2023 Conference

Empower yourself and take charge of your career and life at this year's Haas Women in Leadership Conference. Join us for a powerful event that will help you find, own, and use your own personal power. With inspiring keynote speakers, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities, we hope you will leave feeling motivated and equipped to succeed. Come join us and discover your own power to take the next steps in your life!

The Berkeley Haas Women in Leadership Conference will take place on Saturday, February 25th, 2023 on the Haas campus. There will be an optional evening event on Friday, February 24th, 2023, at Vinca Minor in Berkeley, CA.

All are welcome. Gaining more exposure to gender issues makes everyone a more effective business leader. We are designing the conference to provide space for meaningful conversation and action steps for a diverse set of attendees, including those who don’t identify as women and non-Haas students.

GET YOUR TICKETS TODAY!

CONFERENCE 2023: Eventbrite
STORY SALOON 2023: EVENTBRITE

 

Agenda

Friday, February 24th, 2023

@Vinca Minor in Berkeley, CA

5:00pm - 8:00pm Story Saloon | Sponsored by Women in Leadership Alumni (WILA)

  • Haas Alumni and students share stories of moments in their lives when they have found, owned, and used their power. Story Saloon is inspired by Story Salon, a cherished student tradition that builds warmth and connection amongst our Haas MBA community through vulnerable storytelling.

    • Nediva Breaux | UC Berkeley Haas Full-time MBA Class of 2023

    • Doris Yuan | UC Berkeley Haas Full-time MBA Class of 2024

    • Riddhima Batta | UC Berkeley Haas Full-time MBA Class of 2023

    • Abha Bhagat | Sr. Corporate Development Integration Lead at Cisco | Haas MBA 2010 Graduate

    • Christine Zhu | SVP / Director of Portfolio Construction & Trading at Franklin Templeton | Haas MBA 2007 Graduate

    • Deepti Illa | VP Marketing at Matterport | Haas MBA 2010 Graduate

    • Anhelo Benavides | UC Berkeley Haas Full-time MBA Class of 2023

  • Doors open at 5:00pm

  • Speakers start at 6:00pm

  • Tickets are sold separately from the Saturday Conference tickets (link above)

Saturday, February 25th, 2023

@Berkeley Haas

9:00am Registration & Breakfast at Spieker Balcony

9:45am Setting the Foundation

  • Aahana Sahai MBA/MEng ‘23 and Niki Agheai MBA ‘23 | Conference Co-Chairs

10:00am Welcome Address

  • Dean Harrison | Dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley

10:15am Keynote Fireside Chat: Coffee Chat with the New CMO | Grab your hot beverage of choice and learn about how Erica Taylor became the first CMO of Genentech. Learn how Erica navigates self-doubt, career pathing, growth, and corporate and personal power dynamics. 

  • Erica Taylor | Genentech’s first Chief Marketing Officer, covering Genentech’s full commercial portfolio

  • Nediva Breaux | Full Time 2nd Year MBA student at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. Commercial Associate Intern at Genentech

10:55am 15-minute break

11:10am Breakouts — must choose one!

  • #1: Allyship & Inclusive Leadership in N500 | Develop your inclusive leadership skills! We'll discuss scenarios that highlight intersecting aspects of identity and how inclusive leaders can best show up. Attendees can expect to be participating the vast majority of the time – no just sitting and listening here! The content of this workshop is geared towards aspiring allies, and people of all identities and backgrounds are welcome to attend.

    • Patrick Ford | MBA 17’, former Women in Leadership Manbassador and founder of Allies at Work, consulting practice to train “overrepresented” employees in how to become better allies

    • Michele Pendergast | Head of Growth at CloudTrucks

  • #2: Advocacy and Activism Panel in Spieker Forum | This panel is moderated by Jude Watson and features speakers across diverse areas from health, environment & conservation, student activism who are promoting system level changes and diligently advocating to improve the lives & well-being of others. 

