Impact Week

Mariana Aguilar is the Director of Research at GoGuardian. Mariana brings over a decades worth of experience in education and digital learning. She began her career as a Teach for America corps member teaching 3rd grade in South Los Angeles and has worked with various education non-profits including Murmuration and Citizens of the World Los Angeles. Additionally, Mariana brings a breadth of experience in the education policy space serving as an elected official on the Del Rey Neighborhood Council, Chair of the Education Committee, and co-founder of Angelenos Organizing 4 Education. Prior to GoGuardian, Mariana was a Management Consultant at Deloitte in the Learning & Career Mobility practice. Mariana earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science with an emphasis in Psychology from the University of Southern California where she was a Discovery Scholar finalist for her research on ethical decision-making in digital environments versus physical space. She has a Master’s Degree in Urban Education with an emphasis in Digital Learning from Loyola Marymount University, and has been featured in Forbes, Edutopia, EdSource, EdTech Magazine and Education Dive.

During his 25 years at UCLA Anderson, Dean Antonio “Tony” Bernardo estimates he’s taught more than 5,000 students. Bernardo says some of the best moments are when students walk into his office to dig deeper into a business issue — to learn beyond the classroom material. “Everyone on the faculty I know loves meeting with a hard-working, motivated student,” he says.

In 2019, Bernardo was appointed UCLA Anderson’s ninth dean, effective July 1.

Bernardo’s research spans various areas of corporate finance. His recent research on bailouts provided a set of policy recommendations to lawmakers looking to design bailouts for distressed firms. His current research looks at optimal capital structures, or how much debt and equity financing a firm should have. It suggests that capital structure decisions are determined, in part, by the debt choices other firms in the industry are making.

Another area Bernardo is exploring involves optimal compensation of doctors, and designing compensation systems for health providers. “I tend to work on topics that are very diverse,” Bernardo says. “I learn a lot that way.”

In addition to having an impressive list of published papers and working papers, as well as receiving numerous teaching awards, Bernardo serves as associate editor of the Critical Finance Review and Financial Management.

Charles Corbett joined the UCLA Anderson School of Management faculty in 1996 and holds a joint appointment at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.

A hallmark of Corbett’s research approach is adapting perspectives and methods from other disciplines. Early in his career, Corbett was one of the first researchers to model the conflicting interests of supply chain participants using game theory. He is among the pioneers studying sustainability in operations and supply chains, which continues to be his main focus.

“There’s a growing interest in environmental and social ‘behaviors’ or strategies,” Corbett says. “I’d like to see a lot more focus on quantitative measurement of environmental and social impacts in the academic literature.” Working with London-based CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), the leading collector of data on firms’ greenhouse gas emissions and climate change strategies, Corbett and colleagues analyzed the carbon footprint in global supply chains of large firms to identify opportunities for cleaner, more sustainable processes. “Just measuring something like carbon footprint will often lead to improvements,” he says.

Appointed in 2020 as Anderson’s faculty vice chair, Corbett was the founding faculty director of Anderson’s Easton Technology Leadership Program (now the Easton Technology Management Center) and of the award-winning interdisciplinary UCLA Leaders in Sustainability graduate certificate program. He served as associate dean of the MBA program and, from 2009 to 2012, as faculty chairman and deputy dean for academic affairs at UCLA Anderson. “Playing a role in managing an organization as complex as a business school has certainly further enhanced my appreciation of the challenges executives face every day.”

Corbett was co-department editor for operations management at Management Science between 2017 and 2020 and served as editor-in-chief of Foundations and Trends in Technology, Information and Operations Management from 2008 to 2020.

Corbett has worked with teams of MBA students to study emerging areas such as green building, carbon footprinting in global firms and eco-labeling, and with Ph.D. students on many of his research projects. In the classroom, Corbett’s objective is to get students to think about processes. “There’s a very strong connection in my mind between quality of management in general and good understanding of operations and processes. And the beauty of operations is that some things don’t change.”

In spring 2020, during the initial spread of COVID-19 in the U.S., Corbett offered an elective on how the pandemic affects supply chain risk management, to provide students an opportunity to digest what was happening in the world. “We actually overestimate the likelihood of big disruptions, but we also underprepare,” he says. “That’s what we saw with COVID-19. If you build a more agile supply chain, that’s good no matter what.”

