| California Lutheran University’s School of Management continues to provide a stimulating environment for our learners and the community around us, even in these unusual times. Today, we are once again happy to share a selection of exciting news, updates, and upcoming events with our communities in Southern California and beyond.
We encourage you to stay current on what’s going on at the School of Management by following our Showcase page on LinkedIn. |
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2024 Pacific Coast Business Times Startup Village and Innovation Awards
The School of Management demonstrated a strong presence at the 2024 Pacific Coast Business Times Startup Village and Innovation Awards. On March 28, multiple SOM startups showcased their innovative businesses, including recipients of the Dorfman Incubator Grant:
- Hortitech (Andrea Brimmer and Emma Sweeney),
- PlotSign (Zach Dunn),
- Wayside Energy (James Werbe and James Coleman),
- Pikl Ball (Allison Pine)
- SPF805 (Hope Gonzalez)
- HomeBuddies (Mahsa Ghaderpour),
- Hub101 residents: Freindii and SuperNova Academy
We are especially proud that Wayside Energy was awarded the People’s Choice Award along with a startup affiliated with UCSB. Steve Dorfman, a member of the Dean’s Executive Council and a major donor to the School of Management, was honored with the prestigious Alan J Heeger Spirit of Innovation Award for his impact on the entrepreneurial ecosystem at the SOM and beyond. In addition to our entrepreneurs, Provost Neilson, VP for Advancement Regina Biddings-Muro, Gerhard Apfelthaler, Mike Panesis, and Desserin Pereyra attended the event. |
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CERF Latino GDP at Oxnard College
On April 17, the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting collaborated with Oxnard College for an event. Nearly 200 guests gathered to hear about the impressive results of CERF’s Latino GDP research presented by Executive Director Matthew Fienup and their partner from UCLA, David Hayes-Bautista. Following the keynote presentations, there was a panel discussion with community experts moderated by Jorge Mercado, a reporter from the Pacific Coast Business Times. |
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50K Challenge and Four-Time Grammy Winner Derek Ali Speaks at MBA Class
On March 11, Adjunct Professor Kelly Kimball, a member of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Advisory Council and Entrepreneur-in-Residence, had a special guest in his MBA course on Business Plans: Derek Ali. Derek is a four-time Grammy Award winner, with two Diamond certifications and 151 Gold/Platinum certifications. He has collaborated with music greats such as Drake, Donald Glover, and Kendrick Lamar. Recently, he raised a $7.5 million round for his “Engineers” platform, which connects musicians with mixing and mastering engineers.Throughout the term, Kelly provided weekly dinners, essential books on entrepreneurship, and coaching for the students. He also challenged them to achieve top grades, promising a significant donation in their names to the Dorfman Scholarship fund. On the final night, student pitches were judged by experienced professionals from our startup ecosystem, and then we were honored with Kelly’s gift announcement. |
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Cal Lutheran AMA Travels to the Cheesecake Factory
Our student chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) recently had an excellent trip to the headquarters of The Cheesecake Factory, a popular restaurant chain. During the field trip, our students had the opportunity to meet with Donald Evans, the company’s chief marketing officer (CMO). Donald generously spent over two hours discussing The Cheesecake Factory’s marketing strategies with our students. The meeting also included Jane Park, a Marketing Communications alumna from 2019, and Evelyn Herrera, who is currently pursuing an MBA and works at the company. A special thank you goes to the AMA club officers, Princesa Martinez, an MBA student, and Rosie Baker, Communications Coordinator. |
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Fireside Chat with the VP of Global Marketing at Ember
On March 27, we hosted our Spring Semester Fireside Chat with a special guest: Shannon Shapiro, VP of Global Marketing for Ember, a consumer goods company. Shannon, an alumna of our MBA program, openly discussed her career, work-life balance, and the latest marketing trends with students. She highlighted Ember’s remarkable growth from a startup (the founder was a speaker at our Entrepreneur Speaker Series about 10 years ago) to a global company that has earned several top innovation awards worldwide. |
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2024 Alumni Awards
In May, our annual Alumni Awards were presented. Jeff Brouelette, principal/president of Arroyo Capital, LLC, was named the School of Management Distinguished Alumnus of the Year 2024. Jeff, a 1991 graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, co-founded Arroyo Capital in 2015, a real estate finance and development company.Anastasia Martinez was named the School of Management Young Alumna of the Year 2024 and was very active in several student clubs at Cal Lutheran. After graduating in 2022, she received a full scholarship for a graduate program in Business Analytics from Rensselaer Polytechnic University. She then started working for L’Attitude Ventures, a LatinX-focused venture capital firm, before co-founding Libra Leaders on International Women’s Day. We are proud of their achievements and look forward to their continued success. |
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Welcoming Desserin Pereyra!
We’re excited to introduce our new Community Manager at Hub101, Desserin Pereyra (she/her). Desserin is dedicated to using her diverse skillset to cultivate meaningful relationships and foster positive change within the community. Her background includes experience in entrepreneurship, non-profit and start-up leadership, consulting for small businesses and non-profit organizations, as well as service in the US Army. What’s more, Desserin Pereyra has earned an Executive MBA and a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership from California Lutheran University! |
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- Carl Oliver’s (Senior Adjunct Professor) fourth book, Clearing the Air in Los Angeles: The Fight Against Smog, has been accepted by The History Press for publication on July 8, 2024
- The second edition of Vlad Vaiman’s seminal book ‘Smart Talent Management: Managing People as Knowledge Assets‘ has just been released as the paperback version by Edward Elgar Publishing.
- John Garcia’s (Finance and Data Analytics) article “Herding the crowds: how sentiment affects crowdsourced earnings estimates” has been published in the journal “Financial Markets and Portfolio Management.”
- Paul Witman (Professor Emeritus), Jim Prior (Adjunct Professor), Tracy Nickl (Marketing), and Scott Mackelprang, an industry co-author, had their teaching case study, “The Southwest Airlines Winter Meltdown. Case studies on risk, technical debt, operations, passengers, regulators, revenue, and brand” published in Issue 5 of the Information Systems Education Journal.
- Ran Lu-Andrews’ (Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies) paper (co-authored with Robert Kunkel and Xiaochuan Tong) titled “U.S.-China Trade War: Announcement Effects of Trump Tariff Cancellations on China’s Financial Firms” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Accounting and Finance (ISSN# 2158-3625).
- Ran Lu-Andrews’s research paper (co-authored with Zifeng Feng and Zhonghua Wu) titled “Commercial Real Estate in the Face of Climate Risk: Insights from REITs”, has been accepted for publication at Journal of Real Estate Research.
- Dazhi Chong (MS in Information Technology) published (together with Hwang, Shi, et. al.) the article “Exploring Information Systems (IS) curricula: a semantic analysis approach” in Information Discovery and Delivery, doi: 10.1108/IDD-06-2023-0060.
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| At the School of Management, we have many events lined up for the events leading up to graduation in May. Join us for a mixture of online, hybrid, or in-person events. We continue to provide great topics, speakers, and educational offerings to our greater School of Management community! |
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- July 10 (11:00-1:30 pm, The Garland Hotel). ACG101 2024 Women In Corporate Growth Luncheon. Registration Required.
- October 10 (8:00-1:00 pm, Lundring Events Center). Executive Talent Management Forum: AI in the Workforce: Navigating Challenges and Embracing Opportunities. Registration Required.
- Oct 18-20 (Calfiornia Lutheran Unviersity). Homecoming. More Information To Be Announced.
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Inspiring change, one student at a time.
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