Rady School Invests in an Alumnus’ Company Cloudbeds
The Rady School of Management at the University of San Diego is down to invest through its Rady Venture Fund. Sometimes, the San Diego-based school even invests in companies founded by graduates—like Richard Castle.
The 2013 alum co-founded Cloudbeds, a cloud-based hotel management software, alongside Adam Harris in 2012. This is the first time Rady’s invested in a company started by a graduate, according to a press release. The investment was part of Cloudbed’s Series B $9 million fundraising, which investment firm PeakSpan Capital led. This new development will help the company become more competitive as it provides services to hotels, beds and breakfasts, and vacation rentals. It currently employs 109 people in 22 countries with offices in San Diego, São Paulo, and Dublin. Its software, however, is used in more than 120 countries.
Castle started the company while still at Rady. He took part in its FlexMBA program, and he says his experience at the school greatly influenced him—and helped him succeed with Cloudbeds. “I chose to come to the Rady School for my MBA because I was drawn to starting a company, and Rady has a strong focus on entrepreneurship,” he said in the press release.
He’s not the only Rady man at the company either: The hotel and tech company hired 2006 graduate Colin Slade as its VP of Customer Success, 2013 graduate Matthew Parry for Director of Marketing, and 2009 graduates Andre Sovgir and Marshall Knauff as product managers.
The Rady Venture Fund invests money in “educational opportunities and hands-on learning experiences for Rady MBAs and other UC San Diego graduate students,” per the press release. The fund invests just one to two investments a year, led through Venture Capital Management courses MGT496A and MGT496B. There, students get to learn about the investment process hands on.
“We’re thrilled to have Cloudbeds as part of our investment portfolio,” said Lada Rasochova, Rady Venture Fund Managing Director, in the press release. “With Cloudbeds, we are not only investing in a great company with solid fundamentals, we are also investing in UC San Diego and the greater San Diego startup community.”
Rady Makes ‘Top 50 Best Value Big Data Graduate Programs’ List
Are you into big data? How about vivid sunsets? The Rady School of Management at the University of California at San Diego might be right for you, then. The school ranked 11th in the United States for Value Colleges‘ “Top 50 Best Value Big Data Graduate Programs” list.
The honor goes to Rady’s Master of Science in Business Analytics degree, in particular. Its first class graduated this year, so this ranking is also the program’s first, according to a press release. If you’re set on San Diego and data, Rady offers the only business analytics degree in the city.
Value Colleges writes:
Another of California’s Public Ivies, UC San Diego is a globally-respected research university with over $1 billion in research budget and faculty who have won every major academic award out there. Their computer science, engineering, and business graduate programs are recognized world-wide, as is their value. UCSD’s Rady School of Management offers a Master of Science in Business Analytics degree that focuses on data collection, analysis, and use for businesses of all kinds. Rady’s connections to the business world of San Diego can also be a major asset for graduates entering the job market.
Data experts are all the rage these days. Every successful business needs someone crunching the numbers and figuring out how to effectively communicate any patterns and outcomes. If trends continue, the numbers look bright: businesses will need 1.5 million more managers and business analytics by 2018, according to Rady reports.
Value Colleges says that big data is “the fastest growing job market you’ve never heard of.” It was sure to rank based on how the program balances technical computer skills, business and marketing knowledge, and statistical analysis. And of course, also on affordability and job marketability.
The universities included must be regionally accredited institutions with “proven reputations.” That’s UC San Diego, for ya’.
5 New Faculty Join Rady for Coming School Year
School’s almost back for the season. That means that campuses will be teeming with new students—and even new faculty. The Rady School of Management at the UC San Diego has added five new professors this school year, according to a recent press release.
The new additions are Jeremy Bertomeu, Associate Professor of Accounting; Edwige Cheynel, Assistant Professor of Accounting; Uma Karmarkar, Assistant Professor of Marketing and ITO; Michael Meyer, Assistant Teaching Professor of ITO; and William Mullins, Assistant Professor of Finance.
“These new faculty bring exceptional credentials to our school and join a team of Rady School faculty who are internationally recognized for the quality of their research,” Dean Robert S. Sullivan said in the press release.
And the dean is right: The school already boasts faculty members who are experts in their field, including ones who have taught at New York University and the UCLA Anderson School of Management, among many others. Some professors like Wendy Liu have even had their work published in nationally lauded journals like Journal of Consumer Research and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, as well as media publications like Time Magazine.
These three professors joining the faculty in the fall bring expertise from varying fields: accounting, finance, innovation, marketing, and technology and operations. They also have built some impressive resumes from their previous employers. Bertomeu has taught at Baruch College in New York. Cheynel was previously with the Columbia Business School. Karmarkar was teaching at the Harvard Business School, and Mullins is heading to San Diego from the Sloan School of Management at MIT.
These faculty will teach in all different programs within the Rady School including the MBA, Master of Finance, and Master of Science in Business Analytics programs. The school has been slowly growing its faculty numbers to accommodate the launch of its Master of Finance and Master of Science in Business Analytics degree programs. In the past two years, the faculty has grown by 12 people.
$4M Legacy Gift Made to Support Rady School Students
A $4 million legacy gift from Nobel laureate and adjunct professor Harry Markowitz and his wife Barbara will establish an Endowed Fellowship to support UC San Diego Rady School of Management students. Through the newly developed Markowitz Fellows Program, the Rady School hopes to attract and support outstanding students in mathematics, finance, and operations research.
In a recent press release, UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla said, “In the past five decades, UC San Diego has been privileged to have 16 Nobel laureates, including Harry Markowitz, teach our students. Now we thank this outstanding professor and his wife for committing to generously endow approximately $4 million as a legacy gift to ensure support of Rady School students for generations to come.”
Harry Markowitz has been a professor at the Rady School since its early days. In 2016, in honor of his long service, the Dr. Harry M. Markowitz Endowed Chair in Finance and Investing was established. Nearly 90-years-old now, he still teaches portfolio theory, conducts research, consults with clients, and writes textbooks including Risk-Return Analysis: The Theory and Practice of Rational Investing.
Throughout his career, Markowitz has been the recipient of many prestigious awards and medals, some of which he will also donate to the Rady School. The Rady School will receive Markowitz’s 1990 medal from the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, as well as his 2013 Wharton-Jacobs Levy Prize. These and his other medals and gifts are all contributions to the Campaign for UC San Diego.
“We are indeed fortunate to not only have one of the world’s most renowned financial economists on our faculty, but also to be able to call Harry Markowitz a friend,” said Rady School of Management Dean Robert S. Sullivan. “His continued quest for knowledge and impact is an inspiration to all.”
The $4 million gift from the 1990 Nobel Prize in Economics winner is part of the $2 billion comprehensive fundraising effort titled The Campaign for UC San Diego, which seeks to transform the student experience and campus.
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