Zubin's background is a combination of building businesses from scratch, scaling technology organizations, and stints in government. He founded a global nonprofit, The $100 Solution, while in college and helped launch a remittance-transfer mobile technology startup thereafter. Zubin's six years at Google began in Global Marketing after which he helped scale Alphabet startup, Google Fiber, to deliver affordable, high-speed broadband internet to all Americans. He now leads Global Business Development & Strategy supporting Google's emerging marketplace businesses, where he builds products and services to help millions of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) recover post-pandemic. Earlier, he was a Marketing & Operating leader at Red Bull North America, overseeing teams in NYC, and then on a national level in Canada. He also had stints in public service; first by invitation to serve the U.S. Ambassador to Spain at the U.S. Embassy while at the State Department, and then for LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, supporting his Chief Data & Innovation Officer to expand technology-driven economic opportunity throughout the City of LA. He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from UCLA, where he serves on the Alumni Board of Directors’ Executive Committee. He also holds a certificate in Blockchain technology strategy from the University of Oxford. A Southern California native and long-time Angeleno, Zubin recently relocated back to Los Angeles from San Francisco with his wife, Lynsey, and their beloved boxer, Lucy.

Magali Delmas is a professor of management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and the UCLA Institute of the Environment & Sustainability. In 2020, she was appointed faculty director of Impact@Anderson. Her research interests lie primarily in the areas of business strategy, corporate sustainability and socially responsible investing. "Standing at the crossroads of policy, economics and management," she says, "I seek to understand the effectiveness of information strategies to promote conservation behavior."

Delmas has written more than 90 articles, book chapters and case studies on business and sustainability. She works on developing effective information strategies to promote conservation and the development of green markets. "Dark green consumers represent as small a segment of the population as do 'brown' consumers," she says. "Research tells us that consumers buy green products when they benefit not just the environment, but the consumer." Most of us fall somewhere in the middle, and Delmas calls that segment the "convenient environmentalists."

In her award winning book The Green Bundle: Pairing the Market with the Planet, she argues that successful information strategies require a holistic approach that accounts for both the altruistic and egoistic motivations of consumers. With insight from sustainable business and from behavioral economics, she describes the elements of effective information strategies that will help managers guide consumers along the difficult path from knowledge to consumption. With what she calls the "green bundle" — natural or implicit co-benefits of environmental goods and services — companies can strategically appeal to both the altruistic and egoistic values of consumers. Broadly, green bundle co-benefits include the following: quality, status, health, money, and emotion. Products that pair sustainability with these private benefits create a win-win for consumers.

Her current research also includes the investigation of the barriers and incentives to the adoption of energy-efficient solutions. Using insights from behavioral science, she developed the UCLA Engage program to determine whether real-time, appliance-level energy consumption feedback in 120 university apartments could be used as an effective tool to promote energy conservation among rate payers. "We wanted to understand what motivates people to save energy, and figure out how to most effectively frame information about energy usage so people are encouraged to conserve," Delmas says. Whereas people usually say that cost savings will motivate them, Delmas' team found that it proves to be the least effective strategy in changing behavior. More compelling to most consumers is how their energy use affects their personal health.

Delmas is also engaged in refining current methodologies to measure and communicate firms' and products' environmental performance, receiving widespread media attention for studies involving eco-labeling of biodynamic wines and "natural" cleaning products. She has studied climate lobbying and how corporate "greenwashing" undermines consumer and investor confidence.

Delmas is the director of the UCLA Center for Corporate Environmental Performance. From 2014 to 2017, she was the president of the  Alliance for Research in Corporate Sustainability (ARCS), an international organization that serves as a vehicle for advancing rigorous academic research on corporate sustainability concerns. She received the Academy of Management/ Organization and the Natural Environment Distinguished Scholar Award.

