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UCR Business: Strong Ties with Business Community

ilseu — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 00:54:33 +0000

UCR Business: Strong Ties with Business Community ilseu Tue, 01/04/2022 - 16:54 More News Laurie McLaughlin January 07, 2022

It wasn’t until years later that business trial lawyer David A. Robinson ’79 realized the stature of the professor who taught the transformative honors seminar he attended while at UC Riverside. “At the time, I just knew him as the really cool guy who rode a motorcycle. His name was John C. Gabbert,” says Robinson, who started his undergrad career as a biomed major. “He was nurturing and supportive. He convinced me to redirect my focus and seek a career in law.”

David Robinson with UCR Business student Diana Garcia

Robinson changed his major to political science, then earned a law degree at UC Hastings. One day as a practicing attorney, Robinson was in the historic Riverside Courthouse, and he saw a portrait of his former professor. “It turns out Justice Gabbert was a founding partner of one Riverside’s most prestigious law firms, then known as Best, Best & Gabbert,” says Robinson. Gabbert also served as an associate justice of the California Courts of Appeal and, before that, as a Superior Court judge and district attorney. In the early 1950s, Gabbert founded the Citizens University Committee, the group responsible for convincing the UC regents to locate the next UC campus in Riverside. Robinson hadn’t previously realized how important his “cool” professor was in the county’s legal, educational, and charitable communities.

“When I was a student, he told me: ‘Don’t disappoint. You are going to be paid a lot, so do your work, and actually read and understand your cases,” adds Robinson, who reconnected and rekindled a valued friendship with Justice Gabbert, who passed away in 2013 at age 104. “In many respects, he was a seminal figure in my life. I’m eternally grateful for his guidance.”

Today, Robinson pays Justice Gabbert’s benevolence forward by serving on the UCR School of Business’s Dean’s Advisory Council (DAC), which includes leaders from the business, governmental, and nonprofit arenas who both champion and support the school’s initiatives. A DAC member since 2013, Robinson is currently the council’s chair.

“I wanted to give back to my undergrad university, and even though my educational background is not strictly in business, I have handled a broad spectrum of business disputes and represented businesses of all types for nearly four decades. So, I guess I got a degree in business from the school of hard knocks,” says Robinson, whose wife, Lynn, earned a bachelor’s in liberal arts from UCR in 1974, followed by her teaching credential for special needs children in 1975. Their eldest son, David, graduated from UCR’s School of Business in 2013 and is now a commercial real estate banker.

“The Dean’s Advisory Council is beneficial to the business school because Dean Yunzeng Wang is creating stronger ties with the community in general and with businesses in particular. The council is essential to deploying that strategy.”

A Business School’s Role in the Health of Regional Business

Robinson is a business trial lawyer specializing in complex disputes. He is also the executive partner of a global law firm, Holland & Knight, in Orange County. He represents a spectrum of clients, including private and public companies, industry groups, and governmental agencies, dealing with an endless range of issues, he says. “I represent basically anyone who opens, runs, or operates a business, or is affected by government regulation.”

With a long career in prestigious law firms and an expansive list of clients, including many in the Inland Empire, Robinson is clear about the role UCR’s School of Business plays in the region.

“One of the great things about business in a capitalistic society is that it’s constantly in a state of reinvention owing to disruptive technology and competition. The only way to succeed in that kind of environment is to have access to the latest and greatest ideas and best talent,” says Robinson.

“So, it’s common sense for businesses to want an extraordinarily high-quality incubator of that talent in its back yard. Business needs the product created at UCR’s School of Business, and the business school needs access to the community’s opportunities.”

As Dean’s Advisory Council chair, he adds, “My job is to be an ambassador to connect the two.”

Making Education Possible for Others

It comes as no surprise that Robinson earned Eagle Scout honors—as have his three sons—and he has dedicated a great deal of time to both youth and education. A former chairman of the Irvine Valley College Foundation, he champions education for all, and both he and Lynn have been active in Boy Scouts of America. Robinson belongs to many civic and professional organizations and nonprofits, including most recently the UC Hastings Alumni Board of Governors and the Orange County Constitutional Rights Foundation.

