Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Casey Borman

Gayle Northrop

Gayle Northrop (’96) is a consultant, coach and educator, and is president of Northrop Nonprofit Consulting, a firm specializing in strategic planning, organizational development and leadership development for nonprofits, social enterprises and non-governmental organizations worldwide. With broad international experience, particularly in African countries, she has dedicated her career to helping organizations drive positive social change through strengthened systems, improved service delivery and more effective measurement and communication of impact.

Northrop chose to pursue her MBA at UCLA Anderson because of its partnership with Johnson & Johnson and a shared commitment to apply solid management practices and business skills to mission-driven organizations. Over the last 20 years, she has helped design, teach in, evaluate and expand a suite of UCLA/Johnson & Johnson management development programs, which include the Head Start Management Fellows Program, Health Care Executive Program and Management Development Institute for African Health Care Leaders.

Northrop is now senior faculty advisor for Impact@Anderson and teaches social entrepreneurship, governance, impact measurement and strategy for social impact organizations. She leads a UCLA Anderson global immersion course on social entrepreneurship and innovation, most recently in South Africa. "The course attracts business-savvy students who in most cases know little or nothing about the concept of social entrepreneurship," she says. "MBA candidates visit foreign countries to see, in part, what it's like to do business there. So when you have the opportunity to introduce them to a variety of businesses that are all doing social good, it changes the way students think about the value of their MBA to society. It's exciting to see how global immersion courses can dramatically shift mindsets."

Students returned from the experience in South Africa with the sense that no matter what sector or industry they entered, their work could result in some form of positive social impact. Northrop carries these transferable learnings into the general UCLA Anderson curriculum. "I teach students that there is an ever-growing list of business practices that prioritize people and planet, that can cost less and generate revenue," says Northrop. "I teach them that entrepreneurs, and not just social entrepreneurs, must adopt a socially responsible business model early on — they need to bake it into the DNA of a company."

Prior to starting her consulting business, Northrop was a strategy and organizational effectiveness consultant with the Warner Group (now part of Gartner Group). She then joined ViewSonic Corporation, a billion-dollar technology company, where she was responsible for global strategic planning, corporate development, executive recruiting and human resources/organizational development.

In addition to serving on the faculty of the UCLA Anderson School of Management, Northrop is adjunct faculty at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. She is currently working with the University of Cape Town's Bertha Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship on an initiative to identify and scale social innovations in health in the global south. She is the co-founder and former associate director of Spark Health, a program assisting governments in Africa to strengthen their health systems and improve health outcomes, including the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Alfred E. Osborne, Jr., is UCLA Anderson’s senior associate dean for external affairs, with oversight of a variety of key initiatives for the school, including resource development, alumni relations, corporate initiatives and executive education.

Osborne also holds an appointment as Professor of Global Economics, Management and Entrepreneurship and is the founder and faculty director of the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. The Price Center serves to organize faculty research, curricula and student activities related to the study of entrepreneurship and new business development at UCLA Anderson.

He served as UCLA Anderson's interim dean from July 1, 2018 to July 1, 2019.  

Osborne is interested in leadership development, specifically, “how young people in this turbulent world can find their voice and develop the ability to influence a challenging environment by being powerful. This speaks to my theme of moral, value-based leadership, with an active practice of achieving desired outcomes in constructive and collaborative ways.”

Osborne’s areas of academic expertise include social entrepreneurship and the development of a leadership approach that applies business models and methodologies to the nonprofit world. Under his leadership, the Price Center created a number of management development programs, including five in partnership with health care giant Johnson & Johnson: the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Head Start Management Fellows Program; the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Advanced Management Institute for Head Start; the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute; the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Executive Program; and the Management Development Institute (MDI) for health care organizations in sub-Saharan Africa. Several related, innovative programs include the Institute for the Study of Educational Entrepreneurship (ISEE) and the UCLA/Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) Head Start Leadership Institute.

A deep belief in the value of entrepreneurship has guided Osborne’s vision for what is possible throughout his decades-long tenure at Anderson. In addition to founding the Price Center, he facilitated infusion of an entrepreneurial approach to leadership into the Anderson culture and curriculum, including and transcending the notion of business startups.

“Societies that don’t innovate are destined to die,” Osborne says. “My view was that our MBA students could benefit from understanding things from an entrepreneurial point of view.”

Osborne combines his emphasis on innovation with a deep belief in the value of a broad-based diversity that includes demographics but, just as important, a wide range of ideas.

“The value of cognitive diversity ― the acceptance of different points of view as expressed typically by different ethnicities, genders and cultures ― is the secret sauce of the American experience,” he says.

“I think we need to respect and cherish more of that. Life experiences shape peoples’ perspectives, and someone who grew up in a different culture is the gist of construction, connection and valuable conversations. I am a product of that diversity, coming to this country from Panama. My goal is simply to encourage people to get out into the traffic of ideas and collide with somebody with a different point of view. Physicists tell me there’s no work unless there’s friction and there’s no power or energy without collisions. Let’s collide in a more inclusive and respectful way,” he says.