Since joining the Firm in 2007, Ms. Draeger’s role has evolved to encompass oversight of client portfolios, responsible investing, and portfolio strategy.  Ms. Draeger Chairs the Firm’s Responsible Investing Solutions Group, is a principal of the Firm, and a member of the Firm’s Investment and Management Committees.  As a Portfolio Manager, Ms. Draeger works closely with clients to ensure their portfolios reflect the investment outlook of Los Angeles Capital’s quantitative model. Ms. Draeger has experience working with clients globally across a broad variety of mandates including US, Emerging Markets and Long/ Short Equity strategies. She collaborates with the Research team and CIO to help manage research projects, distills portfolio observations to the investment team and clients, and ensures optimal implementation of the Firm’s model in investment strategies. Additionally, she oversees the Firm’s ESG activities from a research and product development standpoint utilizing ESG criteria as a tool to improve investment returns, better manage risk and meet client’s unique investment objectives through customized ESG Solutions. Ms. Draeger has helped to shape the Firm’s responsible investing, active ownership, and climate policies and leads the effort to thoughtfully integrate ESG within the Firm’s multi-factor framework. Ms. Draeger has served as a panelist on ESG at various investment industry conferences and is a CFA charterholder.

Prior to joining Los Angeles Capital, Ms. Draeger started her career as an Analyst in the Investment Management division of First Republic Bank.  Ms. Draeger holds an MBA from the University of San Francisco and a BA from Boston College where she served as captain of the women’s soccer team.

Cammie is a Director, Social Impact at LinkedIn. In this role she leads partnerships with companies and nonprofits in North America along with overseeing global employee volunteering and giving programs. Prior to joining LinkedIn, Cammie worked in the social sector-- first at Ashoka, supporting the work of innovative social entrepreneurs, and then at BSR as part of the Partnership Development & Research team. Cammie holds a BA in Public Policy from Duke University and an MBA at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business where she was a Forte Fellow and 2014 Public Service Scholarship Recipient. She was awarded Emerging CSR Practitioner of the Year in 2016 by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

Amberjae is Etho Capital's board Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer. She works with the executive team and board to shape strategy and execute the company’s vision. Amberjae also serves on the Board of Directors of The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment (USSIF) and is on the Advisory Board of the South Bay Economics Institute at CSU Dominguez Hills (SBEI).

Amberjae’s career in sustainable finance began 15 years ago when she received dual fellowships with the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City and the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative in Kigali, Rwanda. Prior to joining Etho Capital, Amberjae developed innovation-focused thematic portfolios for fintech startup, Swell Investing. As senior analyst for the SRI Wealth Management Group at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), she developed proprietary ESG and impact research and mission-related investment solutions for institutional, foundation, and endowment portfolios representing US$2 billion in assets.

Amberjae has served as an adjunct professor of Political Science and Economics at Santa Barbara City College (SBCC), and coordinated country-specific research to support asylum cases for the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) at UC Hastings College of the Law. Amberjae holds a bachelor’s degree and an MA in Global & International Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Andrew Glazier ('06) is the CEO and President of Defy Ventures, a national non-profit focused on entrepreneurship, employment, and personal development for currently and formerly incarcerated men, women and young adults. Defy Ventures has enrolled more than 5,000 Entrepreneurs in Training in prison and post-release programming and has engaged more than 5,000 volunteers. Defy’s graduates have a one-year recidivism rate of 7.2%.

Prior to Defy Ventures, Andrew served as the Senior Managing Director for City Year Los Angeles, a national, AmeriCorps affiliated non-profit that is focused on improving public education and addressing the dropout crisis through national service.

Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee), writer, curator and policy advocate, has developed landmark laws, led campaigns for Native rights and helped Indigenous Peoples protect sacred places and recover over one million acres of lands. In awarding her a 2014 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor, President Barack Obama said she has “fought all her life for human, civil, and treaty rights of Native peoples…her tireless efforts have protected Native culture, returned Native lands, and improved Native lives. With bold resolve, Suzan Shown Harjo pushes us to always seek justice in our time.” Active in the no-mascots movement since 1962, she is part of its retirement of over 2,000 “Indian” names, symbols, images, mascots and behaviors. Leader of many campaigns to end “Indian” stereotyping, mascoting and appropriating at the educational and professional sports levels, she is best known for her tireless work to eliminate the vile name and logo of the Washington football team, which announced it would end its Rdskns identity in July 2020.

Rebecca Henderson is one of 25 University Professors at Harvard, a research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a fellow of both the British Academy and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is an expert on innovation and organizational change, and her research explores the degree to which the private sector can play a major role in building a more sustainable economy, focusing particularly on the relationships between organizational purpose, innovation and productivity in high performance organizations. Rebecca sits on the boards of Idexx Laboratories and of CERES and was named one of three “Outstanding Directors of 2019” by the Financial Times.

