Five years ago, UCLA Anderson students, professors, and alumni first got together for a week-long conference about creating positive social change. Now, Impact Week is an annual event that features talks and workshops from some of the world’s leading business experts examining what the future will hold, particularly as it relates to having a positive impact.
The goal of the Impact Week conference is to help attendees rethink the role of social impact—it’s not just for non-profit organizations. Instead, attendees will be introduced to many different ways that for-profit businesses can make an impact across industries. To make this possible, the event brings in many top business leaders with experience all over the board. Some of this year’s speaker’s include:
- Cara Chacon, VP of social & environmental responsibility at Patagonia
- Chuck Lee, director of insights at Buzzfeed Entertainment Group
- Darya Allen-Attar, financial advisor at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
- Les Borsai, founder and CEO of Gridmob
- Jennifer Vaden Barth, program manager, CS education in media at Google
This year’s conference will start on April 9th and run through April 13, and will feature workshops, panels, screenings, network mixers, receptions, and more. Each event held during the week covers a different topic. Taken together they are intended to provide a full overview of social impact. Topics to be covered include:
- Impact Investing
- How Profit is Possible in the Affordable Housing Space
- Impact in Media and Entertainment
- How to Drive Impact Through Design
- Impact on the Blockchain
- Diversity & Inclusion in Tech
Most days, the conference holds an event over lunch from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 or 1 p.m. The remaining events for each day then typically take place after 5 p.m., so that attendees can join after work. Anyone and everyone is welcome at Impact Week, including MBA students, students from the greater UCLA community, professionals outside of UCLA, and more.
The cost to attend is $20 for the week, plus $5 per event. To learn more about the conference and to purchase your tickets, click here.