Graduate Business Career Management's Mission:
To provide high touch career development resources, experiences and personalized coaching for current graduate business students and alumni focused on launching, pivoting, or accelerating their careers in a variety of industries predominantly in Silicon Valley.
Meet the Team
Ray Chan, Assistant Director, MS & MBA Programs, Career Programming and Operations
rchan@scu.edu | (408) 551-3865 | LinkedIn
Ray manages GBCM's operations and career-related programming/resources in support of both MBA and MS students. He has an extensive business background in program and process management for a variety of companies and industries. In a career pivot, Ray joined SCU as a career coach, a role in which he happily continues to perform as part of his additional responsibilities. Ray received his BA from University of California, Berkeley.
Shauna Strauss, Senior Associate Director, Online Programs and Employer Relations
sstrauss@scu.edu | (408) 554-4304 | LinkedIn
Shauna supports the GBCM team with Employer Relations and the Online MBA and Online MS students in their career development. Through one-on-one meetings and workshops, Shauna assists students by developing a job search strategy from day one of their programs. Shauna received a BA in Psychology and Art History from St. Mary's College of Maryland and an MBA from Hofstra University.
Career Coaches
Coaches offer one-on-one career development such as resume and LinkedIn profile review, job and internship search strategies, interview preparation and any other career-related support. To schedule a session with a coach, visit the appointments page on CAREER+.
Fred Mitchem, Career Coach
Fred brings 30+ years of experience as a Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist, 10 years as a Career Coach, and 15 years of contract recruiting for various Silicon Valley companies to the table. His experience also includes working as a Human Resource Business Partner. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley.
Cheryl Thomas, Career Coach
Cheryl earned a Master of Education in Counseling and Development from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. She is certified in the Career Leader assessment, MBTI Step 1 and Step 11 and the Strong Interest Inventory. Cheryl offers in-person, one-on-one and virtual coaching appointments to MBA and MS graduate students utilizing targeted, realistic, and proven job search tools and techniques including the entire portfolio of career management strategies: career assessment/planning, job search techniques, resume preparation, networking and interviewing skills, and salary negotiation. Cheryl has extensive experience in coaching international students on mastering the U.S. job search model.
Sam Phadke, Career Coach
Sam has been a Career Coach and Mentor in the high tech industry for several years. Sam started his coaching and mentoring many years ago while working at Hewlett Packard. Subsequently, he worked at Agilent Technologies and Seagate Technology, and continued mentoring his colleagues in Accounting, Finance, Information Technology, and many other corporate functions. Sam holds a Master's degree in Accounting and Finance, and a "Information Governance Practitioner' certification.
Geri Markey, Career Coach
Geri has worked with graduate students since 2007 and has developed many leaders, managers, and individual contributors in the Bay Area across various industries. She has worked at start-ups at all stages, with 13 out of 17 of them being successful, and has worked in 6 public companies. She held roles in leadership and as a consultant and her background is in SaaS, eCommerce, CRM, marketing technology, cybersecurity, e.g., mobile and web, networking security, retail, finance/banking, autonomous vehicles, healthcare insurance, NVM/NVMe, storage, and education.
Caroline Aung, Career Coach
Caroline earned her MBA from Santa Clara University. She is excited to leverage her 10+ years in Aerospace and Tech organizations to help other Broncos, especially as they navigate job searches and pivots. She has spent the past five years volunteering as a mentor, leadership coach, and guest lecturer at local universities.
Ellen Kim, Career Coach
Ellen has worked with undergraduate and graduate students since 2012 in a variety of mentorship roles. She has worked in legal at several major technology companies throughout the Bay Area and enjoys leveraging her experience in contract management for a global consulting firm to coach students on the job search process. Ellen received a B.A. in Music and Political Science from U.C. Berkeley and a J.D. from U.C. Hastings College of the Law.
Jennifer Loesch, Career Coach
Jennifer has in-depth experience working as a Technical/Corporate Recruiter for start-up to mid-sized tech companies in the Bay Area, including co-leading an internship program and working with MBA-level students. Jennifer's skill set includes: resume reviews, salary negotiations, business partnering with executives, internship tips, networking tools, corporate "behind the scenes" knowledge, and interviewing tips. She has worked in cloud communications, telecom, AI, education, aerospace & defense, insurance, cybersecurity, and marketing & advertising. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from San Jose State University.
Marc Cooper, Career Coach
Marc has been a volunteer career coach and mentor in the high tech industry over the past 10 years, while working for Salesforce in San Francisco. In addition to his experience coaching others, he can share what he has learned from his own experience doing many job searches, and interviewing on his own behalf. Over his 40 year career in Silicon Valley, he worked for large companies, including Salesforce, Juniper Networks, and IBM as well as 5 start-up companies. He has an MBA from Stanford University.
Belina Pignataro, Career Coach
Belina has over 15 years of experience in Recruiting, Career Coaching, Training andHuman Resources working for hi-tech companies. Industries she has worked in include Life Sciences and healthcare companies such as Tecan and Vocera and start ups. She has recruited for all levels of an organization, At Lee Hecht Harrison, she ranked as one of the Top 10 Career Coaches, and helped thousands of clients navigate the job search process. Her unique experience in recruiting and coaching allows her to ask the right questions and meet her client’s needs.