UCLA Anderson School of Management

The 2025 International Woman of Courage, or IWOC, award, “[is] an honor bestowed only on eight women from across the globe in recognition of their exceptional work to advance peace, justice, human rights and the empowerment of women everywhere. The work that these women do, and the work that they empower and mobilize others to do, is truly remarkable.”

Heather Maiirhe Caruso
Associate Dean, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Faculty Co-Director, Inclusive Ethics Initiative
Adjunct Associate Professor of Management and Organizations and Behavioral Decision Making

The awardees participated in a private roundtable discussion with leaders from across the university community, as well as in a public panel event organized by UCLA Anderson School of Management. Both events were made possible with the support of UCLA's executive vice chancellor and provost, senior advisor to the chancellor and the International Institute, as well as the U.S. Department of State's Office of Global Women's Issues, Meridian International, International Citizen Diplomacy of Los Angeles and American Women for International Understanding.

UCLA hosted the U.S. State Department's 2025 International Women of Courage on April 7, several of whom spoke about their work and life experience at a public panel event.

Amat Al-Salam Al-Hajj, founder of the Abductees’ Mothers Association in Yemen, said her work was motivated both by the joy of helping people be released from prison and by the goal of justice.

“[The mothers] push us and they tell us, ‘Never stop until everybody gets released. Continue!' This is the part that really makes us go on.”

Read about several of the honorees here: ucla.in/4j8gzWN



cc: UCLA Anderson School of Management UCLA College UCLA Center for the Study of Women Streisand Center UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations UCLA Center for India and South Asia-CISA UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies

Congratulations to Aditya Sulakhe ('25), Edward Rippon ('26), Boram (Rachel) K. ('26), Sebastian Hartmann ('25) on being named this year's Kayne Investment Management Fellows!

The fellowship helps outstanding students committed to completing summer internships in investment management navigate the process. Each fellow is matched with three industry professionals in the field who provide career advice and guidance throughout the summer internship recruiting process.

With the sad defeat of the UCLA Women's Basketball team from the March Madness Women's Basketball Final Four on Friday, we look back at the first and only national title in women’s basketball in UCLA history.

Title I Members of UCLA’s champion 1978 women’s basketball team recall what basketball was like then, and how the game has changed.

Quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Professor Stuart Gabriel reflects on rebuilding after the fires in Los Angeles:
“It would be egregious and massively disappointing if somehow we built the same high-risk stuff in the same way, in the same places, and that we didn’t take this opportunity to digest and implement all the lessons of this catastrophic event.”

L.A. Has Big Plans to Rebuild After the Fires. Good Luck Getting Insurance. Displaced residents seek a speedy return to the city’s Pacific Palisades, but California’s largest insurer says, ”Writing new policies doesn’t make any sense at this time.”

Last month the UCLA Anderson Center for Impact hosted a High Impact Tea discussion for an insightful conversation on social impact consulting, bringing together expert consultants and their actual clients to discuss what makes these partnerships truly successful.

📽️ ICYMI – watch the session recording: https://lnkd.in/gbnG_vz4
+ view the photo gallery: https://lnkd.in/gS5Qxxsf

Some takeaways:
🔹 Beyond Transactions – The best consultant-client engagements transform into real partnerships built on trust, listening, and shared investment in the outcome.

🔹 The Consultant’s Role – A great consultant:
✅ Brings the right stakeholders to the table
✅ Provides focus amid complexity
✅ Leverages untapped opportunities and asks the tough questions

🔹 Fluent in Two Worlds – Consultants must speak both business and social impact languages to navigate dynamics effectively.
🔹 Steering the Ship – Change takes time, and consultants help guide the process while adapting along the way.

During last week's spring break, traveling under the direction Mariko Sakakibara, Professor of Strategy and Sanford and Betty Sigoloff Chair in Corporate Renewal, UCLA Anderson students traveled to Tokyo, Japan to “The Business Environment and Opportunities in Japan.”

🗼UCLA Anderson School of Management の榊原真理子教授とそのMBA学生が同校のGlobal Immersion Programの一環で来日し、JAPAN CLOUDのビジネスモデルについて 弊社 Aruna Basnayakeと2時間のセッションを行いました！

さまざまなバックグラウンド出身の学生から、多くの鋭い質問が次々に挙がり熱気あるディスカッションとなりました❤️‍🔥

Thank you, Prof. Mariko Sakakibara and her MBA students, who visited us recently at our office. It was truly an honor to spend such a fulfilling time together!

Happy Spring Quarter AnderFam!
On this first day of the new quarter let the spirit of last quarter’s One Anderson Service Day guide you as you help others and the communities around you.

Pictured: For the second year in a row, members from the UCLA Anderson community returned to ’s Sage Hill, to help restore the last piece of untouched native habitat in West Los Angeles.

Did you know that UCLA LGBTQ Campus Resource Center has served the UCLA community for over 25 years? The Center provides a comprehensive range of education and advocacy services supporting intersectional identity development as well as fostering unity, wellness, and an open, safe, and inclusive environment for UCLA’s LGBTQ community. 🏳️‍⚧️ 💙💛 🏳️‍🌈

As part of our One Anderson Service Initiative, members from the UCLA Anderson community gathered at the Center to help replenish supplies including folding pamphlets and creating buttons.

Match Day comes but once a year, and one wouldn't think that the school of management would be celebrating, but we're thrilled to celebrate MD/MBA student Samantha Garcia ('25) on matching into UCSF Health's residency program.

