Student Bloggers
Our student blog provides a candid glimpse into the Berkeley MBA experience and the vibrant Haas community. These entries are published directly by the students and are not edited by the Haas School of Business.
Divyang grew up in India and has an undergraduate degree in Electronics Engineering. After graduating, he went to work for a startup in the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) domain and led a team which delivered IP to Fortune500 clients. Currently he works for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) as a Design Engineer with AMD's next generation Microprocessor design team. He also manages the recruiting efforts for his engineering team. His interests include technology, strategy and politics.
Divyang is in the second year of the EWMBA program, with the Tuesday/Thursday evening cohort.
Sonny is a Lead Program Manager at Microsoft in the Windows Serviceability division—which is responsible for shipping hotfixes, security updates and service packs for Windows. Prior to joining Microsoft in Nov 2005, she worked at Dell for two years as a systems engineer in the Enterprise Operating Systems group. She got her Master’s degree in Computer Science from Texas A&M University. Outside of work, Sonny is interested in travelling, recently fell in love with Auguste Rodin's work on a trip to Paris, and is addicted to reality television (her favorite show is Amazing Race).
Sonny is a first year student in the EWMBA program and lives in Seattle with her husband, Mikin Macwan, who also works in Microsoft and her pet Yorkie, Zero, who loves to constantly stalk her around the house. She commutes every weekend to Berkeley for MBA classes.
Aaron is Executive Chef of the Sunny Side Cafe (in Albany & Berkeley). Prior to that, he was a research biologist focusing on tropical ecology.
Aaron grew up in Sacramento and studied Ecology and Behavioral Biology at UC San Diego. Subsequently, Aaron worked as a science teacher and research ecologist, living and working in some of the world’s most remote locations. A job in the Cameroon rainforest, studying how birds affected forest regeneration, led to a position with the Center for Tropical Research at San Francisco State University where he received his Masters in Ecology.
Aaron has integrated his science and culinary careers as an Eco-Chef, focusing on the sustainability issues that affect our food system. In 2008 and 2009 he wrote a column about green food issues for ten Bay Area newspapers and is currently writing his first book, The Bay Area Homegrown Cookbook (Voyageur Press, 2011). At Haas, his primary focus is green business and sustainability.
Aaron is in the first year of the EWMBA program, in the Tuesday/Thursday evening cohort.
Tony is on his second stint at the Haas School of Business. As an Undergrad at Cal, Tony obtained simultaneous degrees in Molecular & Cell Biology and Business Administration. He has managed to fully utilize both degrees since graduating, remaining in the Bay Area to work as a consultant and a marketing analyst for various Biotech companies in the area.
Currently working at Genomic Health as a marketing analyst, Tony plays a critical role in helping the company to develop, launch, and market the OncotypeDX cancer assays, a tool useful for oncologists and cancer patients in identifying whether a patient is likely to respond to chemotherapy, which helps answer a question with incredible implications in terms of quality of life for cancer patients.
While balancing work and school, Tony manages to squeeze in a weekly volleyball game, as well as time for good wine and food. He is also in perpetual debate regarding his next international city to visit. Tony is a first-year student in the EWMBA program, with the Gold cohort (Tuesday/Thursday).
Anlei grew up in beautiful wine country and is a native of the North Bay. She studied Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley and was active in many organizations including the California Alumni Association and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Upon graduation, she joined Hewlett-Packard/Agilent Technologies. After several years managing the supply chain for various commodities and working with R&D, Anlei took an opportunity in the food industry and became a Project Engineer for Amy's Kitchen, an organic food manufacturer. Anlei completed a summer internship at Old Navy in finance after her first year at Haas and is currently working at the City of Novato as a Capital Improvement Projects Engineer.
Anlei is a third year EWMBA student who is active in her church and local community.
Tim is a SF Bay Area native. He double-majored in East Asian Studies and International Economics with a specialization in Computing at UCLA. After undergrad, he worked as a Management Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM. Currently, he is a director in the enterprise technology consulting division at SDL Enterprise Technologies, a company that provides end-to-end Global Information Management (GIM) applications. Working in Professional Services for his career has afforded him the benefit of working with dozens of clients in multiple industries, and the luxury of working across divisions, with product management, finance, engineering, marketing, and sales.
Tim is a second-year in the EWMBA program’s weekend cohort. In his personal time, he also enjoys basketball, skiing, reading and music, and is active in church and community service.
Deanne grew up in Perth, Australia—a city that claims to be the most isolated in the world. Perhaps this isolation led to the diversity of her interests—she has undergraduate degrees in both mechanical engineering and business, and loves to explore new places. Deanne commenced working with Shell as a production engineer in the Netherlands.
She quickly realized, however, that her true passion was business and moved to Chevron as a Commercial Analyst in Perth. After three years on one of Chevron's Big Five Projects, she relished the opportunity to relocate to Chevron's headquarters in San Ramon in early 2007, and working in the Strategy & Planning group for Chevron's Natural Gas organization. In 2009 change was in the air once again, and Deanne relished the challenge and opportunity to see new places, via a transfer within Chevron to the San Joaquin Valley Business Unit, working as a petroleum engineer for the San Ardo Heavy Oil Field and getting more of a taste for operations. She now commutes to Berkeley to finish her final year of her MBA.
Deanne is in her third year of the EWMBA Program.
Blogger Alumni
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Rebecca Browning MBA 08 |
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Satadip Dutta MBA 09 |
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Diana Lai MBA 09 |
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Matthew Rhodes MBA 08 |
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