“It is important for people to be empowered and a have a meaningful say in society,” says Robinson of the value of education as he reflects on growing up near UCR in Rialto, being the first in his family to graduate from college, and the transformative guidance he received from Justice Gabbert. “I’m a product of the University of California, and if not for that, my life would be completely different. I was really fortunate—UCR was then as it is today the world-class educational institution right next door.”

While visiting campus in November 2021, Dave met with UCR Business graduate and undergraduate students.

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David Robinson

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A Family Tradition, A Community Connection

ilseu — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 05:27:00 +0000

A Family Tradition, A Community Connection ilseu Sun, 10/10/2021 - 22:27 More News Darin Estep October 12, 2021

Craig Blunden grew up in a family that strongly believed in the importance of community involvement. From an early age, he witnessed the impact that service and leadership could have on the lives of others, and those values would carry forward throughout his career and his long-standing connection with UC Riverside.

His mother played an active role in launching nonprofits in Riverside, demonstrating the significance of grassroots efforts to meet community needs. In 1956, his father, Gordon A. Blunden, further strengthened the family’s ties to service by starting a savings and loan that would grow into what is now Provident Bank. Fourteen years later, in 1970, the UCR School of Business established the graduate program that would later become the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management. Among its very first graduates in 1972 was Craig Blunden, whose relationship with the School of Business would continue to deepen over the decades.

The connection to UCR did not end with graduation. In 1985, following his family’s legacy of service, Blunden was appointed to the UCR Foundation Board. This role gave him firsthand experience with the needs of the university and opened his eyes to the broader mission of higher education.

“I really learned a lot in those 14 years that I was on that board,” said Blunden, who now serves as Provident’s CEO and chairman of the board. “I ended up starting a foundation here at the bank, the Provident Charitable Foundation, and using that to give to the community in a number of ways. One of the gifts was to the Graduate School of Management.”

That 1994 gift established the Gordon A. Blunden/Provident Savings Bank Endowed Business Scholarship, named in honor of his father’s legacy of community service. Even after Gordon Blunden’s passing in 1996, the family’s connection to UCR continued to grow, with Craig ensuring that his father’s example of generosity and engagement lived on.

Provident Bank has also been a long-standing partner of the UCR School of Business, sponsoring the Inland Empire Economic Forecast since its inception more than a dozen years ago. This event has provided the region with valuable economic insights and strengthened the connection between the university, local business leaders, and the broader community.

Beyond philanthropy, Craig Blunden has remained personally engaged with students and faculty. He currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council and previously participated as an Executive Fellow, an experience that allowed him to interact directly with students in meaningful ways.

“Being a fellow was a wonderful experience. It was a chance for me to sit with the students, hold office hours, answer their questions and really continue my own learning,” he said.

For Blunden, these experiences highlight the importance of education and the role universities play in building strong communities. He sees UCR not only as an academic institution but as a force for opportunity and transformation in the Inland Empire.

Blunden is proud of UCR’s involvement in the community and the way it empowers students to make their own contributions, carrying forward the same values he was raised with.

“When I start to think about philanthropy, it really evolves as a process as you grow up,” he said. “It just makes you feel great when you see people being successful and able to help others in the community.”

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Leader In Orchid Business Helps Students Bloom

ilseu — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 05:22:18 +0000

Leader In Orchid Business Helps Students Bloom ilseu Mon, 08/30/2021 - 22:22 More Blog Posts Darin Estep August 31, 2021

Jamie Fang ’90 was still paying for her own business administration education when she started her first endowed fund for School of Business graduate students. At a time when she was balancing student debt and the challenges of building her career, Fang demonstrated extraordinary foresight and generosity. Her commitment to giving back, even before reaching full financial stability, reflected a belief in the power of education and the importance of creating opportunities for others. As she became a leader in the orchid business, her growing support has enabled more students to bloom at UCR and pursue their own academic and professional dreams.

At the time of her first endowment—the Charley Chen-Hui and Hsi-Mei Fang Award Endowed Fund, named for her parents—Fang was not long out of college and still working diligently to establish her businesses. The decision to honor her parents through an endowed fund illustrated the deep value she places on family, legacy, and the role of education in shaping lives.

