Calendar

Nov. 6 - Industrial Technology Advisory Council Meeting, contact Sandy Edar, for more information

Nov. 11 - Academic Holiday - Veteran's Day observed

Nov. 25 - 29 - Academic Holiday - Thanksgiving

Dec. 4 - Last day of fall term classes

Dec. 4 - Accounting Advisory Council Meeting, contact Norinne Cruzat for more information

Dec. 12 - Mid-Year Commencement, Mott Gym, 9:00 a.m. - College of Business Ceremony.

Dec. 12 - End of Fall term

Dec. 13 - Jan. 3 - Academic Holiday

2010

Jan. 4 - Beginning of winter quarter - classes begin

Jan. 18 - Academic Holiday, Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday observed

November 2009 E-News

ALUMNI NEWS

HONORED ALUM 2009

Our congratulations go out to Darran Littlefield, the 2009 Honored Alum for the Orfalea College of Business. Darran graduated in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and a concentration in Management Information Systems.

Darran is a co-founder and currently co-chief executive of Point B Incorporated, headquartered in Seattle. Point B is an employee-owned management consulting firm that specializes in helping clients execute their strategic initiatives and deliver business results that create transformational change and competitive advantage.
Darran lives in Seattle with his wife, Janet (also a Cal Poly graduate), and two sons, Scott and Andy. Darran has been an active member of the Orfalea College Dean’s Advisory Council since spring 2008.

TOP 40 UNDER 40

Congratulations to Adam Stephens (BS ’05, MS ‘07) a winner of the Pacific Coast Business Times 2009 40 Under 40. Adam is Founder and CEO of Berserker Cycle, which markets an off-road recumbent tricycle, typically used by those with back problems. Unlike recumbent tricycles already on the market; Berserker’s bikes are specifically for off-road use.

Adam, once an avid mountain biker until he blew out his back in a biking accident, developed his product as his master’s thesis while at Cal Poly. After receiving positive feedback on his product at Cal Poly, Adam decided to push forward and get the product to market. “A lot of people get really excited when they see this product,” Adam said. “I’m really excited about seeing where I can take this.”

Jason Larocco presents Ryan Moore the GSBA Appreciation Award

At the 2009 Cal Poly Career Services Appreciation Banquet, RLG International was recognized by the Graduate School of Business Association for their contribution to the program. RLG has supported the Orfalea Graduate School of Business with their extensive recruiting efforts. Jason Larocco, speaking on behalf of the GBSA, commended RLG and thanked them for “developing a partnership which has opened doors for our graduates.”

Ryan Moore, an RLG performance coach and Cal Poly alum, received the award on behalf of the company. “It’s always an honor to be associated with both RLG and Cal Poly. In the future, I expect our partnership to grow.”
The Career Services Appreciation Banquet honors companies that recognize the value of Cal Poly students, and look to grow by hiring the University’s graduates. Along with RLG this year’s awards recipients included Chevron, Northrop Grumman, Target and the CIA.

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

Welcome to the new Cal Poly Entrepreneurship Club which was originally inspired during Associate professor Jonathan York’s Business 310 “Introduction to Entrepreneurship” class last spring. York has 19 years of entrepreneurship experience, beginning when he founded Fourth Channel, Inc., a Web-based supply chain software company. He became a professor to impart his knowledge and passion for entrepreneurship upon students, he said. When he found out the entrepreneurship club at Cal Poly had disbanded, he asked his students if they would be interested in reviving it.

He said the officers are treating the club like a new business, which means making decisions, one of York’s favorite parts about being an entrepreneur.
“It’s your baby and you make the decisions, and those decisions determine whether you succeed or fail. There are risks but there also big rewards, financially but also personally,” he said.

The CP Entrepreneurship Club invites students from different colleges to learn about the fundamentals of starting a business during bi-monthly meetings on campus.

Business senior and the club’s vice president Ian Drogin said they are looking for motivated students who want to have an active role in forming the club to meet their specific needs. “The club will help provide networking support, a forum for discussing ideas and collaborating on creating new products for either scholastic or commercial uses and education from guest speakers,” he said.
The club is in the process of creating a Web page, but does have an e-mail address: cpentrepreneurs@calpoly.edu.

For more information about making a gift to Cal Poly's Orfalea College of Business, visit the College's Advancement web page.