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World Innovation Forum 2009
Cisco’s Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior will moderate a session with the winning team from Camp BizSmart 2008.
Articles
Michael Gibbs, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Founder, brings the practical, world-view of business and education skills needed for students to compete globally. He has more than 30 years experience working in the education industry as well as in Fortune 500 companies, such as General Electric and Texas Instruments. An industrial psychologist, he has designed and led high potential executive training programs worldwide, including international negotiation and business process innovation. Dr. Gibbs has taught thousands of executives in 22 countries for the MBA program at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley and Notre Dame Universities, and has been an adjunct professor for Penn State and UC Berkeley.
Peggy Gibbs, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Founder, has been a senior executive for innovative non-profits for more than 25 years. Her work includes start-up design, strategic partnerships and management for cutting edge social enterprises focused on education, arts, health, and technology solutions. Mrs. Gibbs work with school districts has brought engaging education programs to many students, parents and teachers throughout the Bay Area. Most recently, she was vice president of business development, for the award-winning, social enterprise company, Benetech. She serves on the board of University of the Pacific’s, School of International Studies.
The Gibbs are also founders of BizSmart Global, delivering the best in entrepreneurial project-based learning world-wide, and Scientia Schools, Inc., an innovative model of national, independent high schools. They inspire entrepreneurial skills and great thinking in our young people combined with the values of courage, character, and citizenship. Their vision is to equip students to thrive and become essential leaders, ready to take on future challenges and opportunities in the fast, flat global economy.
Cristina Banks, Ph.D., is a professor at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, with expertise in human resources practices and has served as the Director Undergraduate Programs for the Haas School. She has consulted with KIPP Charter Schools and was an early supporter of Bright Horizons Preschools. Through her career, she has founded, grown and sold several businesses such as Right Management Consultants and Terranova. Cris has served on several corporate boards, including Whole Foods. She currently sits on the Advisory Board of Leadership California and is president and founder of Lamorinda Consulting LLC.
Manish Chandra is the past CEO and Founder of Kaboodle. Prior to Kaboodle, Manish was the VP of Marketing at Versant and part of the executive team at Versata that took the company public. Additionally, Manish has held R&D and Product Management roles at Sybase and Intel. Manish has a Bachelor of Technology from IIT Kanpur in India, an MS in Computer Science from UT Austin, and an MBA from Haas.
George Chao is the president of CNetwork, one of the biggest Chinese organizations in the Bay Area. He is also a partner of Green Tech Power Group, a solar utility scale developer in the Bay Area. Before starting Green Tech Power Group, George worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab as an IC design engineer. George has a BS in Engineering Physics from UC Berkeley. He is also the Vice President for BCAIA (Berkeley Chinese Alumni International Association).
Maigread Eichten is the former CEO and President of the FRS Company, a producer of health and wellness products. Prior to joining FRS, Ms. Eichten served as General Manager of VeriSign's Global Digital Brand Management business unit and as Chief Marketing Officer. Before her work with Verisign, Ms. Eichten was Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Alliances at Webvan, the online credit and delivery grocery business. Ms. Eichten held executive positions of increasing responsibility over an 11-year period with Pepsi-Cola Company. Currently, Ms. Eichten has a consulting business where she is working with entrepreneurs on developing growth strategies for their businesses.
Harry Motro is a psychologist who has had a varied and successful career as a multimedia artist, author and former CEO of Infoseek, an Internet search and software company, which was sold to Disney. He also started CNN Interactive and ran his own venture firm. Harry has deep understanding of the creative process, particularly as it applies to producing entertainment. He spent time working in television (TBS, CNN, TNT, Cartoon Network), movies (MGM/UA), animation (Hanna Barbera) and the Internet (CNN Interactive).
Bill Reichert is managing director at Garage Technology Ventures. He has more than 20 years experience as an entrepreneur and an operating executive. He sits on the boards of CaseStack, WhiteHat, ClearFuels, cFares and ThermoCeramix. Prior to Garage, Bill has been a co-founder or senior executive in several venture-backed technology startups, including Trademark Software, The Learning Company and Academic Systems. Earlier in his career, he worked at McKinsey & Company, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. and the World Bank.