Her publications include Leading Sustainable Change: An Organizational Perspective, and Accelerating Energy Innovation: Lessons from multiple sectors. For several years she taught “Reimagining Capitalism: Business & the Big Problems”, a course that grew from 28 students to over 300 and that is the basis for the newly released Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire – a book that has just been shortlisted for the FT/McKinsey 2020 Business Book of the Year Award.

Psychologist Hal Hershfield studies how thinking about time transforms the emotions and alters the judgments and decisions people make. His research concentrates on the psychology of long-term decision making and how time affects people’s lives — specifically at a moment when Americans are living longer and saving less.

Hershfield says, “We’re in an interesting time to be conducting research on these topics because there are so many methodological tools available. I take the same question and try to investigate it from different angles, whether from a psychological perspective or a marketing perspective or even more of a managerial perspective. ‘What are the psychological components of saving, and how can we help people along the process of their looming retirement?’ When it helps shed light on the question, I use methods like neuroimaging, eye tracking, archival and big data analyses, and even virtual reality.”

One of Hershfield’s most well-known discoveries suggests that when people are confronted with their “future selves” they experience an emotional sense of connection that can influence long-term financial and ethical decision making. Experiments in which some college students are shown images of their own faces digitally altered to appear 40 years older, while other students see only current, unaltered images of themselves, reveal that those who glimpse their digitally aged selves declare that they would save about 30 percent more, on average, than the students shown pictures of their current selves. “The lesson from that,” Hershfield says, “is that anything we can do that will increase how concrete and salient our future self is can help us make better decisions.”

When do we finally become our future selves? Hershfield says, “It all depends on how we think about the present. People who are able to step outside of the here-and-now in a meaningful way are better able to see how the past, the present and the future are connected. My worry, though, is that people might see this research and think they need to stop enjoying the present so that this future self is taken care of. But that’s not right. You don’t want to arrive in the future with absolutely no memories of anything good! To maximize well-being, we want consumers to focus on the future, but not sacrifice happiness and meaning now.”

Hershfield completed a post-doc at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, later taught undergraduates at NYU Stern and is now associate professor of marketing at UCLA Anderson. The business school environment, he says, affords collaborations with larger firms as well as financial tech startups, and Hershfield is routinely approached by industry. He has been a consultant to Prudential’s “Bring Your Challenges” campaign, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Merrill Lynch, the Principal Financial Group and many other organizations.

In the classroom, Hershfield strives to create an inclusive environment in which deep learnings are accomplished in a fun way. “Whatever teaching I do has to be enjoyable for the students and for me,” he says. Pop culture examples abound and provide lessons that are effective because they resonate outside specialized frameworks.

Quan Huynh has been described as a mighty warrior, a magician, and a mountain of goodness. He is the bestselling author of Sparrow in the Razor Wire: Finding Freedom from Within While Serving a Life Sentence. His book was written for men that are doing long or life term sentences, and in it, he shares how he found his freedom years before he was even paroled. 

He works as the senior post release program manager for Defy Ventures, a non profit helping those with a criminal past transform their lives through the journey of entrepreneurship. After spending twenty-two years in and out of correctional institutions, Quan was paroled from a life sentence in 2015 and created his first company six months later. The following year, he received the Peace Fellowship Award for his work with the Alternatives to Violence Project. Quan has been featured in Entrepreneur, PBS Newshour, and numerous other publications and podcasts.

Since joining the Firm in 2007, Ms. Draeger’s role has evolved to encompass oversight of client portfolios, responsible investing, and portfolio strategy.  Ms. Draeger Chairs the Firm’s Responsible Investing Solutions Group, is a principal of the Firm, and a member of the Firm’s Investment and Management Committees.  As a Portfolio Manager, Ms. Draeger works closely with clients to ensure their portfolios reflect the investment outlook of Los Angeles Capital’s quantitative model. Ms. Draeger has experience working with clients globally across a broad variety of mandates including US, Emerging Markets and Long/ Short Equity strategies. She collaborates with the Research team and CIO to help manage research projects, distills portfolio observations to the investment team and clients, and ensures optimal implementation of the Firm’s model in investment strategies. Additionally, she oversees the Firm’s ESG activities from a research and product development standpoint utilizing ESG criteria as a tool to improve investment returns, better manage risk and meet client’s unique investment objectives through customized ESG Solutions. Ms. Draeger has helped to shape the Firm’s responsible investing, active ownership, and climate policies and leads the effort to thoughtfully integrate ESG within the Firm’s multi-factor framework. Ms. Draeger has served as a panelist on ESG at various investment industry conferences and is a CFA charterholder.

