| 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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| Dean is Honored as Educational Leader of the Year | In April, our School of Management Dean, Gerhard Apfelthaler, was honored as Educational Leader of the Year by the Ventura County Leadership Academy (VCLA). They honored him for his impact as a leader locally as well as globally. The Dean humbly accepted, also thanking all the students and faculty for their hard work. As VCLA stated, “He has spearheaded numerous initiatives including the creation of Hub101, a successful community startup space in Westlake Village, and the expansion of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting (CERF) into one of the nation’s top forecasting houses. He has held leadership positions at a number of universities in his native Austria, and he served in Austria’s diplomatic service as Austria’s Deputy Trade Commissioner in Los Angeles, and as Commercial Attaché at the Austrian Embassy in Singapore. He has published several books and articles in leading academic journals and helped start a number of early-stage companies. The Dean also volunteers a significant amount of time on the boards of non-profit organizations, including Startup Kids, the California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks (CMATO), the Economic Development Collaborative Ventura County, and the Valley Economic Alliance.” Connect with our Dean on LinkedIn. |
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| Celebrating our Graduates! | We welcomed close to 600 guests at our 6th Annual Graduation Banquet – the first one since the pandemic struck the world in 2020. This year’s special celebration included students from the classes of 2022, 2021, and 2020 and their families and friends! In attendance, to honor our graduates’ accomplishments were President Lori Varlotta, Provost Leanne Neilson, VP Cristallea Buchanan, faculty, staff, advisory council members, and other guests, including the Austrian Trade Commissioner to the United States, Mr. Volker Ammann. The event was masterfully emceed by undergraduates Avery Conrad and Christina Whyte, and featured student speakers – undergraduate Khuslen Munkhbayar (Business Administration ’22) and graduate Colin Hall(MSQE ’22). This year, we also presented our inaugural School of Management Distinguished Alumni Award to double alumna Amie Krause. Everyone enjoyed excellent catering, entertainment, music, dancing, photo booths, swag raffle, games, and more! Thank you to our corporate event sponsors Union Bank and Arroyo Capital/alumnus Jeff Brouelette for their generous support of the banquet. It was an amazing community celebration! WATCH banquet recap video and view photos. |
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| Presented Inaugural Alumna of the Year Award | At our recent School of Management Graduation Banquet we presented the inaugural School of Management Distinguished Alumna of the Year Award to double alum, Amie Krause (pictured). Amie is a graduate of the Bachelor’s Degree for Professionals and the MBA programs. After graduating, she progressed her career at companies such as Kinko’s (now part of FedEx), Amgen, THQ, and Kenexa. In 2016, she joined Atara Biotherapeutics, an early-stage company in the biotechnology sector where she now serves as Senior Vice-President and Chief People Officer. Over the last several years, she has guest-lectured in numerous School of Management courses, has hosted students during field trips, provided internships, placed Cal Lutheran graduates, joined the Dean’s Executive Council at the School of Management, and taught as an Adjunct Professor in our MBA program. A huge thanks to Amie for her continued commitment and for making an impact at the School of Management. |
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| Immersion Experience is Back | Our Executive MBA (EMBA) program cohorts, both domestic and European, were able to get back to experiential learning this year. Our domestic EMBA students attended a very successful travel course to Austria, visiting organizations such as the Austrian National Bank, soccer club SK Rapid Vienna, and International Jet Management at Vienna International Airport. While our students in the European EMBA program were able to complete their 2-week immersion experience in southern California. During their time at Cal Lutheran, they attended courses with faculty members Mike Panesis, Bruce Gillies, and Adjunct Professor Primo Custodio, competed in the New Venture Fair, visited companies and organizations (including DW Drumworks, SoFi stadium, Clay Lacy, The TradeDesk, Red Bull, Limoneira, Port of Hueneme, Fathomwerx, and Ama Waterways), and participated in introductions to surfing and American football! More about our EMBA programs here. |