Osborne is an active participant in the business community, serving as a director of Kaiser Aluminum, Wedbush Inc., and First Pacific Advisors (FPA) family of mutual funds. His nonprofit affiliations include serving as a trustee of the Geffen Academy at UCLA, Fidelity Charitable, the Harvard Westlake School, and the Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation. He served many years on the corporate boards of the Times Mirror Company, US Filter Corporation, Greyhound Lines Inc., Nuverra Environmental Solutions Inc., First Interstate Bank of California, Nordstrom Inc. and K2 Inc., among others.

While on sabbatical from UCLA in the 1970s, he was an economic fellow at the Brookings Institution and directed studies at the Securities and Exchange Commission that contributed to changes in Rule 144, Regulation D and other exemptive requirements to the securities laws designed to lower costs and improve liquidity and capital market access to venture capitalists and emerging growth firms alike.

Osborne’s research interests also include venture capital and private equity, family and closely-held business, and the role of boards of directors in private, public and not-for-profit organizations.

A corporate governance expert, he established a Director Education and Certification Program designed to help officers and directors of public, private and nonprofits prepare for the fiduciary duties and legal responsibilities of governance. This program also addresses best practices and topical issues confronting directors.

Shawn S. Patt ('07)

Shawn S. Patt is a Lecturer at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He teaches Management 168 (Personal Financial Health: Theory and Practice) and serves as a faculty advisor for Student Investment Fund, helping elite students manage a portion of the UCLA foundation.

Patt is the founder of Atala Financial, an independent wealth management and business advisory firm. He has also been teaching personal finance since finishing Anderson in 2007.

Prior to Atala, Patt spent nearly 20 years as a private wealth advisor at RBC Wealth Management, Morgan Stanley & UBS Financial Services. He teaches his students to leverage core finance principles to design the financial life of their dreams.

David Ravetch

David Ravetch teaches Principles of Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Cost Accounting, Special Topics in Accounting, and Applications in Excel and Mathematics for Management. He is also involved with all three MBA Programs at UCLA. He has taught intensive Mathematics, Statistics, Excel and Accounting workshops geared towards preparing incoming MBA students for the rigorous quantitative challenges of these programs. David Ravetch has won numerous teaching awards. He has been named Favorite Accounting Instructor, as voted by the accounting students, as well as, Most Recommended Instructor, as voted by students campus wide. In the spring of 1995, the California Society of Certified Public Accountants, Committee on Accounting Education awarded Mr. Ravetch their Faculty Merit Award, which recognizes excellence in teaching.

When David first began teaching at UCLA, the current Undergraduate Accounting program was in its infancy stages and UCLA was not yet a major contender for recruitment efforts by the International Accounting Firms. In the fall of 1995, under the guidance and direction of David, the Accounting Minor was the first approved minor at UCLA. David was named as the Director of the Undergraduate Accounting Program by the Anderson School. He served as the Director of the Undergraduate Accounting Program for seven years. David was also the faculty advisor for the Student Accounting Society from 1985 to 2002. Today, the UCLA Accounting Minor is recognized as one of the strongest Undergraduate Accounting Programs and UCLA graduates are heavily recruited by the International Accounting Firms. David has always been focused on the success of his students, both academically and professionally. David is currently implementing a new method of teaching Intermediate Accounting, utilizing a cutting-edge case-study format. This format has assisted students in better understanding financial statements, as well as in developing research, presentation, and evaluation skills that enable them to be more effective in their professional careers.

In addition to his love of teaching, David has a passion for music. He plays the piano, guitar, and clarinet. He has written many musicals: musicals for children and musicals about the public accounting profession, which has been performed at the annual UCLA Accounting Awards banquets. His passion for the classics has led him to create a series of 1 hour lectures showing how well-known classical themes are used in film, television, pop music and Broadway.

Farhad Rostamian

Farhad Rostamian is a seasoned product and business executive successful in scaling technology products from early stage to global leadership position. Currently, he is a lecturer at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, teaching Entrepreneurship and New Product Development. Guided by his industry experience, he incorporates many relevant and real-world examples of products and companies in his teaching. He has a deep understanding of technology products for the consumer market and has successfully launched more than 25 such products, generating $500 million in annual revenue. While at Photobit/Micron, Rostamian was responsible for all the marketing functions and the product line for smartphone cameras, garnering rapid growth and achieving a 35 percent market share. In that role, he established long-term and highly profitable business across several product lines with industry giants such as Samsung, Nokia, Motorola and Apple. At Interlink Electronics, where he held sensor division P&L responsibility, he revamped the work process and established a new business strategy. He directed and positioned the division to offer customized sensors to the consumer electronics and medical device industries, capturing customers such as Samsung, LG, Microsoft and Minimed. More recently, he lived and worked in China, modernizing and managing the operations of a Chinese consumer products company.