Jodell Seagrave is Founding Director and President of Rocket 21, an innovative social learning platform for middle school students. Prior to Rocket 21, she was Managing Director of the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation. She increased Schwab Learning Program’s reach among children and families and built effective distribution channels. Jodell was co-founder and CEO of KidStar Interactive, a pioneering effort once dubbed “the first convergent media platform for kids.” As CEO of Communities.com, she oversaw the enterprise deployment of the company’s popular virtual worlds software. Jodell was nominated for recognition in the American Marketing Association/ Media Inc. Hall of Fame in 1995. Ms. Seagrave has chaired or presented at more than two dozen national and international conferences on children’s entertainment, technology and marketing.
Herbert J. Walberg, Ph.D., is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and a member of the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education. He has taught for 35 years at Harvard and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Author or editor of more than 60 books, he has written extensively for educational and psychological scholarly journals on measuring and raising student achievement and on the causes of outstanding human accomplishments. He was appointed member of the National Assessment Governing Board and the National Board for Educational Sciences, and elected a fellow of five scholarly groups including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Society, the International Academy of Education, and the Royal Statistical Society. He has lectured to scholars and policy makers in eight countries, currently chairs the Beck Foundation and the Heartland Institute, and is a trustee of the Foundation for Teaching Economics.
Mr. Cockel, the Director of Stanford University Projects & India Programs for BizSmart Global, was born and raised in Silicon Valley. Bryan has a unique blend of tough & practical business start-up experience with a passion for entrepreneurship and solid academic training in applied economics from the University of California. In 2009, Mr. Cockel helped create a partnership with a leading Indian education company to offer the first project based entrepreneurship training experience in India in conjunction with the prestigious Indian School of Business in Hyderabad.
In 1990 Mr. Cockel founded and was President of ASAP Systems, a classic entrepreneurial “bootstrapped” Silicon Valley software & systems success story. Because of Mr. Cockel’s vision and leadership, ASAP Systems is now a recognized leader in the automated data collection industry. He sold ASAP Systems in 2003 after building a solid and well represented client base including Intel, Cypress Semiconductor, the United States Department of Defense, & the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Between 2003 & 2008, Mr. Cockel traveled the world and engaged his passion for anthropology and natural ecosystems, spending significant time taking photographs and volunteering for local organizations in Africa, the South Pacific, Western Pacific, South America, Central America, and Australia.
Elaine Wu, Director of Programs for BizSmart Global, was raised in a family of entrepreneurs and has a background in international education, with a specific expertise on China. She received her BA from Stanford University in International Relations, and completed her Masters in Comparative Education at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. Elaine’s experience ranges from teaching at The American School in London to creating her own class at Zhejiang University. Other global experience includes a tutorial on the British educational system at Oxford University, a semester overseas at Peking University, and travel to more than 17 countries. Elaine has worked to inspire young entrepreneurs at Camp BizSmart since 2008.
Camp BizSmart Board of Advisors
Camp BizSmart Staff
The Advisors of Camp BizSmart's youth entrepreneurship program are executives from companies like Apple, Google, and Cisco who mentor the students on idea generation, customer requirements, budgets and cash flow, collaboration and communication skills. They are great people who have solved big problems and created successful companies and are able to provide important real life examples that inspire students to "dream big, work hard, and play by the rules." The leadership camp allows students to tap into the unrivaled knowledge and experience these advisors offer, making it truly unique among business summer camps.
WAGIC is an idea and special effects company which worked on the "Iron Man" and "Transformer" movies, as well as idea solutions for Netflix, HP, and Home Depot. WAGIC's industrial designers lead project teams through brainstorming and 3-D prototyping of their solutions.
Strategic Partners
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) BizSpark, launched in November 2008, is designed to help accelerate the success of entrepreneurs and early-stage startups globally. The program provides fast and easy access to current, full-featured software development tools and platforms, and a connection to over 2,000 BizSpark Network Partners- including university incubators, hosters, government agencies, investors, consultants, and financial institutions- all with a common goal of supporting entrepreneurship. Microsoft is a multi-year host of our business plan competitions.
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate, and collaborate. Cisco was the site for Camp BizSmart Telepresence focus groups with South American students, and for Camp BizSmart's special training sessions.