“I decided we could all afford something, even if we save $100 occasionally from going out to eat,” she says. “I wanted to give back to the school, the foundation of my education that led to my life’s work.”

Fang modestly describes that first endowment as “not a great amount,” but its impact reached far beyond the dollar figure. That initial act of philanthropy forged a personal relationship with school leadership and opened a channel of continued engagement. Over the years, she has remained closely involved with the School of Business, meeting with every dean since 2005. These ongoing connections reflect her dedication not only to giving but also to staying informed about the evolving needs of students and the vision of the school.

Her most recent gift created the Jamie Chen-Kuei Fang Endowed Award Fund to support undergraduate business majors in the UCR School of Business, particularly incoming transfer students and those who began their studies at Southern California community colleges. By focusing on transfer students, Fang recognizes a population that often faces additional financial and academic challenges in completing their degrees. This thoughtful emphasis on access ensures that talented students from diverse educational backgrounds can thrive at UCR.

Although now semi-retired, Fang continues to be active in the floral industry, where she built her reputation and success. She remains just as passionate about helping students achieve academic success through reducing financial burdens. Her philanthropy is not a one-time gesture but part of a deliberate long-term plan to ensure that future generations of students have the resources they need to succeed.

Her focus on long-term planning is also tied to a belief in sustainability—both in her professional industry and in her approach to supporting higher education.

“We have to be sure the next generation is educated,” she says. “These kids are so appreciative. That really hits home with me.”

Through her example, Fang demonstrates how consistent support, regardless of size, can make a lasting difference. Her journey from a young alumna starting her first fund to an established leader in business and philanthropy illustrates the enduring impact of generosity rooted in gratitude.

Jamie Fang ’90, center, established endowed funds to support School of Business students. She is pictured with Judy Sue and Charley Fang.

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Building the Future for UCR's School of Business

ilseu — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 23:34:30 +0000

Building the Future for UCR's School of Business ilseu Tue, 06/01/2021 - 16:34 More News Sarah Nightingale June 01, 2021

Beverly Bailey knows a thing or two about building things.

As a student at Riverside City College, she helped her boyfriend, Scott, hang patio covers on the weekends. When she turned 20, she bought and ran a small café in Chino, putting her entrepreneurial spirit to the test as she worked some of the longest days of her life. Then, she earned her real estate license, making a living helping people build their dream homes.

She married Scott, and for the past 30 years they’ve been building Stronghold Engineering, a company they started from their kitchen table that is now one of the top general contracting firms in Southern California.

Their recent $1 million pledge to UC Riverside helps build a bright future for the university’s School of Business. The endowed gift will provide building maintenance funds for a new business school complex as part of a planned campus hub for professional development and community engagement.

“The school is full of gratitude and we’re honored to be a friend and partner of Beverly Bailey,” says Yunzeng Wang, dean of the UCR School of Business. “Her recent expression of generosity through a $1 million commitment in support of the future business complex is very exciting and will help build momentum in support of the new state-of-the-art facility.”

Beverly, whose father was in the Air Force, was born at Clark Air Base in the Philippines and moved every few years until her father retired at March Air Force Base, and the Inland Empire became home.

While raising three children, the Baileys grew Stronghold Engineering from a home-based electrical contracting company to a full-service design and construction firm that has completed more than $2.5 billion in construction projects and employs 185 people. The firm is ranked among the top 10 minority- and women-owned construction companies in the nation and was recognized by the Women’s Presidents’ Organization as one of the 50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies.

Beverly’s success as president and CEO of Stronghold has garnered her top awards, including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Inland Empire honor in 2000, the 2016 Enterprising Woman of the Year Award, the 2020 American Heart Association Legendary Women of the Heart designation, 2020 Outstanding Philanthropist of the Year Award, and most recently, the 2021 Construction Leader of the Year Award at the Women in Energy Leadership Summit. As Stronghold grew, so did Beverly’s involvement with the community, including at UCR. She currently serves as both a UCR Foundation trustee and chair for the School of Business Dean’s Advisory Council. She also served as a UC Riverside School of Business Executive Fellow, and along with Scott, established the Executive Fellows Endowed Scholarship Fund.