Eddie Weinhaus

Edward “Coach” Weinhaus joined the faculty of the UCLA Anderson School of Management as a lecturer in the summer of 2016. He also serves as adjunct lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis’ Olin Business School and at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business. He teaches entrepreneurship to MBAs, in both introductory classes and business plan development.

Weinhaus’ corporate innovation work revolves around assisting corporations in ensuring their best ideas don’t “die on the vine” based on a failure to communicate a successful plan. He employs his proprietary, unified pitch framework — including the “Barbed Spear,” QCOATing, VSS and the Iron Laws — and incorporates the preparatory analysis of Steven Kaplan’s OUTSIDE-IMPACTS approach.

Weinhaus’ framework allows him to successfully coach business plan teams at the MBA and undergraduate levels. He also performs volunteer work with the Pipeline entrepreneurs network and as a New Venture Challenge mentor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Weinhaus runs RelbanE, a business enablement management consultancy with practice areas in corporate innovation, financial services, new media business models and executive coaching. He serves as chairman of the Coin Group, a bitcoin and blockchain investment umbrella company with interests in media, financial services and retail operating companies. Previously, he started and exited multiple startups, including Oak Willow Builders, HoustonRealNews and BlockShopper/Journatic/LocalLabs.

Weinhaus graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1994 with a B.Sc. in economics (first class with honours) and from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2001 with an MBA in finance/entrepreneurship. He is currently pursuing a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis on a full-tuition scholarship.

Nathan Wilson

Nathan Wilson (’11) has 15 years of experience in biomedical and microsystems research. He has co-authored more than 30 peer-reviewed journal and conference publications, and has presented at international conferences on medical imaging, bioengineering and computer modeling of micro-electro-mechanical systems. He has served multiple times as an invited panelist at FDA guidance meetings.

Wilson is actively engaged in university research on computational modeling of blood flow. His most recent research publication appeared in the December 2013 issue of the Journal of Medical Devices. He is also a co-investigator on a joint UCSD-Berkeley grant recently funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). For the NSF project, Wilson leads the continued software development for SimVascular, the open-source code package he co-developed as a graduate student. SimVascular is used for cardiovascular disease research, medical device design and surgical planning by several leading university research laboratories worldwide.

Wilson joined the UCLA Anderson faculty in 2012. He teaches introductory classes in entrepreneurship, business plan development and technology and science commercialization. Wilson is actively involved in developing the curriculum and efforts to promote undergraduate entrepreneurial education at UCLA. He became the director of the Price Center's Undergraduate Minor in Entrepreneurship program in 2019. 

Wilson's entrepreneurial efforts include founding two companies. He founded Cardiovascular Simulation Inc. (CSI) in 2007 with former Stanford professors Charles A. Taylor (bioengineering) and Christopher K. Zarins (vascular surgery). The startup licensed technology developed at Stanford and continued internal development of SimVascular. During Wilson's tenure as president, the company secured over $200,000 in seed investment and was awarded a $100,000 Phase I SBIR contract from the National Institutes of Health. After his departure during the financial crisis, CSI (now Heartflow Inc.) survived and secured over $100 million in investment.

Wilson more recently founded Open Source Medical Software Corporation (OSMSC) in 2009. Focused on open-source medical software and open-data initiatives, OSMSC was awarded a two-year, $1-million National Institutes of Health SBIR Phase II contract in 2011 to build the largest public collection of 3D image data sets of arterial vascular disease with associated patient-specific blood flow simulation results. Wilson led this effort as principal investigator and directed co-investigators at Stanford University, UC San Diego and Marquette University.

Shi Zhang

An expert in consumer behavior and marketing strategy, Associate Professor Shi ("shir") Zhang has been using experimental methods to study marketing problems from a psychological, behavioral perspective in fields that range from product differentiation and market entry to brand naming, advertising and communication. He has also done innovative work using comparison and feature alignability to form strategies for market entry and marketing communications, as well as areas of brand naming and positioning in the international market.

Zhang’s theoretical research interests are in the area of how cognitive representations of information influence consumer cognition and decision making. In particular, he has studied representations of product-differentiating features in consumer preference formation. This research develops a framework to address the role of comparison and feature alignability in forming strategies for market entry and marketing communications.

Zhang is a frequent speaker at professional conferences and seminars, as well as an author of articles in leading journals of marketing, consumer behavior and applied psychology. He has also studied representations of linguistic structures and their impact on information processing, comparative cognitions and decision making. This research provides frameworks for brand naming and international/cross-cultural consumer research, and it suggests how firms can leverage differences between consumers to formulate brand naming and positioning strategies.

Zhang teaches marketing management (strategy and policy, advertising and communications, and global marketing) in UCLA Anderson's EMBA, FEMBA and MBA programs, and he organizes and teaches in the school's executive education programs. He has served as a consultant for international companies such as Google, Roche, Wrigley's and China Unicom. He is a former faculty member of Duke University.