Prior to joining Los Angeles Capital, Ms. Draeger started her career as an Analyst in the Investment Management division of First Republic Bank.  Ms. Draeger holds an MBA from the University of San Francisco and a BA from Boston College where she served as captain of the women’s soccer team.

Dr. Erica L. Jacquez is an accomplished government relations expert with over 21 years of industry experience.

Currently, Dr. Jacquez serves as the Executive Director of Government and External Affairs for Verizon and as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s Price School of Public Policy. She previously served as CEO and Principal Consultant for E3 Legislative Strategies, a government relations firm focusing on winning legislative strategies for local, state, and federal policies. She also worked for the Directors Guild of America as the Executive in Charge of Government Affairs. During her time in that role, she advocated for members regarding critical issues, especially intellectual property, copyright, and anti-piracy protection. Before working with the Guild, Dr. Jacquez worked in various government relations roles at federal, state, and local levels. At AltaMed Health Services, she was the Associate Vice President of Government Affairs and managed and directed a government relations team in overseeing budgets, strategic planning, partnerships, coordinating policy research, and developing legislative analysis at the local, state, and federal levels.

At the federal level, President Barack Obama appointed Dr. Jacquez to serve as the Intergovernmental/Congressional Affairs and Public Engagement Liaison between the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Congress, and the public nationwide in 2010. She went on to serve as a Legislative Analyst in the Executive Office of President, Office of Management and Budget's Legislative Affairs; she was the Lead Coordinator for President Obama's Statements of Administration Policy.

On the local level, Dr. Jacquez worked as the 1st District Field and Unincorporated Services Director for Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina. In this capacity, she acted as Supervisor Molina's primary community liaison. Dr. Jacquez also held leadership roles in the California State Senate and at the Southern California Gas Company. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed her to several commissions, including the City of Los Angeles’ Housing Authority and Health Commissions in 2015, Civil Service in 2018, and the Disabled Access Appeals Commission in 2020. She currently serves on the Los Angeles Unified School District Personnel Commission.
Dr. Jacquez serves as a board member for HONOR PAC, Latinas Leads California PAC, the Youth Mentoring Connection, and the Rubio Foundation. She garnered many accolades throughout her career, including being named to the Huffington Post 40 under 40: Latinos in American Politics in 2014.

Erica Jacquez earned her doctorate in Policy, Planning, and Development from the University of Southern California, where she also completed her Master’s in Public Administration with an emphasis in Political Management. She graduated from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Executive Leadership Program, USC’s Ross Program in Real Estate Development, and the Center for Creative Leadership.

A fourth-generation Angeleno, Dr. Jacquez, resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Jeff. She is committed to shaping policies that will directly benefit the quality of life for all communities.

Rita joined Los Angeles County’s Chief Sustainability Office in June 2017. As a Sustainability Program Director, she supports development and implementation of the County’s first sustainability plan, as well as sustainability-related policies. Prior to joining the County, Rita was the Science and Policy Director of the non-profit Heal the Bay. Rita also worked for Geosyntec Consultants on a range of water quality projects, primarily focusing on stormwater. Rita received a B.S. in chemical engineering from Columbia University, and an M.S. in chemical engineering and a Ph.D. in civil/environmental engineering from UCLA.

Noel Kinder is Nike’s Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO). As the CSO, Noel leads Global Sustainability, a team committed to protecting our planet to maintain an environment where all athletes can train, live and thrive. Prior to becoming the CSO, Noel was the Vice President of Sustainable Manufacturing and Sourcing, where he was responsible for collaborating with Nike Inc.'s business units, contracted factory leadership, representatives in academia and within the NGO community on the evolution of the company's sustainable business performance policies.