“The UCR Foundation is proud to have trustees like Beverly Bailey on our board,” says Brian Hawley, chair of the UCR Board of Trustees. “Her generosity of time and treasure to the School of Business is well known, and she is recognized as a philanthropic leader in our region. I’m pleased to see that this thoughtful gift will impact future generations of Highlanders.”

The family’s $1 million estate gift will help UCR realize its vision of creating a new space for academic growth, research, and economic development to flourish in the Inland Empire.

“We envision a state-of-the art facility that will feed the minds of potential hungry entrepreneurs and be a catalyst for relevant, local, and international business education,” Beverly says. “The designation of this gift is to support the maintenance operations of the new school. Being in construction, I have seen facilities fall into disrepair because maintenance costs were never thought about or factored in.”

She hopes the gift will inspire others to support the business school and its students during this transformative time.

“We are very pleased to support UCR on its journey as a world-class business school,” she says. “By investing locally we can see this come to fruition.”

The Bailey family includes, from left, Brandon, Alyssa, Beverly, Scott, and Kyler.

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The Problem Solver

ilseu — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 14:52:03 +0000

The Problem Solver ilseu Thu, 04/29/2021 - 07:52 More News Imran Ghori May 18, 2021

Education and opportunity go hand in hand for James Merino, MBA ’98, a data engineer who has worked at some of the biggest firms in Silicon Valley. That’s why he created the Jaime J. Merino Endowed Business Scholarship for Master of Business Administration students at UC Riverside’s School of Business in 2016. The scholarship is named after his grandfather, who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico in 1920 at age 11. With little money, Jaime worked as a farm worker in Arizona to help support his family.

“My earliest recollection was him saying, "Get an education. Without an education, it’s just not going to work,” James said. The $50,000 endowed scholarship received a matching gift from the A. Gary Anderson Family Foundation Matching Gifts Fund.

When he started school after the family moved to Los Angeles, Jaime was first placed in second grade due to his poor English skills, but he advanced quickly. He attended UCLA before transferring to UC Berkeley where he graduated with an engineering degree. He had a successful career as a civil engineer, working on oil fields and building roads, according to Arlene Nielson, James’ aunt. James’ father — Jaime Ramon Merino — also became an engineer. Both his father and grandfather were an important influence on James from a young age.

“They were both enthusiastic about science and engineering,” James said. “Enthusiasm is infectious, so I probably had an inborn interest.”

Nielson said the three men would often discuss word problems involving math, solve puzzles, or play card games at family gatherings.

“That was their conversation — they would come up with problems,” she said. “Then when they came for Sunday dinner, they would talk about it.”

James recalled his grandfather driving him past the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena when he was in grade school, and telling him to think about attending the university. Years later, James heeded his advice, graduating from Caltech with a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics. He earned his doctorate in math at Stanford University, and taught math for six years as an assistant professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas before realizing he had other ambitions.

“There were other problems I wanted to solve,” he said.

That led him to UC Riverside. Having grown up in nearby Diamond Bar, he was familiar with its reputation and enrolled at the School of Business in the mid-1990s. At that time, mixing math and business was not as common as it is today, but James thought the different disciplines complemented each other. After earning his MBA, James joined the national accounting firm Deloitte. A few years later, he became part of the early internet boom in Silicon Valley. As a research scientist for Yahoo!, he created customer data models and was among the first in the world to work on social targeting. He then founded two startups and worked at Facebook as an analytics manager in its advertising department, quantifying and analyzing ad performance.

“Facebook is a giant math problem if you come down right to it,” James said.

He now works as a senior data engineer at Roku where he develops voice controls for streaming services. A member of the UCR Foundation Board of Trustees, James said the university’s success in creating social mobility for students aligns with his grandfather’s vision.

“That was the sort of thing he would support — bringing in as many people as possible and making sure they get a good education,” James said.

