Fall 2008

Steve Blank, retired entrepreneur and private investor
Steve Blank has founded or participated in eight Silicon Valley startups since 1978, including E.piphany, a successful CRM company. He is the author of “Four Steps to the Epiphany,” a how-to book for bringing products to market.

Trip Hawkins, Digital Chocolate
The founder of Electronics Arts, home of the wildly successful John Madden Football, Trip Hawkins has spent 20 years building computer game companies such as EA, 3DO and, now, Digital Chocolate.

Eric Scroggins, Teach for America
As executive director, Eric Scroggins hopes to make Teach for America an inspiration to a generation of teachers by having them work in disadvantaged communities at the very beginning of their career.

Mario Chiodo, Chiodo Art Development
Chiodo Art Development, with lead sculptor Mario Chiodo, is a consortium of artisans who collaborate with designers and architects to produce artworks that enhance themes, tell stories, beautify a development, and spark imagination. 

Jared Kim, WeGame.com
Serial entrepreneur Jared Kim is a 20-year-old Berkeley dropout who has received $500,000 in venture capital for his site WeGame.com, a “YouTube for videogamers”.

Dan Buettner, Blue Zones
National Geographic explorer Dan Buettner parlayed long-distance cycling into life as a public adventurer. His New York Times bestseller, “Blue Zones,” chronicles his search for those places on the planet where people live the longest.

Dirk Thye, M.D., CEREXA, Inc., Senior Vice President, Drug Development
Co-founder of several biotech companies, Dirk Thye is an expert in anti-infective research. He has led clinical development teams at Cerexa, Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, and Vicuron Pharmaceuticals.

Lata Krishnan, Co-Founder, Shah Capital Partners
Co-founder of SMART Modular, founding president of America-India Foundation, and CFO of Shah Capital Partners, Lata Krishnan has leveraged her entrepreneurial success into a career in venture capital and philanthropy, where she is on the board of several foundations.

Ellen Siminoff, Chairman of the Board, Efficient Frontier
The founding executive at Yahoo!, Ellen Siminoff spent six years building the company, including its initial investment in Google. She is chairman of Efficient Frontier, which uses Wall Street-style algorithms to dominate the ad keyword placement market, and a co-founder of Shmoop.

Jasper Rine, Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development, UC Berkeley
Professor Rine’s hugely popular teaching style led to a million-dollar grant to incorporate the excitement of research into undergraduate education.  Jasper is also founder of several start-ups, including Acacia Biosciences, which is now part of Merck.

Selina Lo, Ruckus Wireless
CEO Selina Lo’s company sells cutting-edge equipment to relatively staid cable operators. Her management style and search for internal allies in the firms she meets with help her team keep growing.