Dean’s Speaker Series

In this Dean’s Speaker Series podcast episode, Elliott Hill, President & CEO of Nike, Inc., reflects on his three-decade journey serving in various leadership roles across Europe and North America, including leading commercial and marketing operations for the Nike and Jordan brands. Hill shares insights on how Nike integrates sustainability into product creation, staying connected to athletes...

Meredith Kopit Levien, president and CEO of The New York Times Company, joins the Dean's Speaker Series podcast to share her career journey in the media industry, navigating the shift from print to digital news, and how AI is impacting the way users access information & how the company is evolving to meet new paradigms. Kopit Levien has previously served in a variety of roles at The Times, inc...

Jennifer Hyman, co-founder and CEO of Rent the Runway, joins the Dean's Speaker Series podcast to share how she transformed a classroom idea into a publicly traded company that redefined the way people shop for fashion. From launching the world’s first “living closet” to becoming the first woman to IPO a company with an all-female executive team, Jennifer reflects on the pivotal moments that shape...

Julie Zhuo, co-founder of Sundial and former Vice President of Product Design at Facebook, joins the Dean's Speaker Series podcast to discuss her journey from being Facebook’s first intern to helping shape some of its most iconic features, including the News Feed and “like” button. Now leading Sundial, Julie shares her perspective on entrepreneurship, building products in the age of AI, and how le...

Tune in for an inspiring Dean's Speaker Series with Cynt Marshall—President & CEO of Marshalling Resources, consultant, author, and former CEO of the Dallas Mavericks. A BA 81 graduate in HR Management, Cynt made history as the first Black woman to lead an NBA franchise, setting a new standard for inclusion and organizational culture. Previously, as Senior Vice President of Human Resources and...

Join us for a conversation with Michael Stewart, MBA 15, Managing Partner at M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund, recorded live on November 17 in the Spieker Forum at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Stewart leads investments across generative AI, gaming, and systems, and since joining M12 in 2021 has overseen 16 deals while serving on the boards of several portfolio companies, including Quantum....

In this episode, Ana Corrales, COO of Google Consumer Hardware, shares her journey from early-stage startups to leading global operations at one of the world’s most influential tech companies. She reflects on what it takes to lead in a male-dominated industry, how sustainability shapes her decision-making, and why responsible supply chains matter more than ever. Drawing on her experiences at Googl...

Amb. Trevor Traina is a serial entrepreneur having founded and co-founded five successful technology companies, which were all sold to acquirers such as Microsoft, Mastercard, and Intuit. He is currently Head of Business Development and Partnerships for Tools for Humanity, a technology company focused on developing tools for digital identity and blockchain. Amb. Traina took a break from the tech i...

Aravind Srinivas co-founded Perplexity in 2022 because of his own curiosity about a more transparent and verifiable AI-powered search experience while he was a researcher at OpenAI, Google, and DeepMind. Through his leadership, Perplexity is one of the largest AI companies, with a base of over 30 million active users and 780 million inquiries. His work Questions the Status Quo in the constantly ev...

David Ko, CEO of the sleep and meditation app Calm and author of the book Recharge, shares his leadership journey from investment banking to purpose-driven leadership. Since 2022, he’s guided Calm’s work in over 190 countries, supporting millions of people seeking to improve their wellbeing. Ko describes “the battery check,” a simple framework for starting conversations about mental health, descri...

Peter McGuinness, CEO of Impossible, is leading the company in its goal to produce sustainable meat-replacement products. Over the course of his over 30-year career, including leadership roles at McCann Erickson, DBB, and Chobani—which he grew to the No. 1 yogurt brand in the U.S.—he has driven profits and transformed brands.   In this fireside chat, McGuinness discusses remaining persistent and l...

As managing director for the engineering and design consultancy Ramboll, Cheryl Ginyard-Jones oversees more than 2,000 professionals across the Americas dedicated to developing cutting-edge technologies that mitigate climate change. Over her distinguished career, spanning roles at Worley, Advision, Verizon, and BP, Cheryl has significantly influenced growth, innovation, and operations within the g...

David Sabow joined HSBC as Head of Technology & Healthcare in 2023 to establish a dedicated banking practice focused on the innovation economy, empowering forward-thinkers, and future makers who are questioning the status quo. His two-decade career has centered on innovation banking. David previously held several roles at Silicon Valley Bank, which includes leading the Technology & Healthc...

In a fireside chat format, Interim Dean Jenny Chatman shares the origin story of the Defining Leadership Principles and how they have evolved over 15 years. She shares some of our community’s personal DLP stories, as well as our school's aspirations for the DLPs for the future. A panel of Haas alumni, Elena Gomez, BS 91, Chief Financial Officer, Toast, Inc.; Marc Singer, BS 86, Senior Partner Emer...

Jensen Huang,  co-founder and CEO of  Nvidia,  solved the 3D graphic challenge for the personal computer in 1999 with the company’s release of the first-ever graphics processing unit (GPU). Now the company's powerful chips are a driving force behind the acceleration of AI and advanced computing.  In this archive edition of the Dean's Speaker Series podcast, Huang talks about the ways that Nvidia i...

Before their first draft round on Dec. 6, Golden State Valkyries President Jess Smith and General Manager Ohemaa Nyanin have been working around the clock to secure sponsorships, develop strategies and set goals as they navigate the internal and external operations that come with introducing a new sports team. Golden State won the bid last fall to expand its franchise, and the Valkyries, meaning “...

Growing up as one of 14 children on a dairy farm in Iowa, Brian Gross had never heard of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). While he never expected to become a leader at one of the world’s largest consulting firms, he did learn a lot about solving problems in complex environments by watching his dad work on the land. Now the chief operating officer of BCG’s North America region, he’s responsible f...

Before Jill Evanko was leading the company responsible for products that include the nitrogen systems that cool Starbucks’ Nitro cold brews and hydrogen fuel cells that could power massive cruise ships, she was working in finance at Honeywell and Sony. By taking risks and telling herself, “I'm going to take on opportunities that maybe look different than what I originally thought it was going to l...

Journalist Kara Swisher started reporting on tech in the 1990s at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. Since then, she’s conducted interviews with nearly every tech executive you could think of, from the late Steve Jobs to Bill Gates to Mark Zuckerberg, many of which she recounts in her latest New York Times bestseller, “Burn Book: A Tech Love Story.” Understanding that “everything tha...