As a daughter of an immigrant mother from Mexico and a father from Puerto Rico, Samantha Garcia was shaped by her family’s experiences. She is also the first in her family to graduate from college, navigating higher education without the guidance of her parents or three older siblings. While her family faced challenges, including the incarceration of one of her brothers, her mother’s involvement in support groups introduced her to the power of advocacy and community. Part of Garcia’s inspiration to choose OB-GYN was her mother’s battle with ovarian cancer. Helping her mother through her cancer journey inspired her to care for patients going through similar women’s health challenges.

Garcia is also pursuing an MBA, preparing herself with leadership and management skills to improve the quality and accessibility of women’s health care services for vulnerable communities.

Congratulations to Samantha Garcia on matching into UCSF Health's residency program! 💙💛

She's a student who is also obtaining her MBA at UCLA Anderson School of Management as part of the PRIME-LA program. 

Read her story at UCLA Health: https://uclahs.fyi/4kKy8gX

Congratulations to Master of Financial Engineering students Alina Saginbazarova ('25), Daksh*ta Srinivasan ('25), Ewan Taylor('25), and Tony Liu ('25) on being awarded the 2024-2025 UCLA Anderson Fink Center for Finance Quantitative Finance Fellowship!
We look forward to hearing about your internships!

The fellowship helps outstanding students committed to completing summer internships in quantitative finance navigate the process. Each fellow is matched with three industry professionals who provide career advice and guidance throughout the summer internship recruiting process.

Last week, Professor Jana Gallus' FEiSty students wrapped up her capstone course, Field Experiments in Strategy, by presenting the results of their real-world field experiments. She had this to say about the class:

"And once again, they nailed it.
For the second year running, we have a 100% success rate in partnering with companies eager to put experimentation to work—true Anderson style, spanning gaming and entertainment, health tech, the LA restaurant scene, and a non-profit brewing community around books (and great coffee).

💡 Along the way, we had the privilege of learning from industry experts at Apple, Walmart, Netflix, Spotify, Duolingo, Coursera, Jaguar Land Rover, Zillow, Noom, and the Behavioural Insights Team—a true masterclass in applied experimentation.

🚀 A special shoutout to Megan Weber, who has been an invaluable part of this journey. She’s not only helped make this course a success but is also doing fascinating research on commitment devices. Colleagues hiring in marketing this year—take note! Any team would be lucky to have her.

Bittersweet to say goodbye to this cohort after two intense quarters, but FEiSty never really ends. You’re now part of the alumni circle—where the experiments (and the learning) continue. Chapeau to this incredible group—you made me proud! 🥂"

Organized by full time MBA student, Patrick O’Brien (‘26), as part of the One Anderson Day of Service Initiative, members of the Anderson community convened at the Veterans Garden near UCLA to help clear debris and setup a watering system for a large tomato garden.

The Veterans Garden is a 15-acre therapeutic agriculture project supporting veterans through horticulture therapy. UCLA Anderson members aided in the restoration process meant to help improve veterans’ health, address food insecurity, and ultimately provide job training.

Earlier this month, over 240 FEMBAs from 13 class years networked at the FEMBA Winter Connect Open House. Many thanks to the President of the UCLA Anderson Alumni Network, Steve Yu ('03) for providing the keynote address.

Let's hear it for Alejandro Lara ('25), Chase Rosett ('26), Chasen Volkel ('25), Isabella Zhou ('26), JJ McMahon ('25), Kellie Barnum ('26), Lauren Gargano ('25), & Prasham Shah ('25) on being named this year's Brown Private Equity and Alternatives Fellows. 👏👏👏👏

The Brown Fellowship was established to augment the resources available to the most dedicated and ambitious students pursuing private equity education at Anderson.

It is with profound sadness that we share that Edward Leamer, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Global Economics and Management, and Director Emeritus, UCLA Anderson Forecast, passed away on Tuesday, February 25.

Ed joined the UCLA Anderson faculty in 1990 as the Chauncey J. Medberry Chair in Management. His appointment at UCLA Anderson represented a move across the UCLA campus from the Department of Economics, where Ed had been a member of the faculty since 1975. In addition to his professorship, he served as director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast from 2000 until 2016. As director of the Forecast, Ed influenced business practitioners in every field and, in his December 2000 forecast, he stood virtually alone in predicting the 2001 recession. At Anderson, he taught courses in business and global economics, his most profound impact made in the more than 40 doctoral committees he participated in, including more than 30 he chaired.

To quote Dean Bernardo, "Ed’s contributions to the field of economics were profound. Throughout his career, his specific interests broadened, shifted and evolved, making it difficult to summarize his myriad essential contributions to the field."

We invite you to read Ed's full In memoriam on the UCLA Newsroom website and share your memories of Ed in the comments below: https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/in-memoriam-edward-leamer-professor-director-of-ucla-anderson-forecast

Kudos to our students who proudly represented UCLA Anderson, bringing home 1st place in UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School's annual invitation-only Real Estate Development Challenge!

In the spirit of OneAnderson, the MFE Class of 2010 hosted an alumni + student mixer in Orange County, focused on creating new contacts for students in order to expand beyond the Los Angeles network for jobs/internships.

It’s one thing to have alumni come back to speak on campus, it’s another when you’re a professor who’s former student is returning to talk about their career as the president and ceo of a major company like AEG.

In a touching moment during yesterday’s Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series, Dan Beckerman (B.A. ‘92, ‘96) thanked Professor David Ravetch for giving him his start and inspiring him as an undergraduate accounting and economics major.