Noel joined Nike in 1999 and has held a wide range of leadership positions in the footwear and apparel divisions as well as roles in strategic planning and finance. In 2013, Noel became the General Manager of Nike Vietnam LLC, one of Nike’s largest sourcing countries, and was responsible for all manufacturing operations. He has worked with a wide range of manufacturers; from textile and apparel production in Sri Lanka and Eastern Europe to footwear manufacturing in Brazil and throughout Asia.

Prior to Nike, Noel held roles that included leadership in several non-profit organizations as well small, privately-held companies in the United States. He has also served in the United States Peace Corps, spending two years in Honduras.

Noel holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Oregon and a Master’s degree in Business from Portland State University. He is fluent in Spanish.

A graduate of UCLA (B.A., ’82) and Harvard Business School, Terry Kramer has extensive technology and leadership expertise in the domestic and international telecommunications industry. Since beginning his career at Harris Corporation and Booz Allen Hamilton, Kramer has held executive roles at AirTouch, PacTel and Vodafone globally. At Vodafone, he was the group strategy officer, group HR officer and chief of staff. He was also regional president of Vodafone Americas, with responsibilities for oversight of Vodafone’s 45% interest in Verizon Wireless and Vodafone’s venture capital activities. He also served on the Executive Committee at Vodafone Group Plc.

During his tenure at Vodafone, he and his family moved no fewer than eight times to locations that included London, The Hague, Dallas, Phoenix and San Francisco. The benefit: “Living in so many different places, working in so many fundamentally different environments gave me a new appreciation of contextual leadership — how leaders must be adept at assessing the different context of each leadership role to ensure a dynamic nature to their style, achieving success for that unique environment.”

While serving as an entrepreneur in residence at the Harvard Business School between 2011 and 2013, Kramer was appointed by President Obama to serve as Ambassador, Head of U.S. Delegation for the World Conference on International Telecommunications in June 2012. This delegation formulated and communicated the U.S. policy regarding the criticality of a free and open Internet as well as an inclusive, multistakeholder governance, the need to proactively address cybersecurity threats and the need for liberalized, open markets that encouraged accelerated global broadband access. The conference was covered by CNBC, New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

No stranger to the field of academia (his parents were teachers), Kramer jumped at the opportunity to work at UCLA Anderson, as it provided “a chance to engage with the next generation of leaders.” An adjunct professor at UCLA Anderson since 2013, Kramer is a full-time faculty member, teaching the foundational technology management course, covering the impact of disruptive innovation on products, services, markets and competition. Another course on technology and society which focuses on the benefits that technology can bring towards societal goals in areas such as healthcare, transportation and education juxtaposed against a growing techlash in areas such as data privacy, anti-trust, future of work ...etc. and a final course--a global immersion focused on technology innovation and transformations in Shenzhen, Hong Kong and the greater China region. He is also the Faculty Director of the Easton Technology Management Center. Kramer is the Board Chair of Skylo Technologies and Harvard Business School’s California Research Center. He also serves on the advisory boards of RapidSOS and Jarbly U and UCLA’s Economics Department Board of Visitors.

Originally from San Carlos, California, Kramer and his wife, Suzan, currently reside in the San Francisco Bay Area, from which he commutes to Los Angeles regularly. Together they have developed a family foundation focused on education, health and human services, which “reflects our views about the impact of youth and education on our collective future.”

Congressman Alan Lowenthal is serving his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives representing California's 47th District, which encompasses portions of eastern Los Angeles County and western Orange County. He was first elected in 2012 and reelected in 2014, 2016, and 2018.

Prior to joining Congress, he served a two-decade tenure as, first, a Long Beach, California city council member, then, as a California legislator. In Washington, D.C., Congressman Lowenthal has continued his dedication to common-sense bipartisan solutions that earned him a reputation among his colleagues and constituents as one of the most respected and effective legislators in both Long Beach and Sacramento.

Born March 8, 1941, Congressman Alan Lowenthal was raised in the Queens Borough of New York City. After earning his Bachelor’s Degree from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and his Ph.D. from Ohio State University, he moved to Long Beach, California in 1969 where he taught Community Psychology at California State University, Long Beach until 1998.

Congressman Lowenthal successfully ran for Long Beach City Council in 1992, where he served for six years. He then continued his leadership in Sacramento, first serving three terms as a State Assembly member, then two terms as a State Senator.

