Previous Job (prior to Haas):
Founder and Managing Director
TEBCA
Caracas, Venezuela

"As we were packing, my wife told herself that it would only be for two years. Then we could come home," recalls Carlos Penzini "Within a couple of weeks of our arrival at Berkeley, we knew we could happily stay here forever."

"I have been following Silicon Valley on the news and in magazines ever since my childhood. This is where the action is," says Penzini. "I knew I had to be here." But what sort of place would it be for his wife, Andrea, and son, Carlos Eduardo? They would have to make a life in a new setting, with a different culture, and do it all in a foreign language. And, they would have to do it without the support of family. The Haas support system for international students and students with families provided plenty of tips and recommendations. "My wife was active in the Partners Club, and Haas Kids was great for my son. As first-year students, most of us were new to the area, so we made friends quickly," he says.

Penzini and his family reveled in the cultural offerings available at Berkeley. Trading babysitting with Haas classmates, they enjoyed world-class performers at the Zellerbach Auditorium on campus. "We would go to the Lawrence Hall of Science at least once a month," he says, marveling at the proximity to so much Nobel Prize-winning innovation.

Now expecting their second child, the family is putting down roots in the place Penzini continues to believe is "the epicenter of innovation."