Reserve a place now for you and your colleagues. Seating is strictly limited to ensure a conversational environment. You'll tap into the Leavey School of Business reputation for collaborative innovation—and bring it back to the office in time for that important presentation.
February 21, 2008
Green Investing: Hope or Hype?
Panel Presentation Al Bruno, William Cleary Professor of Marketing, Moderator
Breakfast & Briefing
SCU California Mission Room, Benson
7:30 AM Hot breakfast buffet
8:00 – 9:00 AM Presentation
Panelists Josh Green (Mohr Davidson Ventures partner), Sara Olsen (Social Venture Technology Group Founding Partner), Kevin Landis MBA ’88 (Firsthand Capital Management President/CEO), and Bob Lorenzini (Sun Power Founder and serial entrepreneur) debate the merits of investing in “green” projects. Moderated by Al Bruno, SCU Professor of Marketing.
Sara Olsen is founder of Social Venture Technology Group (SVT Group) and has led the firm to become a world leader specializing in the development of frameworks for measuring the value of intangibles, and communicating this value in terms practical for entrepreneurs, managers, and investors. Most recently Olsen worked with the Environmental Investment Advisor to CalPERS, Environmental Capital Group, to design and pilot the Envirnomental Performance Reporting System used in its $1B environmental technology private equity portfolio. She has teamed with HIP Investor to develop and launche the Human Inpact + Profitability Framework for investors, publicly listed corporations, and other institutions.
She views strategic impact analysis to be an emerging management discipline and works to promote its awareness and spread its adoption. She has co-authored several works for the industry, including Social Return on Investment: A Guide to SROI Analysis (Lenthe Publishers, 2006), "Social Return on Investment: A Standard" (Califormia Management Review, May 2004), and "The Double Bottom Line Methods Catalog" (The Rockefeller Foundation, February 2004).
Olsen is co-founding steering committee member of a community-driven network, xigi.net (pronounced 'ziggy'), which maps emerging capital market funding for social good. She is an advisor to Calvert Foundation's Social Enterprise Fund, ChangingthePresent.org, Mobile Media, and Aflatoun: Child Savings International. In 1999, she co-founded the Global Social Venture competition with four fellow Berkeley MBA students, and has conducted workshops on SROI analysis for the GSVC each year since.
She holds a MBA from UC Berkeley, a MS in Social Work from the University of Chicago, and earned her BA from Dartmouth College.
Kevin Landis is Firsthand's Chief Investment Officer and currently manages six Funds, including Firsthand Alternative Energy Fund, Firsthand Technology Value Fund, Firsthand Technology Leaders Fund, Firsthand Technology Innovators Fund, Firsthand e‑Commerce Fund, and Firsthand Global Technology Fund.
Prior to co‑founding Firsthand Capital Management, Inc., in 1993, Landis built a career in the technology industry. While at Dataquest and S‑MOS systems, Kevin developed a vision of combining industry insight with strong fundamental analysis to create Firsthand Funds. Now, with more than a decade of technology sector investment experience, he is one of the nation's best‑known portfolio managers for high‑tech funds.
Landis has appeared on CNN, CNBC, and FoxNews, and has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, Smart Money, Time, and Money magazines. He earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the UC Berkeley and a MBA from Santa Clara University.
February 21, 2008
Sustainable Communities and Corporate Responsibilities
Howard Charney MBA ’73, JD ‘77 Senior Vice President, Cisco
Reception & Briefing
Nobili Hall Dining Room
4:00 PM Cocktail Reception
5:00 – 6:00 PM
A 35-year veteran of Silicon Valley, Howard Charney brings a distinct perspective to this dynamic discussion of the critical challenges that face business and society in the next few decades. As an experienced leader of both high tech start-ups and major corporations, Mr. Charney will explore ways you can be a part of the technologies that continue to transform the way we live, work, play, and learn.
Howard Charney is Senior Vice President and a member of Cisco's Office of the President and Executive Staff, reporting directly to CEO John Chambers. Charney contributes to Cisco's strategy and directions, advises customers on implementing critical Internet technologies to improve productivity and competitiveness, and communications Cisco's vision to key audiences worldwide. Charney is the company's Executive Sponsor for the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
As an engineer, serial entrepreneur, patent law attorney, and veteran of the high-tech industry, Charney has a unique perspective on fostering and sustaining innovation. Charney was one of the four founders of 3Com Corporation, and the founder of Grand Junction Networks. Grand Junction Networks invented Fast Ethernet and low-cost switching, two technologies that have been instrumental in the build-out of the Internet worldwide.
Cisco acquired Grand Junction in 1995 and charge Charney with growing its networking business, after which he led the company's Small/Medium Business division to market leadership in two-tier distribution of network systems.
Charney holds bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and master's of business administration (MBA) and juris doctor degrees (J.D.) from Santa Clara University. He is a licensed patent attorney, and belongs to the State Bar of California and the Federal Bar. He sits on the boards of several technology companies and on the advisory board for the Center for Science, Technology and Society at Santa Clara University.
More Leadership Briefings
Barry Posner and Business School faculty will be visiting these locations soon.
Chicago, Illinois
Paris, France
New Zealand
Honolulu, Hawaii
Geneva, Switzerland
Istanbul, Turkey
Visit the regional briefings page for more information.
Thanks to our 2008 Leadership Briefings sponsor
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