HSM is the largest and most respected International Executive Forum and Seminar Company in the world, and was the sponsor of live student focus groups at Cisco business centers in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Keiretsu Forum is the world’s largest network of angel investors with over 850 accredited investor members throughout 21 chapters on three continents. Since Keiretsu Forum’s founding in 2000, its members have invested over $200m in over 260 companies in technology, consumer products, healthcare/life sciences, real estate and other segments with high growth potential. Camp BizSmart students are provided opportunities to continue to nurture their entrepreneurial spirit by attending Keiretsu events. The annual Camp BizSmart student team capturing the highest rating in the biz plan competition is honored at Keiretsu Angel Capital Expo.
Paul Witkay is the Founder and CEO of the Alliance of Chief Executives. Since 1996, the Alliance has been helping CEOs solve their most profound, strategic challenges. They gather leaders from virtually every industry and market sector to engage in confidential exchanges that typically would not - or could not - take place anywhere else. Mr. Witkay brings over 25 years of diverse management and senior executive experience and a experience from ownership of highly successful executive search and consulting firm to senior executive positions for a $6 billion international manufacturing organization. He has personal experience in strategic planning and business management with companies of all sizes. Paul compares Camp BizSmart to the Alliance of CEOs, and loves how the Camp BizSmart curriculum creates collaborative learning environments for young entrepreneurs, fosters a thirst for learning, and enables these students to be successful in whatever they choose to do in the future.
Here's a quick video about the founders' views on the importance of their camp:
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Camp BizSmart - Business Summer Camp
BizBlog
Crystal Chang, PhD, Camp BizSmart Camp Director, is a passionate teacher and avid researcher with a background in global business. During her doctoral studies at UC Berkeley, Crystal not only taught over 500 undergraduates and MBA students, but also spent several years visiting Chinese automotive factories and writing about how China would transform the global auto industry. Prior to graduate school, she worked as an IT professional in Shanghai and as an analyst at a venture capital firm in the Silicon Valley. In those roles, she witnessed firsthand the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship. Crystal is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University.
Geeta Ajmera, Student Admissions Manager for Camp BizSmart and BizSmart Global, has been involved with Camp BizSmart since her son participated in the 2008 pilot program. She witnessed firsthand that the goals and achievements of Camp BizSmart were a perfect match for her interpersonal skills and business background, and joined the Camp BizSmart staff in 2010. Prior to working at Camp BizSmart,Geeta has held positions in sales, human resources and finance in various companies such as Advance Micro Devices, Under Writer Laboratories and Nieman Marcus. Geeta received a degree in Sociology from the University of Mumbai.
Rechung Fujihira, Director of Hawaii Programs, graduated from Chaminade University in 2010 with a degree in international trade and finance and a certificate in entrepreneurship from the Hogan Entrepreneurial program where Rechung was named the 2010 Entrepreneur of the year. After returning from a summer internship in Shanghai, Rechung co-founded The Box Jelly, Hawaii's first “Pop-Up” cowork space. In 2011 Rechung was named young entrepreneur of the year by the Hawaii Venture Capital Association. Rechung has spent time in San Francisco, New York, Tokyo, Kansai, and Shanghai and currently resides in Honolulu.
Garage Technology Ventures is a seed-stage and early-stage venture capital fund. They look to invest in entrepreneurial teams with big ideas and a need for seed capital to turn their ideas into great companies. They are willing to invest in unproven teams attacking unproven markets with unproven solutions. Garage Technology Ventures is a sponsor for Camp BizSmart business plan competitions and special events and provides expert counsel, vetting of ideas and inspiration.
The Alliance of Chief Executives is an exclusive organization for chief executives who run public and private companies in virtually every industry and market sector. Based in Northern California, the Alliance of CEOs is the most strategically valuable and innovative organization for CEOs in the world. Founder and CEO Paul Witkay and CEO members share life lessons on vision, leadership, strategic thinking, raising capital, team building and the ability to adapt to constant change while addressing a steady stream of fresh challenges to inspire our students
Dr. Ellen Pieterse has been the Camp Director at Santa Clara University for three years. Her expertise is in process management, leadership and developing global talent for Fortune 500 companies. Dr. Pieterse has extensive executive industry experience, most recently as the Director of Global Learning, Leadership Development and Process Excellence for Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Inc. in San Jose, California. Ellen was an IBM human resource team leader for 14 years in San Jose, New York and Shenzhen, China. As a consultant, Dr. Pieterse works with clients around the globe to help them improve performance and find talented executives.
