The Ashby Room

Jordan Russell Smith

Jordan is the Director of Lean Portfolio Management focused on business transformation and operations at Pacific Scientific, where they make precision pyrotechnic systems. In this episode, we discuss Jordan’s career progression as an engineer, business development professional, and a business unit leader through organizations focused in robotics and automation. We talk about the Fortive business system, inherited from Danaher, and based on the original Toyota Production System. We also discuss how large enterprises can utilize GenAI tools today. Jordan shares how he decided to apply to Haas, and talks about the fireside chats he organized to discuss special topics among our classmates, such as real estate investing and AI applications.

Kimberly Sottero

Kim Sottero is the VP of business operations at Presage, focused on translational oncology and testing drug effectiveness. In this episode, we discuss Kim’s journeys traveling to over 80 countries, how her network helped kick start her career in biotech, how Kim is exploring Berkeley’s resources such as the Career Management Group (CMG), and the student entrepreneurship program (StEP), and also Kim’s role as our newly elected class president.

Maurin Lenglart and Vijay Ramakrishnan

Maurin Lenglart is the director of engineering at Alteryx, where he is focused on data transformation, and Vijay Ramakrishnan is a principal software engineering manager at Microsoft, focused on tools for software developers. In this episode, we discuss the difference in engineering roles at start ups vs large enterprises, engineering management vs specialization, and how to think about the changes AI is bringing to the software development world.

Ashish Iyer

Ashish Iyer is the Director of Product Management at Qualcomm Inc. Automotive Telematics. In this episode, we discuss Ashish's career as an engineer, his decision to transition into product management, and his experience moving to the US to pursue a masters at Georgia Tech to accelerate his professional life.

Krissy Estrada

Krissy Estrada is the Head of Marketing Operations at State, an industry leading motion graphics studio based out of Los Angeles. In this episode, I ask Krissy about her extensive experience in animation and production, her journey from growing up in Uvalde, TX, to attending Notre Dame, moving to Chicago for work, and finally landing in Los Angeles. We talk about Krissy’s design community, R&D, and her vlog “Hola Krissy." And finally we discuss, her motivations and plans for the MBA program here at UC Berkeley Haas.