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| 60 Teams Presented Startup Ideas in NVF | Once again, we held a very successful New Venture Fair (NVF) through support from our Steven Dorfman Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship! 60 teams presented their startup ideas to approximately 200 guests, among them Cal Lutheran undergraduate and graduate students (domestic and international), high school students (Thousand Oaks High School, Oaks Christian School, Bakersfield Christian), and even a middle school team (One Spark Academy / Startup Kids). Several teams won a total of $15,000 in prize money in the categories Best MVP, Best Booth, and Best Executive Summary. 6,120 votes were cast online worldwide in the People’s Choice Award, plus a very special award was given to four students to participate in the European Innovation Academy (EIA) in Porto, Portugal, this summer. The students selected to attend were Andrea Villasenor, Bontu Wako(pictured), Brissa Castaneda, and Nick Acosta. We congratulate all participants in the 2022 New Venture Fair. View winners here. |
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| Practicing Responsible Management | We held our annual PRiME Competition which showcases student projects that support the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Each project required a written paper, SDGs-executive summary, video presentation, and Powerpoint/poster presentation for judges’ review. This year, the competition drew a total of 36 submissions, out of which 12 projects were chosen for the finals. Judges David Jones (Sustainability Officer, City of Glendale), Wilson Hago(Founder and CEO, Hago Energetics), and Joanie Burns (Environmental Programs Manager, Amgen) put in countless hours and helped to select the winning projects. Our global community was invited to vote online in the People’s Choice Award category which drew 3,150 votes worldwide. Watch event recap and learn more about the SDGs. |
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| New Student Club Inspiring Business Education | The Women in Business student club – our most recently founded among clubs and associations at the School of Management – was very active with events and was enthusiastically led by co-presidents Andrea Villasenor and Brissa Castaneda. Throughout the academic year, the club welcomed a diverse set of inspiring guest speakers including Laura Moreno Luca (a Latina entrepreneur and founder of Pandocap, a media company demystifying the capital markets), Symone Opara (pictured) (Director, Business Program Management at Microsoft Corporation) and Brad Halpern (Mayor of Westlake Village and founder and president of Eggology and Be Tru Organics). We look forward to the continued impact the club will bring next year. Engage with the Women in Business club at @cluwomeninbusiness. |
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| Added Expertise and Guidance | We added new members to our advisory councils – Amie Krause to the Dean’s Executive Council, Judith Sanchez, Wayne Davey, and Elaine Salewske to the School of Management Advisory Council, and P.J. Gagajena and David Pollock to Public Policy and Administration council. We also established new councils for Accounting, Information Technology, and the Steven Dorfman Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Judith Sanchez is Senior Vice President and General Manager, JAFRA USA. She is an international leader with more than 30 years of experience in the beauty and cosmetics industry, with a focus on launching and driving business growth in a variety of LATAM countries, South America, USA, and Asia. Elaine Salewske is a Director within global pharmaceutical company Takeda’s Sustainability Integration team where she focuses on corporate sustainability strategy, ESG reporting and disclosure. Wayne Davey currently serves as the CFO of Ventura Orthopedics, one of the oldest group practices in California. P. J. Gagajena is Assistant City Manager and Interim City Treasurer / Finance Director at the City of Moorpark. David Pollock is a public servant, environmental advocate, and business development specialist and has served as a council member for the City of Moorpark since 2009, and is a board member for the League of California Cities. The School of Management has 10 councils with more than 150 members who offer strategic advice, resources, input into curriculum design, internships, placements, mentorships, projects, and many other activities. |
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- Vlad Vaiman’s (Associate Dean, Graduate Studies) book series on Talent Management (Emerald Publishing) published its fifth volume, entitled “Talent Management Innovations in the International Hospitality Industry”. Edited by Stefan Jooss, Ralf Burbach, and Huub Ruel.
- John Garcia (Finance) presented his research paper “Herding the Crowds: Effect of Sentiment on Crowdsourced Earnings Forecasts” at the 2022 Financial Markets and Corporate Governance Conference.
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| Our School of Management events are beginning to return to a new normal, some continuing as virtual while others are hybrid or in-person. The number of events has slowed for our Summer term but no matter the delivery, we are still providing great topics, speakers, and educational offerings to our greater School of Management community! |
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