James Merino, MBA '98

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Solar Entrepreneur Shares Success with Others

ilseu — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 20:28:31 +0000

Solar Entrepreneur Shares Success with Others ilseu Mon, 03/29/2021 - 13:28 More News Darin Estep March 29, 2021

In recognition of Women’s History Month, we take a look at some of the women who are making their own history with the UCR School of Business.

When Patricia Watters Ph.D. ’95 thinks back to working on her doctorate in Financial Economics, she doesn’t think of brilliant insights. Instead, she remembers the hard work and perseverance while wondering if it was enough.

Watters said she still experiences self-doubt – and she is grateful for it.

“I’m not sure I want to overcome it,” she said. “If I want to feel confident about something, I am motivated to work really hard at it.”

That motivation is key to building deeper understanding of topics, said Watters, who remains an energetic advocate for the opportunities that education provides. Her own experience offers an excellent example.

Watters’ original intent behind pursuing her graduate education at UCR was to improve her standing as a college instructor. But her dissertation related to pricing water transfers earned an immediate job offer with a wholesale water distributor in Southern California.

A few years later, some of her colleagues from grad school approached her about joining a new investment management firm. The group of UCR alumni created funds of hedge funds for institutional investors, growing assets to $12 billion in just a few years.

In 2009, Watters went on to co-found Catalina Consulting Partners to identify investment managers’ operational risks that could adversely impact investors’ capital. The firm also assisted private fund managers to strategically develop their operational infrastructures and enhance their responses for investor due diligence.

As she was building this successful business, Watters noticed how UCR was also expanding its own horizons, increasing its focus on students, particularly first-generation students. This, she said, was the start of the social mobility role that is the hallmark of the university today.

Patricia Watters

School of Business Dean Yunzeng Wang convinced her of changes at the school, where students and faculty alike collaborate to foster meaningful learning experiences. She was honored to serve as an Executive Fellow at UCR’s School of Business, where she found new educational opportunities for students, such as the ambassador program and an investment club.

“That’s how I got re-engaged with UCR,” she said. “I was inspired by the students and their engagement. That gave me hope that there is a new generation coming up, eager to solve problems.”

In addition to participating in several speaker series at the School of Business, she contributed funds to complete the Amnon Rapport Endowed Research Award Fund, and established her own endowed scholarship, the Patricia A. Watters and Richard K. Lashbrook Endowed Student Award Fund.

“Education is so important to my husband and me,” she said. “It has opened doors for both of us, and we want other people to have these opportunities.”

The pandemic era has emphasized the importance of social mobility, Watters said, and she is proud of UC Riverside’s role in promoting opportunities for diverse groups of students.

“This is work we can support – what they are doing, and how they are doing it. In this way we can give back but also give forward, to the next generation.”

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Solar Entrepreneur Sticks with Her Dream, Shares Success with Others

ilseu — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 22:35:02 +0000

Solar Entrepreneur Sticks with Her Dream, Shares Success with Others ilseu Wed, 03/24/2021 - 15:35 More News Darin Estep March 24, 2021

In recognition of Women’s History Month, we take a look at some of the women who are making their own history with the UCR School of Business.

Ching Liu says her connection to the UCR School of Business was meant to be – and it all started with a phone call to the city of Riverside.

This was shortly after she co-founded a solar-panel company. When Liu learned Riverside was offering the nation’s most generous rebates for solar energy manufacturers, she made an appointment to meet with city leadership. Liu, who had lived in Southern California since leaving Taiwan at age 14, had never been to Riverside – but she fell in love with the city at first sight.

She and her partners soon found the perfect location for the business. Next they had to find talent to hire for the company. Liu was introduced to School of Business Dean Yunzeng Wang – and the rest is entrepreneurial and academic history.

“We became good friends and have supported each other ever since,” Liu said. “The whole transition to Riverside was meant to be. It happened so naturally. Every person I met at UCR was so friendly and helpful. We could meet and have a cup of coffee, just chat about ideas. It was very inspiring.”

This connection came at a crucial phase in Liu’s career. She had recently walked away from more than 20 years in the investment and banking industry to co-found and serve as executive vice president of SolarMax Technology Inc. And this happened to be during the difficult recovery from the Great Recession.

