innovators, Technology and Engineering

Paul Rice M.B.A. ’96

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Life is very hard — and not very safe — for most agricultural workers around the world, but Rice is trying to change that. Founder of Fair Trade USA, the leading third-party certifier of fair trade products, he gives consumers an easy way to make a difference with their dollars. Buying fair trade products, whether it’s a cup of coffee, bar of chocolate, or bunch of bananas, improves the wages, working conditions, environment, and development efforts for farming communities worldwide. What consumers gain in taste, millions of workers gain in hope and pride for solving their own problems — what Rice calls the “the invisible dividend.” Though corporate skeptics once scoffed at the idea, Rice has gotten hundreds of companies to rework their supply networks. He is frequently recognized as one of the world’s top social entrepreneurs. Follow the company on Facebook or Twitter @FairTradeUSA.

Business and Economics, Innovators, Public Service and Activism

Margo Alexander ’68

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After pursuing a business degree amid turbulent campus protests in the 1960s, Alexander went on to blaze new paths for women on Wall Street. Throughout her career, she climbed from stock analyst to senior executive at Paine Webber and accumulated many “firsts” along the way, including the first woman to head a top-ranked research department and the first woman to run a major trading floor. She later chaired the Acumen Fund, a nonprofit that invests in small enterprises, emerging leaders, and breakthrough ideas to address global poverty. Alexander says, “Berkeley taught me that business can and should benefit society.”

 

Business and Economics, Public Service and Activism

Kirsten Tobey M.B.A. ’06 and Kristin Richmond M.B.A. ’06

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As the name suggests, Revolution Foods, co-founded by Tobey and Richmond, wants to change the way kids eat in school. Aimed at fighting childhood obesity, Revolution Foods serves fresh, healthy meals to more than 800 lunchrooms and over 200,000 kids daily and was named the second fastest growing inner-city business by Michael Porter’s Initiative for a Competitive Inner City in 2012. The kids receive one item each month that they may not have eaten before. “There is a glimmer in a kid’s eye when he realizes, ‘Hey, I like brown rice!’ that shows us he is getting engaged with food,” says Richmond. With more than 48 million meals served to date, that glimmer is the spark of a revolution. Follow the company on Facebook or Twitter @RevolutionFoods.

Business and Economics, Health, Innovators

Paul Jacobs B.S.’84, M.S.’86, Ph.D.’89 EE

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As board chairman and CEO of Qualcomm, Jacobs is the driver behind wireless data services that pushed the cellphone from a talking tool to a handheld computer delivering data and entertainment. Innovations under his leadership include GPS capabilities, over-the-air downloading of applications, and advanced reflective display technology. Jacobs has more than 40 patents to his name.

Business and Economics, Innovators, Science
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