Dr. Larry Brilliant of Google.org Addresses 2008 Graduates

Presidio was honored to have Dr. Larry Brilliant, a Presidio Advisory Council member, as this year's commencement speaker on June 6. Fifty-one MBA graduates received their diplomas, including those from the December 2007 class. Dr. Brilliant, who was recently named the World's 100 Most Influential People by TIME, exemplifies the role our students and graduates play — as individuals or business leaders — in helping solve social and environmental issues. As the Google.org Executive Director, he works with Google's co-founders and oversees the company's major initiatives aimed at reducing global poverty, improving the health of the least advantaged and working to address the climate crisis. We are proud that Dr. Brilliant joined us, and we are proud of our graduates. Congratulations to all!

Graduating Students Showcase Their Venture Plans

In front of a jam-packed audience of 300 supporters, teams of graduating students presented their final business plans at Presidio's 5th Venture Plan Showcase. All 15 projects were on display, and three teams were peer-selected to give 10-minute presentations on their plans. These include:

• ClimOzone (Todd English, Joe Madden, Kristina Pappas and Allen Price), a technology solution delivering quality carbon credits that can be sold on voluntary markets while encouraging destruction of harmful substances;
• Earth Ocean Farms (Sid Mitchell, James Mix, Tauni Swenson and Ben Ford), a company that aims to meet the growing demand for sustainable, aqua-cultured marine fish, while minimizing environmental impacts; and
• OneSeed Development (Orion Fulton and Adam Wiskind), an East Bay venture that provides small businesses with energy- and water-efficient industrial workspaces for customers and employees that are comfortable and convenient.

Team Delivers Strategic Plan for Architecture for Humanity

A team of third semester students — Kate Randolph, Ben Hester, Adam Cornelius, Michelle Mullineaux and Sheila Samuelson — worked with Architecture for Humanity recently on three semester projects:  a strategic plan, a marketing plan and a financial analysis for the organization's Open Architecture award-winning program that helps rebuild communities around the globe. Architecture for Humanity co-founder Kate Stohr said, "It really has been a wonderful experience to have such a talented and creative Presidio MBA team dedicate so much time to our cause. We have loved working with them. They've done an enormous amount of heavy-lifting and helped us prioritize goals and create a doable strategic plan."

Brahm Ahmadi's People's Grocery Featured on CNBC

People's Grocery was recently featured in the CNBC "Greening the Economy" series on food price inflation. The community-based nonprofit, headed by Presidio student Brahm Ahmadi, works to create solutions to the health, environmental and economic challenges in its local community. Through urban gardens and local farms, it supports a culture based on connection to the land, sustainable agricultural practices and regenerating community. The CNBC piece, reported by graduate Simran Sethi, looked at how West Oakland residents are contributing healthy food from urban gardens to the local food chain, improving community access to affordable healthy food and providing much needed jobs.

Students Take On Summer Sustainability Projects and Internships

This summer many of our MBA students will be working on a diverse range of sustainability projects and interning with a variety of organizations. Here are highlights of how our students are making a difference in sustainable business:

• Julie Sammons will be studying at the Biomimicry Institute with co-founder Janine Benyus and Dayna Baumeister and practice applying the tools of biomimicry with engineering, architectural and business professionals.
• Daniel Winokur is working with Red Bull North America on "quick payback" sustainability initiatives to show bottom-line financial results of sustainability.
• Melissa Wyss is the Hewlett Environment Fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council promoting Green Shield Certified, a national program for environmentally friendly pest control.
• David Zwerin is writing a sustainability plan for a large hotel chain.
• Rory Bakke will attend the Presidio Executive Program and continue to lead the Business Program at StopWaste.org.
• Jen Boynton will be launching a sustainability task force for the Union of Concerned Scientists, where she works year round.
• Marn-Yee Lee is interning with the Environmental Defense Fund, Climate Corp program, where MBA students are placed with partner companies to make the business case for energy efficiency.
• Sheila Samuelson is helping cities and states implement green procurement practices with the Green Purchasing Institute.
• Quynh Nguyen is working with Adobe green team members to organize a sustainability fair; she's also consulting with a green baby products website.
• Keith Logan will be developing micro-hydrokinetic power in the Sierra foothills.
• Jennifer Cohn is interning with Goodwill Industries' marketing department.
• Matthew Homyak is participating in the AIDS/LifeCycle Ride and will work as part of the Obama Organizing Fellow Program.
• Kaytea Petro is consulting with the Chinese American International School to develop and launch a bilingual web portal for K-12 Chinese language teaching materials for the U.S. market.
• Nizar Abdallah is co-directing an international workshop on microelectronics' design — it's organized by UNESCO and geared towards Asia-Pacific scientists.
• Marilyn Crenshaw is working with clients designing a passive and active solar beach house and an off-the-grid power system for a spa treatment center.
• Janet Smartt is launching a new website for the Keep the Delta Clean Program and hosting many summer events that support clean & green boating practices.
• David Lewbin is a research intern with Bon Appetit Management Company Foundation, helping them find ways to reduce waste and increase composting.
• Jean Woo will be working with Grand Canyon Trust developing financials for putting large utility-scale solar on coal plants and, potentially, Indian tribal land.