Liu and her partners persisted, and today SolarMax is a renewable energy leader specializing in residential solar, commercial LED lighting and energy storage solutions. It is the largest U.S.-headquartered solar developer operating in the People’s Republic of China.

Expanding connections

Ching Liu, right, Dean’s Advisory Council member, and Tamra Johnson, left, associate director for international programs

As the business grew, so did Liu’s relationship with the UCR School of Business. Liu supports students through the SolarMax Endowed Graduate Fellowship Fund. She joined the Dean's Advisory Council and served as an Executive Fellow, a role that allowed her to draw on her own experience to encourage students.

“I got into the banking and brokerage business, a male-dominated Wall Street world, as a young, Asian-American woman, speaking English as a second language,” she said. “I often say, ‘If I could do it, so can you.’”

She used her time as an Executive Fellow to show students the real world of business – inviting classes to attend lectures at the company’s Riverside manufacturing plant, a historic building that once housed a World War II tank factory.

These connections – between university, community and business – have been a constant for Liu, who has worked with the School of Business and Bourns College of Engineering to help the city of Riverside seek international investment.

She also serves as a member of the BCOE’s Center for Environmental Research & Technology Board of Advisors and Dean's Council of Advisors. SolarMax is a major sponsor of the university’s Economic Forecast Conference and, in 2018, was named the official corporate solar sponsor for the UCR Alumni Association.

That’s not to say success came easy. Liu acknowledges it took courage to leave her banking career behind to launch a company. She and her partners took out home equity loans and borrowed from family to make payroll. Sometimes they had to avoid the landlord.

Even in the most difficult times, however, Liu said she has enjoyed every minute of being an entrepreneur. The reason was she never stopped believing in her dream – something she tells students, especially women, to remember.

“Education is the proven path for any young woman to be able to make it out there,” she said. “When you are pursuing your career, in the beginning, it can be difficult. But believe in your work and stick around through the hard times. Success is the sweetness that comes after hardship.”

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Ching Liu

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UCR Opened Doors for Philanthropist

ilseu — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 16:08:53 +0000

UCR Opened Doors for Philanthropist ilseu Tue, 03/23/2021 - 09:08 More News Darin Estep March 23, 2021

In recognition of Women’s History Month, we take a look at some of the women who are making their own history with the UCR School of Business.

If Susan Atherton thinks about it, her connection with UC Riverside has really come full circle in the time since she enrolled as a 17-year-old, first-generation college student.

After earning degrees in Business Administrative Studies and Economics in 1977, she forged a successful career in the male-dominated high-tech industry by working hard and focusing on her objectives. Today, that focus has turned to her philanthropic causes – including helping students like her 17-year-old self.

Susan Atherton

“I am so proud of UCR as a leading university for social mobility,” Atherton said. “I’m an example of that, and it’s emotional for me when I consider the opportunity that UCR provided.”

She has served on the UCR Foundation Board of Trustees since July 2014 and currently serves as the immediate past chair of the board and as the co-chair of the Student Success Initiative. She has served as an Executive Fellow for the School of Business, and in 2015 established the Susan Atherton Endowed Graduate Award Fund to support students in the Anderson Graduate School of Management.

“If you had asked me when I graduated, ‘What would you think if I said you would be chair of the foundation board?’ I would have laughed,” Atherton said.

Today, however, she takes such roles very seriously as an independent philanthropist. The long-time advocate for animals also serves as chair of the Board of Directors for Humane Society International and co-chair of the Board of Directors for the Humane Society of the United States.

Pursuing a passion

Susan Atherton, a long-time advocate for animals who currently serves as the chair of the Board of Directors for Humane Society International and as co-chair of the Board of Directors for the Humane Society of the United States, is shown with her rescue dog, Simba.

These wide-ranging philanthropic efforts have something in common: They are reflections of Atherton’s determination to pursue causes that are important to her.

It is the same approach she took in her business career, which included executive management positions in the enterprise software and cloud computing industries, working at NCR Corporation, GE Information Systems, Oracle Corporation, Rightpoint and DoubleClick.