As a city council member, and then as a state legislator, the Congressman fought against the then-commonplace private and public sector belief that environmental protections and economic success at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles were mutually exclusive. His landmark environmental legislative efforts helped lead the two adjacent ports toward becoming the cleanest and greenest ports in the world, while also remaining the busiest and most successful container port complex in the Western Hemisphere. The green business model advocated by the Congressman and instituted by the two ports has become a role model for ports throughout the world.

While a State Assembly member, and as a founding member of the Assembly's Bipartisan Caucus, he paved the way for creation of California’s first ever independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, which took the power of redistricting out of the hands of politicians and gave it back to the people. In addition, the Congressman led legislative efforts to revamp the state's K-12 and higher education systems. He championed the College Promise Partnership Act to help K-12 students better transition to college. The passage of his Student Success Act also helped higher education students by introducing significant reforms to the state community college system that focused on increasing graduation and transfer rates.

In Congress, he serves on both the House Natural Resources Committee (HNRC) and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (T&I). He is the Chair of the HNRC's Energy and Mineral Resources subcommittee. He also serves on the HNRC's National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands and the Water, Oceans, and Wildlife subcommittees. As a member of the T&I Committee, he serves on the Highways and Transit, the Water Resources and Environment, the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, and the Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials subcommittees.

Representing one of the most ethnically diverse districts in the nation, Congressman Lowenthal has championed human rights in Congress, not just at home, but throughout the world. He has also brought his strong support for LGBT rights to Washington, where he became the first Congress member to permanently fly the Pride flag outside his office. In addition, he has continued his long history of fighting for environmental protections, with a new mission to bring the issue of climate change to the front in Congress as chair of the more than 60-member Safe Climate Caucus.

Kim Luu-Ng is an immigration lawyer and human rights advocate. She is founder and principal of KLN Firm, PC, a boutique immigration law firm that exclusively practices family, citizenship, deportation defense, and humanitarian immigration law (asylum, domestic violence, human trafficking, victims of serious crimes). She represents individuals and families in all facets of immigration law before USCIS, US Immigration Courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. A frequent speaker and trainer on immigration law, Kim represents clients from all parts of the globe, and is committed to delivering the highest standards of ethical and professional legal services.

Prior to her own practice, Kim worked under the auspices of the United Nations to represent survivors of torture in asylum proceedings and practiced humanitarian immigration law and deportation defense at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. She also served inside US detention centers under the Executive Office of Immigration Review’s Legal Orientation Program as a detention attorney, providing legal orientation and advocacy for detained immigrants, and training pro bono attorneys.

A former boat refugee from Vietnam, Kim is involved with many organizations that assist and support refugees such as for Program for Torture Victims (PTV), HelloUSA, and Boat People SOS. Kim previously chaired the Refugee Forum of Los Angeles County, a consortium of NGOs, refugee resettlement agencies, and government entities that advocates for the needs of immigrants fleeing persecution and seeking refuge in Los Angeles County. In 2016, Kim and her husband Chef Bryant Ng founded LA Chefs for Human Rights (LACHR), which has since raised close to $1 million US dollars to support non-profit organizations committed to serving human rights causes.

Kim began her legal career at Reed Smith LLP where she worked on labor and employment matters. She earned her Juris Doctor and Masters in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh. She graduated cum laude with departmental honors from the University of Southern California where she studied International Relations and East Asian Languages and Culture. Kim conducts her legal work in Vietnamese and Mandarin Chinese.

Originally from the USA, Melissa has lived abroad in Nigeria, Canada, and currently resides out of Oslo, Norway. She spent 8 years at Google transitioning from sales to eventual role of a Global Product Lead before becoming a Product Director at an LA based startup and now a Sr. Product Manager at Kahoot. As the product of two public school teachers Melissa grew up in an environment that encouraged curiosity and lots of weekend grading.

Naomi Morenzoni is Senior Vice President of Philanthropy Strategy at Salesforce. She leads strategic initiatives and partnerships, including the company’s COVID-19 community response and Salesforce’s Racial Equality and Justice Task Force that seeks to drive racial equality through People, Philanthropy, Purchasing, and Policy.

Naomi is a founding and board member of the Pledge 1% movement of 12,000+ companies around the globe committed to making the community a core stakeholder in their business. She has spent her career at the intersection of business and social good with positions at Google, Global Philanthropy Forum, and Business for Social Responsibility. Naomi graduated from Vassar College and serves on the board of the Boys & Girls Club of Bend, Oregon, where she resides.

