Full-time MBA Program
HSA team
The Haas Student Ambassadors Program is the student arm of the admissions office and thus provides a student perspective to campus visitors. HSA's mission is to ensure that all prospective students' visits to Haas are informative, positive, well coordinated, and as interactive as possible.
Questions? Email the HSA team
Veronica Briggs
Veronica was born in Missoula, Montana and spent her early years moving throughout the Northwest – from Spokane, Washington, to Sandpoint, Idaho to Corvallis, Oregon - before moving east to West Hartford, Connecticut. Her love of the outdoors and a fleeting, yet compelling, desire to join the Forest Service, took her back to the west coast for her undergraduate tenure as an Anthropology and Environmental Studies major at Pitzer College in Claremont, California. During her time at Pitzer, Veronica spent a semester abroad in Nepal, an experience that illuminated the integral linkage between environmental issues and population and community health. After graduating from Pitzer in 2002, Veronica joined Blue Shield of California in order to learn more about the inner-workings of the U.S. healthcare system and gain in-depth knowledge of the role that payers play in driving down cost and improving access to care. She returned to Nepal half-way through her time at Blue Shield to work as a health education volunteer for six months. The combination of international and domestic work experience helped her learn about a variety of health issues, but she decided to come to Haas to join its dual Masters of Business and Masters of Public Health (MBA/MPH) program to strengthen her core business skills and widen her exposure to healthcare industries. She was attracted to Haas by the strength and integration of the dual degree program, the diversity of the student body, and the welcoming, collaborative atmosphere. Veronica will be joining ZS Associates during the summer of 2009.
Meredith Hoffmann
Meredith was born in the San Francisco Bay Area but moved with her family to Boston when she was only one month old. She lived in Boston until the age of 15, when her family moved to Monterey, CA. After graduating from The York School in Monterey, Meredith headed south to attend Occidental College in Los Angeles, where she majored in Economics. After internships at Morgan Stanley and Yahoo!, Meredith decided that her real interest was real estate development. She accepted a job at RCLCo, a real estate development consulting firm in Los Angeles. At RCLCo, Meredith had the pleasure of working on a number of exciting developments, including Arizona’s largest master planned community and several luxury residential and retail developments in Los Angeles and Hawaii. After two years of consulting, she decided that she wanted to gain a better understanding of corporate finance and accepted a role as financial analyst at Houlihan Lokey, a leading middle market investment bank based in Los Angeles. After completing the three-year analyst program in two years (she was a direct-promote from first- to third-year analyst) she applied to business school with hopes to one day have her own real estate development firm. With strong programs in both real estate and entrepreneurship, Haas was the perfect fit for Meredith.
In addition to being a Haas Student Ambassador, Meredith is Vice President of Student Outreach for the Berkeley Real Estate Club and is a Board Fellow for the Alameda Point Collaborative, a local non-profit. Meredith was also a member of the team that represented Haas at the Annual University of Texas, Austin Real Estate Challenge. When she is not in class, Meredith enjoys horseback riding on her family’s ranch in Steinbeck’s Pastures of Heaven in the Monterey Bay Area, skiing in Tahoe, and spending time with family and friends. This summer, Meredith will be interning as a project manager at Matarozzi Pelsinger Builders, a firm that builds luxury green homes in San Francisco.
Jenny Hsieh
Jenny was born and raised in Strongsville, OH, a suburb of Cleveland. Staying true to her Midwestern roots, for college she attended Northwestern University in Evanston, IL where she majored in applied math and economics. From there, Jenny decided to pursue a career in finance and moved to New York City after graduation and worked at JPMorgan Chase for three years as an Associate in the Equity Derivatives Group structuring financial solutions for corporate clients. Jenny’s desire for her career to have more direct social impact led her to transition to a job in the non-profit sector at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA). She spent two years at RPA as a Financial Analyst analyzing the operating activities and investments of the organization. These two career experiences really informed her decision to go to business school and explore how she could further integrate her for-profit and non-profit background. Coupled with her desire to explore the west coast, Haas’ strength in corporate social responsibility and nonprofit management was a perfect fit. Jenny hopes to pursue a career in socially responsible investing or social venture capital. In addition to being a Haas Student Ambassador, Jenny is a fund principal for the Haas Socially Responsible Investment Fund, a Haas Board Fellow for the Land Trust of Napa County, and on the leadership team for the Haas Culinary Club. This summer, after traveling to Zambia through the International Business Development Program, Jenny will intern at RSF Social Finance in San Francisco.
Hetu Patel
Hetu was raised in a small, metropolitan town in India. After high school, he moved to America to pursue his undergraduate studies at the Ohio State University. Here he majored in computer engineering and became a college football fan. After graduating, Hetu joined a rotational program at a precision instruments company – Mettler Toledo. As a part of this rotational program he worked on projects in various groups like Finance, Engineering, Marketing, and Logistics. This cross-functional and cross-hierarchical work experience got him particularly interested in the challenges of the complex global supply chain that the company had and he took up a position with the corporate Global Logistics group. In this role, he worked as internal consultant to various decentralized units on projects like inventory reduction, process improvement, and transportation. Hetu also spent six months working in Switzerland in the early phase of a SAP implementation project for global process and data standardization.
