March 16, 2015

Students to visit leading San Francisco companies on Spring Break Corporate Tour

The Drucker School Office of Professional Development and Alumni Relations is leading a group of 11 students on a three-day trip to San Francisco to explore career paths and meet with leaders from some of California’s top companies.

The SF Spring Break Corporate Tour on March 17-19 will take students to nine businesses in industries such as technology, human resources, manufacturing, gaming, engineering, retail, and microfinance. At each business, students will meet with leaders from different departments and functions and be introduced to a broad-cross section of management roles and responsibilities.

“These visits and networking opportunities will be invaluable to our students as they conduct their internship and job searches,” said Barbara JL Domingo, the Drucker School’s senior director of professional development and alumni relations. “The students aren’t just doing this for themselves. They’re also ambassadors for the Drucker School, and the connections they make on this trip will pay huge dividends for future students.”

The group will visit:

• LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional social networking site. Students will meet with the head of global talent management along with other recruiting managers.

• Guidespark, which helps businesses communicate human resources messaging to various audiences. Students will meet with leaders in customer success, human resources, and organizational behavior.

• TechShop, a creative community recently visited by President Obama, which provides customers with access to tools, software, and space to create and build their own products. Students will visit with a co-founder and Drucker alumnus for insight into entrepreneurship.

• Semifreddi’s Bakery, which bakes European style bread and pastries for more than 500 restaurants, cafes, and stores all over the San Francisco Bay Area. Students will meet with the CEO and president to discuss successful management strategies, mostly based on Drucker philosophies.

• 365 Data Centers, which provides cloud-hosted data services for growing businesses. Students will meet with the company’s chief commercial officer and gain insight on marketing, product management, partnerships and sales.

• ServiceNow, which works with enterprise level organizations to automate and manage workflows across business, IT, and application development functions. Students will meet with a vice president and Drucker alumnus to hear an overview of the company and view a demo of the ServiceNow platform.

• Kiva, a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through microfinance lending to alleviate poverty. Students will meet with a company director to discuss ways to identify, maintain, and resolve various types of risk.

• Ubisoft, a leading creator, publisher and distributor of interactive gaming and entertainment services. Students will meet with managers to learn about public relations and the future of the gaming/entertainment industry.

• Safeway, the second largest food and drug retailer in the United States. Students will conduct a tour of a local Safeway store with the vice president of investor relations in order to better understand what portfolio managers and analysts seek when looking to invest millions of dollars into a public company.

• Timbuk2, the manufacturer of one of the original messenger bags. Students will tour the company’s manufacturing facility with a manager of digital marketing and social media, and discuss brand evolution, product design, manufacturing models and sustainability.

Students participating in the SF Spring Break Corporate Tour study in the full time MBA program, Professional MBA program, and Claremont Graduate University’s Departments of Economics and Behavioral and Organizational Sciences.

Drucker School alumni have sponsored much of the trip, covering the cost of hotels and keeping travel expenses low for the students.

“Our students are very grateful and would like to thank alumni for making this trip possible. We hope that through continued alumni support we will be able to provide exciting and unique opportunities for the students of Drucker,” Domingo said.

For information on future professional development road trips, contact Barbara Domingo at barbara.domingo@cgu.edu.