Qiana Patterson is an experienced tech executive, specializing in SaaS, mobility, edtech, and emerging tech innovation.  With her, she brings over 15 years of experience in the growth, public policy, project/product management expertise in the technology industry. 

She was the founding COO for Edlio an LA-based K12 edtech company and prior to that prior she served as the Interim CEO and Vice President of Operations for Educational Networks a leading content management software SaaS company. Before her career in tech, Qiana worked as a teacher and  Dean of Students in LAUSD.  Currently, she leads strategic development for HopSkipDrive a modern mobility tech company based in Los Angeles.  As Vice President, she leverages her experience in education, government, and technology to solve some of their biggest challenges. 

She finds time to remain an active member of the startup community through mentoring with organizations like TechstarsLA, PluginSouthLA, Startup Boost, and being an angel investor. She's currently the Chairperson of PledgeLA and an emerging General Partner for Tamaa Capital an VC fund betting on ambitious founders.

She earned her bachelor of arts degree in Anthropology from the University of Washington, a multiple-subject teaching credential from the University of California Los Angeles, and an MBA from USC's Marshall School of Business.

Lori Santikian is an Associate Adjunct Professor in the Finance and Strategy areas and the Director of the Fink Center for Finance and Investments at UCLA Anderson School of Management. She holds a B.A. in Economics and Applied Mathematics from UC Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. Prior to joining Anderson, she was an Assistant Professor of Finance and Business Economics at the USC Marshall School of Business, where she taught MBA and Executive Education courses in valuation and finance. Her research is in the areas of financial intermediation, empirical corporate finance, and organizational economics, and has been published in the Journal of Financial Intermediation.

At Anderson, Professor Santikian has won the Citibank Teaching Award, as well as the MBA Teaching Excellence Award chosen by both the full-time and fully employed MBA students. She teaches core business strategy and electives in valuation and data analysis. She also teaches corporate finance at UCLA School of Law.

Frank Shyong is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times writing about diversity and diaspora in Los Angeles. He grew up south of Nashville, Tenn., and moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to study economics at UCLA. He joined The Times in 2012 and previously reported on the San Gabriel Valley, Chinese immigration to the Southland and the Asian American community.

Mila Skulkina, CFA is a Portfolio Manager at Lord Abbett, focusing on Emerging Market Fixed Income strategies. In that role she is a Portfolio Manager of the firm’s fixed income portfolios investing primarily in emerging markets debt; she is also responsible for managing emerging markets exposures in other fixed income portfolios at Lord Abbett.  In addition Ms. Skulkina leads ESG Sovereign analysis and integration for Emerging Markets. Prior to joining Lord Abbett in 2013, Ms. Skulkina was a Research Analyst at Sanders Capital working across long-only, long/short, and multi-asset portfolios. Previously, she was a Strategy Consultant at Bain & Company and an Investment Banking Analyst at Merrill Lynch. She has 18 years of investment experience and holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. She received her undergraduate degree in business economics from UCLA, graduating summa cum laude. Additionally, Ms. Skulkina is a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. 

Miguel Unzueta is a professor of Management and Organizations and the senior associate dean of MBA programs. He joined the faculty at the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 2006 after earning his Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Unzueta studies diversity, bias and discrimination. His latest research explores the manner in which people and companies define diversity and the impact that contemporary diversity definitions have on the representation of women and racial minorities in organizations. His research has been published in top management and psychology journals, including Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and Psychological Science. In recognition of his research record, he was awarded the Eric and E Juline award for excellence in faculty research at UCLA Anderson.  

Unzueta teaches courses on negotiations, managerial psychology and leadership in all of UCLA Anderson’s MBA programs. He was awarded the George Robbins Teaching Award for excellence in the classroom and the Faculty Community Engagement Award for exemplifying service to the school through his engagement with students and alumni. He was also selected by MBA blog Poets and Quants as one of the best 40 business school professors under age 40. 

Outside of UCLA, Unzueta has conducted trainings on a wide range of management topics such as negotiations, decision making and bias prevention. He has been invited to speak at various organizations, including Honda, Fox Studios, Kaiser-Permanente and the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team.