Jen Beauchamp Helping Mattel Integrate Sustainability

December '07 graduate Jen Beauchamp is the Global Sustainability Specialist at Mattel, Inc., after interning there last summer. She joined the toy manufacturer's Global Sustainability unit in the Corporate Responsibility division in January. Her responsibilities include working on sustainability strategy and integrating sustainability into Mattel's culture by educating employees across the company.

Working at a Fortune 500 company with a dynamic and fast-paced environment, Jen says she finds herself "using all the skills I learned at Presidio everyday. Relationship-building, communication, collaboration and strategic systems thinking are keys to my success."

Jen, who recently gave one of the two student acceptance speeches at graduation, says she finds balance in her life through creative endeavors — creating a photo exhibition on waste, discussing book ideas and playing outside as much as possible. She was recently approached by investors who are interested in the online learning community she developed in her Presidio Venture Plan Capstone project.

Simran Sethi Wins Her First Emmy Award

It's exciting to see our graduates' work acknowledged with prestigious honors. In May, Simran Sethi, who is becoming a green media celebrity, won an Emmy Award for "A School in the Woods," a PBS documentary about the environmental education program at IslandWood in Washington State. She hosted the program last summer and thinks of this Emmy as her "first." Congratulations, Simran!

New Grads Step into a Variety of Positions, Start New Ventures

Here are a few highlights of the kinds of positions our new graduates have landed or the entrepreneurial businesses they have begun:

• Erik Froyd and Kenton Harmer have launched The DevDesign Compact, a consultancy focused on international development and social return on investment.
• Rebecca Sternberg is the global lead for Accenture's Sustainability Practice.
• Ken Hejmanowski recently accepted a position with Natural Logic as their Senior Sustainability Analyst.
• Orion Fulton and Adam Wiskind are seeking funding for their new business venture, OneSeed Development.
• Stephanie Chenard will be consulting with City College of San Francisco to co-write the curriculum for a new green business program.
• Todd English and Joe Madden are busy developing their new business, ClimOzone.
• Allen Price is now Chief Operating Officer for Free Range Studios.
• Nils Moe is leading sustainability efforts for the City of Berkeley, working closely with the mayor.
• Nikki Martinez, EcoTuesday co-founder, will continue to expand the organization's network throughout the U.S.
• Two grads, Heather Free and Martin Kojnok, have recently begun work with Saatchi & Saatchi S, which works with Wal-Mart on sustainability initiatives.
• Sid Mitchell and James Mix are moving forward with their venture plan, Earth Ocean Farms, which will fill a market need for sustainably-harvested marine fish.
• Patty Nason has launched Gava Photo and is working with Presidio on online technology for the Executive Program.

Faculty Member Thielen Serves Dual Roles at Presidio

Starting in 2003 when Presidio launched its MBA program, Dr. Paula Thielen has been wearing two hats at Presidio: teaching the Managerial Accounting course and serving as our Chief Financial Officer. A Certified Public Accountant, Paula has more than 25 years of accounting experience working in-house and now with her own clients as principal of Thielen & Associates. In addition to Presidio, she has been on faculty at Santa Clara University, University of Phoenix, Foothill College and DeVry University, teaching finance, economics, accounting and other business classes.

"I feel privileged to have joined Presidio and helped the school create what was then a pioneer program," Paula says. "Central to that was deciding how to teach MBA students about the process of making sustainable business decisions. At that time, I was doing dissertation research on good corporate citizenship and how companies should conduct themselves -- being mindful of people and the planet while making profits. It was exciting to find an eduational program that looked beyond the single bottom line."

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