After 8 years of being based in Columbus, it was time to move to warmer pastures and broaden business acumen. Hetu found a perfect match in Haas where the unique blend of general management, technology and international business particularly aligned with his interests. More importantly, the student body at Haas was most impressive in terms of passion, humility, and high level of involvement. At Haas, besides being a Haas Student Ambassador, Hetu has worked on a consulting project for Berkeley Solutions group, is the VP of Finance for the technology club, is a technology panel co-chair for the Asia Business conference and is a member of other clubs like Consulting, Digital Media and Entertainment Club (DMEC), Leadership, and South Asian Business Association. Hetu’s other interests include playing cricket, playing racquetball, hiking and camping. This summer, Hetu will be spending 3 weeks on an IBD project in Zambia and the rest of his summer in London working for BT Design in a Management Development Program.
Dan Perl
In coming to Haas, Dan continues his slow move west. He was born in Rhode Island, but grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, just outside Washington D.C. He attended the University of Michigan, where he studied history and psychology. After school, he moved to St. Louis to take part in the Coro Fellows Program – a rotational leadership program focused on public affairs. As a result of that experience, Dan began working for St. Louis-based McCormack Baron Salazar, a mission-driven real estate company focused on developing affordable housing in disinvested urban neighborhoods throughout the country. Dan spent five years with the firm, serving as a Project Manager on large-scale urban revitalizations in Cleveland, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. At Haas, Dan serves as a VP in the General Management & Strategy Club, as a Social Sector Solutions consultant to a local nonprofit and as a graduate assistant for a Haas undergraduate business history course. This summer, he will be interning at AT&T in a Leadership Development Program at the firm’s headquarters in Dallas.
Saumil Shah
Hailing from the great state of New Jersey, Saumil continues to believe that The Boss is the greatest musician of all time—with Bon Jovi following closely behind. After growing up in Holmdel, Saumil moved to Chapel Hill to pursue his undergraduate education. While there, he studied Political Science and Business Administration. During his tenure at UNC, Saumil worked on several political campaigns, coming in second place each time. It was at this point that he realized that Business was his true passion.
After four years, even the North Carolina winters started feeling cold, so he moved to Atlanta where he worked in Deloitte Consulting's Strategy & Operations practice. Saumil’s clients included companies from the Financial Services, Technology Media & Telecommunications, and Public Sector industries. After three years racking up elite status on several airlines, Saumil decided it was time to pursue his MBA. He was attracted to Haas by its intimate class size, open culture, and the breadth of alternative career opportunities available in the Bay Area.
In addition to being a Haas Student Ambassador, Saumil is an active member of the Entrepreneurs Association, Digital Media and Entertainment Club, and the Global Social Venture Competition. He’s also a Fellow on the non-profit board of the Housing Consortium of the East Bay (HCEB), an organization that seeks to provide affordable and accessible housing for individuals with developmental disabilities. In his increasingly rare free time, Saumil enjoys listening to music, mountain biking, and playing recreational dodge ball.
This Summer, Saumil will be working at Oakland Unified School District to pursue one of his passions—improving educational opportunities for underprivileged students.
Jessica Wan
Born in Canada and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Jessica came out to the Bay Area for her undergraduate studies at Stanford and earned a BS in Product Design (a multidisciplinary blend of Mechanical Engineering and Art) and a BA in Music (Vocal Performance). After graduation, she moved to San Francisco and worked for two years in a small product design firm in Marketing and Consumer Research. She then applied her experience in marketing to a large nonprofit arts organization, the San Francisco Opera, where she worked for three years. At Haas, Jessica is focusing on marketing with an interest in technology, as well as continuing to deepen her knowledge of nonprofit management. In addition to being a Haas Student Ambassador, Jessica is the President of the Women in Leadership Club and a Berkeley Board Fellow. She is also a member of Net Impact, the Marketing Club, the Tech Club, DMEC, and Redwoods@Haas. In her spare time, she enjoys keeping up with her "night job" as a classical and opera singer, dancing, rock climbing, playing board games, cooking, and spending time with her husband, dog, and friends.This summer, Jessica will be working at Apple in Product Marketing for the iPhone Partner Marketing group. She will also be spending three weeks in Saudi Arabia as part of the IBD program, working on a feasibility study for an MBA program at an all-women's college.
Meet the Vice-President of Admissions for the MBA Association
Bernie Lin
Bernie has lived in a slew of locations, including the Midwest, Orange County, Taiwan, Los Angeles, and of course, the Bay Area, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley. While at Berkeley, Bernie served as the president of Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Honor Society and almost earned a music minor. After graduating, he completed a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, focusing on wireless communications theory and Chinese language and dialects.
Bernie graduated in 2001 (during the dot-com bust) but through some fortunate Cal connections, he found a job at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Sunnyvale, California. He spent his first 5 years in the Engineering Leadership Development Program, working on a variety of roles and projects, including systems engineering, software development, missile defense, university relations, and perhaps most random of all, running the summer internship program. Realizing that he wanted to see the company from a higher level, he transitioned into Lockheed’s business development group and worked for the final 2 years as a competitive intelligence analyst. The role exposed Bernie to business concepts and strategic thinking, and he was soon hooked. And after careful thinking, he decided to build a solid business foundation and transition into smaller consumer facing companies by attending Haas.
Bernie chose Haas for its people, program, and connection to the Silicon Valley (and the awesome weather!) At Haas, he is involved with the MBA Association, Berkeley Business Plan Competition, Digital Media and Entertainment Club (DMEC), the “>Play” Conference, Q@Haas, Entrepreneurship Association, Haas Tech Club, and Pacific Rim Club. In his leisure time (if he can find any), he enjoys tennis, squash, snowboarding, games (video and board), movies, photography, traveling, and violin.
During the summer of 2009, Bernie participated in the International Business Development Program, working on commercializing mobile intellectual property in Finland, and worked as a project manager at LucasArts, a private video game developer and publisher in San Francisco.
