Category: Business

028 – Change Agents – Dr. Eric Spangenberg – Dean of the UCI Paul Merage School of Business

January 23, 2020 od2019 Business, Education, Leadership Comments Off on 028 – Change Agents – Dr. Eric Spangenberg – Dean of the UCI Paul Merage School of Business
Interview aired on 01/23/2020

With a 30-year career dedicated to excellence in scholarship and business education, Dr. Eric R. Spangenberg has served The Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine, as dean since June 2014.

Dr. Spangenberg has led several initiatives, including engaging and strengthening ties with the external business community both locally and abroad. He has motivated strategic curricular updates to the MBA as well as development of a hybridized (partially online), part-time MBA program, one-year specialized masters programs in finance, data analytics and entrepreneurship, and a completely online minor in undergraduate business to help meet the University’s demand for business programs. He oversaw the Merage School strategic planning process articulating a clear vision and reward structure; led development of a differentiation strategy for the School; successfully navigated a (once a decade) UC Senate school review; and established an AACSB plan and process ensuring successful maintenance of accreditation. He has also prioritized the recruitment of faculty and students across several disciplines and programs thereby enriching diversity of the Merage School community.

026 – Change Agents – Sue Padernacht – Senior Executive, Organization & Talent Management Consultant, Executive Coach

December 22, 2019 od2019 Business, Human Resources Comments Off on 026 – Change Agents – Sue Padernacht – Senior Executive, Organization & Talent Management Consultant, Executive Coach
Interview Aired on 11/13/2019

Sue Padernacht is an experienced Senior Executive, Consultant, Coach and Educator with an established track record of transforming organizations and teams to meet disruptive changes in their markets and work environments. She is also a Senior Lecturer in Organization and Management at the UCI Paul Merage School of Business.

Ms Padernacht speaks about her leadership journey, organizational culture and executive and staff on-boarding.

024 – Change Agents – Scott William Wollack – Executive Vice President of Operations and Applications

November 27, 2019 od2019 Business, Clean Technologies Comments Off on 024 – Change Agents – Scott William Wollack – Executive Vice President of Operations and Applications
Interview aired on October 30, 2019

Radio interview with William Wollack executive vice president of operation and applications.

During the interview, Mr Wollack speaks about his leadership journey and clean technologies.

023 – Change Agents – Nola Wanta – Senior Director, Business Development & Strategy at Loyola Marymount University

November 25, 2019 od2019 Business, Education Comments Off on 023 – Change Agents – Nola Wanta – Senior Director, Business Development & Strategy at Loyola Marymount University
Interview aired on 10/23/2019

Mrs. Wanta most recently served as Director of Program Services for the MBA for Executives (EMBA) Program at the University of California, Irvine. Prior to joining UCI, Nola held various leadership positions in graduate program management, recruitment and admissions at the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University, UCLA Anderson and UCI The Paul Merage School of Business. Currently, she is completing her Ed.D at UCLA. Nola earned an M.A. in social science specializing in demographics and social analysis, and a B.A. in anthropology and social science from UC Irvine. 

020 – Change Agents – Karl Tokita, CEO of Chiron Total

October 13, 2019 od2019 Business, Health Care, Leadership, Non Profit Organizations Comments Off on 020 – Change Agents – Karl Tokita, CEO of Chiron Total
Show aired on 09/18/2019

Karl Tokita is the CEO at Chiron Total a medical marketing and research organization that provides convenient, one-step health checkup programs for early detection and referrals to comprehensive treatments. Mr Tokita was a Board Member of the Irvine Public Schools Foundation and is a current Board Member of the Medici Foundation.

During the interview, Mr. Tokita speaks about his personal journey and the challenges that he has faced in his leadership journey.

018 – Change Agents – Dr. Arvind Sathi – Director and Architect, Global Intelligence Automation at KPMG

October 13, 2019 od2019 Artificial Inteligence, Big Data, Business, Education Comments Off on 018 – Change Agents – Dr. Arvind Sathi – Director and Architect, Global Intelligence Automation at KPMG
Interview aired on 08/28/2018

Dr. Arvind Sathi is the Director and Architect in KPMG’s Global Intelligent Automation and a faculty member with University of California where he teaches courses on Analytics. Dr. Sathi received his Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from Carnegie Mellon University and worked under Nobel Prize-winner Dr. Herbert A. Simon. Dr. Sathi is a seasoned professional with leadership in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science solution development and delivery. He works with IBM clients worldwide to envision and build AI and Data Science solutions. Dr. Sathi was a pioneer in developing AI solutions at Carnegie Group (a Carnegie Mellon startup), leading to its successful public offering as a profitable AI company. At KPMG / Bearingpoint, he led the practices for Intelligent Process Automation, Enterprise Integration, & Analytics. At IBM, Dr. Sathi has led several AI and Data Science programs involving a number of IBM products from IBM Watson, and Hybrid Cloud business units, and has provided technical oversight to IBM’s strategic accounts. He has also delivered a number of workshops and presentations at industry conferences on technical subjects, and holds two patents in data masking. He has published four books on analytics – Cognitive (Internet of) Things, Engaging Customers Using Big Data, Big Data Analytics, Customer Experience Analytics. He has also been a contributing author in a number of Data Governance books written by Sunil Soares, and has published a article series on Advanced Analytics for IBM Developer Works. 

016 – Change Agents – Ty Tran, Managing Partner at Applied Data Systems

August 21, 2019 od2019 Big Data, Business, Health Care, Leadership Comments Off on 016 – Change Agents – Ty Tran, Managing Partner at Applied Data Systems

Interview aired on 08/14/2019

Ty Tran talk about Applied Data Systems, Inc. and how the company is helping customers integrate computing, interconnect, storage, parallel files ystem and middleware.

014 – Change Agents – Yousuf Siddiqui, Senior Director Talent Management at Experian

August 1, 2019 od2019 Business, Human Resources, Leadership Comments Off on 014 – Change Agents – Yousuf Siddiqui, Senior Director Talent Management at Experian
Interview aired on July 31, 2019

011 – Change Agents – Don Natensted, Retired Regional Managing Partner at RSM US

July 31, 2019 od2019 Business, Leadership Comments Off on 011 – Change Agents – Don Natensted, Retired Regional Managing Partner at RSM US
Interview aired on July 17, 2019

Don Natensted is a retired Managing Partner Executive with a strategic focus in leading professional service firms through transformational change. Mr Natensted has a proven expertise directing large scale regional operations, building and leading effective teams and developing people for consistent long term growth.

Mr. Natensted talk about his leadership journey at RSM and the challenges and opportunities that he faced building high performance teams.


007 – Change Agents – Ash Kumra Executive, Entrepreneur, and Radio Show Host

July 29, 2019 od2019 Business, Entrepreneurship, Leadership Comments Off on 007 – Change Agents – Ash Kumra Executive, Entrepreneur, and Radio Show Host
Interview aired on June 11, 2019

Ash Kumra is a radio show host, community builder, meditation coach, and global speaker. He has spoken across the globe to several dozen organizations and interviewed over 500 luminaries including Dr. OZ, Dave Meltzer and Dr. Drew. He has taken his passion for meditation and mindfulness to help create Peak Meditation, a performance brand to help people achieve their peak state.

Mr. Kumra speaks about his leadership journey and what he is passionate in business. leadership and life.