At the time she began her career, the tech industry was “very much a male-dominated field,” she said, with “deals cut on the golf course and cigars after dinner.” But she succeeded by focusing on her objectives – advice she has shared with students as an Executive Fellow.

“Do good work, stay focused, continue to politely and firmly fight on behalf of yourself,” she said. “It’s important to follow your passions. You’ll be more successful that way. That doesn’t mean you don’t need a good job. Just choose something you enjoy and continue to strive toward roles that provide satisfaction in your work.”

Atherton grew up in Ventura County and moved to San Francisco in 1992, where she lives with her husband and fellow alum Dr. David K. Shuh (’83 BS chemistry) and their beloved rescue dog, Simba.

She remains a passionate advocate for UCR, its growth and the opportunities it provides to students.

“I have such great admiration for what UC Riverside has become,” she said, pointing to its enrollment of more students with Pell Grants than the entire Ivy League combined.

“To me, providing that kind of opportunity represents the best of California,” she said. “It represents who we are as a state, and who we are as a nation. This is really about making a difference in people’s lives.”

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UCR Business Alumnus Dazzles Tech World

kmcnally — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 18:21:43 +0000

UCR Business Alumnus Dazzles Tech World kmcnally Tue, 10/08/2019 - 11:21 More News October 08, 2019

Jim Merino has been a math whiz since he learned to count. His father and grandfather, both engineers, taught him algorithms in grade school. “They were always tossing brain teasers at me,” he recalls. And he still craves complex puzzles.

Today, Merino, a math and data science expert – and graduate of Caltech (BS, 1984), Stanford (Ph.D., 1991) and UC Riverside (MBA, 1998) – uses numbers to answer questions, untangle problems, and push the boundaries of innovation.

His resume calls him “an entrepreneurial applied mathematician and data scientist with a record of applying quantitative methods to real world problems.” Put simply, he crunches numbers to build better (digital) mousetraps.

His work history includes stints at Facebook, where he quantified ad performance and analyzed data to support small-business ads, and Yahoo, where his data models cut customer churn.

But Merino said he’s proudest of his trailblazing work on social targeting: “Our tests at Yahoo were very likely the first in the world.” Social targeting, which leverages digital connections between people, unites a simple concept with elaborate math. For example: The friends of a fantasy football user probably like fantasy football, too.

“The mere fact that connections exist is a powerful indicator of things you might be interested in or want to do,” Merino said. “The ads worked frighteningly well.”

Indeed, thanks to tech innovation and the volume of data online today, “techniques purely theoretical 30 years ago now make (tech companies) a lot of money,” he said.

It’s that link between theoretical and practical that intrigues Merino. He lauded the School of Business A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management (AGSM) as a bridge for the practical adaptation of UCR’s academic breakthroughs: “The school is a point of contact to get innovative work in engineering and science out into the world as opposed to (the material) just living on in academic journals.”

Rewind to the 1990’s: Merino left university teaching for business school – a move he called “unheard of” at the time – to learn how to manage. He also learned, initially through a course in entrepreneurial management at AGSM, that “business could be a lot more fun and creative than I realized. … I kind of got the bug.”

The bug burrowed deeper during his first job after business school, at Deloitte.

“I was in on the ground floor” of the internet, Merino said. “Seeing companies come to terms with a weird new thing and making it work for them was really eye-opening. It was interesting how radical, off the wall ideas could take off and have a lot of impact. I’ve tried to follow that path throughout my career.”

In a few years he was innovating for Yahoo, and later, Facebook. Along the way, Merino co-founded two tech-based start-ups. By the numbers, he has held eight jobs in the past 20 years – excluding consulting gigs – in internet technology, statistical modeling, science, and data science.

In 2016, he endowed a scholarship at AGSM to ensure that talented low-income students can afford to attend business school at UCR. The award, the Jaime J. Merino Endowed Business Scholarship, is named for the father who lobbed brain teasers.

The donation went to AGSM because many UCR students are the first in their families to attend college – just as Jaime Merino was. “Opening the gates of opportunity is a path to give back in a meaningful way,” said Jim Merino.

