Breakout Sessions With Industry Experts

Lisa Curtis is the Founder & CEO of Kuli Kuli, the leading brand pioneering the superfood moringa in the US market. Lisa founded Kuli Kuli after working with moringa as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Lisa has grown Kuli Kuli from a Peace Corps dream into a multi-million dollar social enterprise that sells delicious moringa products in over 7,000 stores. Lisa and Kuli Kuli have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and hundreds of other publications. Prior to Kuli Kuli, Lisa served as the Communications Director at Mosaic where she managed a team of six to grow the company from zero to over $5M invested in solar through Mosaic’s online marketplace. Previously, Lisa wrote political briefings for President Obama in the White House, served as a United Nations Environment Programme Youth Advisor and worked at an impact investment firm in India. She is a regular contributor to Forbes and has been recognized as a StartingBloc Fellow, a Wild Gift Better World Entrepreneur, an Ashoka Emerging Innovator and a Udall Scholar. She was honored as a 30 Under 30 Leader by Forbes, GreenBiz and the University of California. She was also named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 “Top of the Class” for Social Entrepreneurship.

David Mayer is an expert in healthy lifestyle promotion. Prior to founding RENDLE, David worked as a successful health coach, transforming clients into healthier, happier individuals. He enjoyed significant success one-on-one with clients by getting them to think beyond exercise alone and about their lifestyle as a whole, and the connection between its components: sleep, stress, happiness, exercise and nutrition. With RENDLE, David has taken the key attributes of his 1-on-1 training knowledge to create a scalable, automated platform that can provide millions of people with lifestyle education and individual, scientific-based recommendations. David is often a featured speaker on a data-driven approach to lifestyle improvements and recently was invited to speak at the United Nations Public Service Innovation 2030 Agenda.

Hale Foote is the President of Scandic Springs, Inc. Scandic is the largest spring and stamping company in Northern California, making custom metal parts for companies in the medical, automotive and aerospace fields worldwide. He has used Scandic to work with students and teachers at local schools and universities to promote careers in manufacturing. He is also on the board of directors of Manex and other nonprofits. Before joining Scandic, he practiced law in Washington, DC.

Walt Tarpley is Director of Client Services for Manex Consulting and has over 25 years of extensive manufacturing experience and expertise in general management, manufacturing operations, quality systems, engineering, and continuous improvement initiatives, including Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma. As an experienced change agent, he has led numerous process improvement initiatives resulting in top-line and bottom-line growth across a range of industry sectors and geographies, in 40 U.S. states, South Africa, Canada, Caribbean, Europe and the United Kingdom.

Jeff Eyet is a radical diverger who prototypes through stories and applies these passions as the co-founder of the Berkeley Innovation Group (big). Working together since 2012, Jeff was Clark’s student at BerkeleyHaas, then rose to a lecturer position before focusing full-time on client work. He has led strategy work with Recology, UC Health, Mills College, and Dow Chemical and supported engagements with GE Health, GE Digital, Kaiser Permanente, Nissan, Paypal, and Abbott Labs.

Clark Kellogg is a curious soul who brings an unending passion for creativity to his Design Thinking practice. Trained as an architect at UC Berkeley, Clark has over thirty years of experience spread among architecture, product design, and strategy creation. His academic background covers 15 years at UC Berkeley, currently teaching Creativity, Design Thinking, and Applied Innovations at Haas. Privately and as a co-founder of The Berkeley Innovation Group, he has led consulting engagements with corporations, non-profits, governments, and universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, and Europe.

Bill Abel is a Tax Manager with Sensiba San Filippo LLP. With several years of accounting experience, Bill, has immense experience in tax preparation and planning for both individuals and corporations. Bill works extensively with a wide variety of clients, specializing in working with technology, construction and manufacturing companies, closely-held businesses, and individuals. Additionally, Bill has also become a specialist in advising and consulting clients on the Research and Development credit, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). He is an Enrolled Agent and is skilled in state and federal audit representation.

Bala Balachander has more than 25 years of experience in operations, technology and business. Working with both large and small companies, he has taken innovative and leading-edge cellular, Wi-Fi, consumer electronics products; chipsets, technologies and manufacturing automation; workflow systems; and mobile and internet of things (IoT) security infrastructure to market. He built and guided numerous teams to innovate, standardize, develop market and deploy leading-edge solutions and services. He previously held positions with Holistic Labs, Airgo/Qualcomm, Empowertel Networks, Nortel/Bell Northern Research and Citation Computer Systems. Mr. Balachander received his Master of Science from the University of Texas, Arlington and a Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering from Bangalore University.

Gopal Chillariga has more than 25 years of experience leading operations and technology teams. He has worked on complex development projects that include systems architecture and design; hardware and software development; end-to-end systems integration and deployment of cellular, Wi-Fi and consumer electronics products; chipsets and technologies; manufacturing automation and workflow systems. He previously held positions at Holistic Labs, Airgo/Qualcomm, SiSilk Networks Inc, mDiversity Inc, Motorola and the Center for Development of Telematics. Mr. Chillariga received his Master of Science from the University of Iowa, Iowa City and a Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

The Employment Training Panel (ETP) provides funding to employers to assist in upgrading the skills of their workers through training that leads to good-paying, long-term jobs. The ETP was created in 1982 by the California State Legislature and is funded by California employers through a special payroll tax. The ETP is a funding agency, not a training agency.

Panelists: Jeff Deiss, Regional Export Finance Manager and Northern California International Trade Finance Manager for Western U.S. Office of International Trade; Shyamal Roy, AVP of Operations – West for Matson Logistics; Rod Hirsch, Director of Oakland Export Assistance Center for U.S. Commercial Service; Ken Rosenberg, SVP & Manager of International Banking for Bridge Bank a Division of Western Alliance Bank; Hannah Kain, CEO of ALOM Technologies

Panelists: Robert Peters, Control Systems Engineering for Shell Martinez Refinery; Marlon Caoile, Intern for Shell Martinez Refinerychnologies; Paul Garavatti, Pattern Shop Manager for AB&I Foundry; Ivan Berejkoff, Pattern Maker Apprentice for AB&I Foundry

Walt Tarpley is Director of Client Services for Manex Consulting. He has over 25 years of extensive manufacturing experience and expertise in general management, manufacturing operations, quality systems, engineering, and continuous improvement initiatives, including Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma. As an experienced change agent, he has led numerous process improvement initiatives resulting in top-line and bottom-line growth across a range of industry sectors and geographies, in 40 U.S. states, South Africa, Canada, Caribbean, Europe and the United Kingdom.