    • Jude Watson | UC Berkeley Haas FT MBA ‘23, Founder of Cooks for Black Lives Matter, Extensive work with Social Justice Fund NW, Southend Ultimate Program and Queer Youth Space

    • Marion Adeney | Director of Amazon and Fire Programs at Conservation X Labs

    • Dianna Zamora-Marroquin | President of Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley and Director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte

    • Yaas Farzanefar | Student Manager at the Amnesty International Digital Verification Corp: UC Berkeley School of Law and Human Rights Center and Founding Member/co-Executive Director of Middle East Matters Organization

12:00pm Lunch and Vendor Showcase

  • Network and enjoy provided lunch in the Haas courtyard and explore a selection of women-owned vendors

1:00pm Keynote Speaker

  • Gissou Nia | Director of the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council

    Gissou Nia shares her journey as a Human Rights Lawyer and how she has found, owned, and used her power as an advocate. Gissou will discuss the women-led revolution currently happening in Iran. We will understand how women have found, owned and used their power to fight for their freedom and understand how we can use our power to amplify and support this movement.

1:30pm 20-minute break

1:50pm Breakouts — must choose one!

  • #1: Harnessing Financial Power as a Founder or VC in Spieker Forum | Owning your own has often been associated with achieving financial independence, power and freedom. We’ve assembled an incredible group of VCs and founders to dig a bit deeper into how their roles and experiences have helped to define what financial power means to them as well as how they exercise it.

    • Gabby Uwadiegwu | Founding Partner at Archangel fund, a venture fund focused on funding women and diverse teams building audacious products in Africa and beyond. Gabby is also a Senior Software Engineer at Spade, and has worked as a software engineer at Twitch.

    • Marie Thompson | Partner at Powerhouse Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund focused exclusively on solutions to digitize, democratize, and decarbonize our global energy and mobility systems to combat the climate crisis.

    • Tracy Young | Co-founder and CEO of TigerEye, a company in stealth building sales software. Previously, she co-founded and served as CEO of PlanGrid, the leader in construction productivity software that Autodesk acquired for $875 million in 2018.

    • Katrina Roundfield, PhD | Co-Founder at AppaHealth.com, UC Berkeley Skydeck Batch-14

  • #2: Conflict Lab in N500 - Setting Boundaries, Saying No, Owning your Needs with Bree Jenkins and Francesca LeBaron | Prepare to be uncomfortable during this 50-min experiential workshop, which is aimed at empowering leaders to navigate difficult conversations in the workplace using real world examples of workplace conflict. This workshop will include understanding your needs in conflict, identifying boundaries and giving you language to advocate for yourself in a way that builds trust and connection. This workshop is based on the Center for Social Sector Leadership elective Difficult Conversations: Conflict Lab, which is offered for MBA students at Berkeley-Haas and was featured in NPR: Marketplace and Wall Street Journal 

    • Bree Jenkins | UC Berkeley Haas faculty member teaching the course Difficult Conversations: Conflict Lab for MBA students and
      Senior Leadership Development Associate at Pixar

    • Francesca LeBaron | UC Berkeley Haas faculty member teaching the course Difficult Conversations: Conflict Lab for MBA students and Executive Coach at Berkeley SkyDeck

2:45pm 15-minute break

3:00pm Keynote | Anna shares her journey from the slums of Taiwan to the boardrooms of corporate America. We will hear how she has created a dream career that allows her to deliver strategic impact at the highest level, enjoy great financial reward, all the while having much flexibility to balance a fulfilling personal life that includes motherhood. She will share the secrets of what has allowed her to tap into the power within her to succeed against all odds, pick herself up again and again when she fails, and overcome her imposter’s syndrome to maximize her contributions to all the organizations she serves.

  • Anna Fieler | Board Member of Shake Shack, J.Crew Group & Quinstreet | Founder of Madison Park Ventures

3:40pm 10-minute break

3:50pm Final Keynote | In search of a creative life, Joshi found herself exploring four distinct careers, including the one that has brought her the most joy, the biggest rewards and, finally, her authentic voice. The risks she took with each are, by turns, illuminating, cringeworthy, and hilarious.

  • Alka Joshi | Author of The Henna Artist, a New York Times bestseller, a Reese Witherspoon Bookclub pick, and Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

4:30pm Wrap up

  • Aahana Sahai MBA/MEng ‘23 and Niki Agheai MBA ‘23 | Conference Co-Chairs