During (rare) recreational time, Merino added he has enjoyed camping, backpacking and exploring nature. Don’t expect any wildlife photos, though: A man who spent more than two decades in internet technology has almost no personal digital footprint – a dearth Merino ascribed to “quality control.”

A few more of his tech-related insights:

Jim Moreno with scholarship recipient, Yifeng Wu

On the evolution of Silicon Valley: “In the old days, tech was about changing the world,” he said. “Today, there’s so much money” that some players in the field “will do anything, including break the law.” (As of this writing, Merino was reading “Bad Blood,” on the extraordinary deception at Theranos.)

On the specter of Silicon Valley building a social credit system that tracks digital users and rewards or penalizes them based on their choices: It’s a “nightmare vision,” Merino said. “Once it’s there, it will absolutely be abused.” On the positive side: Merino expects pushback as the system develops.

On legislation regulating tech, such as California’s AB 5 that restricts gig workers: “It’s a backlash to innovation,” Merino said – “a reaction to so much change in a short period of time, similar to what happened in the 1970s.”

Looking forward, Merino, who lives in San Carlos, has joined the Board of Trustees of the nonprofit UCR Foundation, which manages philanthropic gifts to the university. In addition, he said, “I’m looking at pivoting my career in constructive ways” – perhaps applying math to puzzles of medicine, pollution, land use, or agriculture.

After years of working on digital ads, he said he’s done, for now, with the mousetraps.

The brain teasers are another story.

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Hylander Student Investment Fund

kmcnally — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 16:52:34 +0000

Hylander Student Investment Fund kmcnally Fri, 10/04/2019 - 09:52 More News October 04, 2019

The Hylander Financial Group (HFG), a club founded in 2014 by UCR finance students, has been evaluating stocks for potential purchases to create investment portfolios. Last year they participated in the annual CFA Society of Orange County competition, and regularly bring financial experts to speak and mentor its members.

Inspired by HFG’s success and depth of knowledge of trading securities, a UCR alumnus has established the Hylander Student Investment Fund (HSIF), with a founding gift of $200,000.

Until now, HFG students were managing mock portfolios. The resources from the Fund will give HFG members the chance to delve into the real world of finance, with the aim of growing the fund through profitable investments.

The Hylander Student Investment Fund will be supervised by a faculty advisor and an advisory board comprised of financial professionals and officers of the UCR Foundation.

Jean Helwege, Full Professor in Finance, mentors the students as they implement knowledge learned through finance courses in the UCR School of Business and A. Gary Anderson School of Management (AGSM) programs. AGSM offers finance courses to students pursuing its Master of Finance degree as well as through its full time and professional MBA programs.

Ryan Whyte, Jean Helwege, Arjun Oza

Professor Helwege meets regularly with the HFG members to advise on executing trades. On Monday evenings the HSIF members present to the group and pitch stocks they have analyzed as best investments.

The work that students in HFG have done thus far has already proven profitable on paper, reaching returns as high as 40 percent from investments in the stocks of Square, Lululemon, and Dunkin Brands.

Zachary Enes, a student in the Master of Finance program and a long-time member of the club, said that in the past 11 months the club’s paper portfolio has seen its value go up about 20 percent, beating their benchmark of 20 percent fixed income and 80 percent equities.

“We work really well together,” he said, describing the club as a collaborative effort.

Bolstering students’ career prospects in finance upon graduation is another advantage of membership in HFG. Ryan Whyte, a senior business major with a concentration in finance, is the club president this year, along with Arjun Oza, the vice-president.

Ryan says his experience in HFG helped him to land an internship in Orange County this summer. “I definitely built a very strong foundation of skills like valuation and being able to talk at a high level on the public market and trends in equities, which is pretty important for any career in finance.”

Over 200 students are concentrating in Finance or are in the Masters of Finance at the School of Business. “The requirements to qualify for membership are steep, but students with a passion for finance and its real world application now have a second to none opportunity being part of the Hylander Financial Group,” says Helwege.

The UCR School of Business and Hylander Financial Group extends its gratitude for the generous support of the Hylander Student Investment Fund’s founding donor, and look forward to working with the HSIF advisory group in the coming year.

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