On team work; Marillyn A. Hewson, is paraphrased stating “too often we worried about creating a star team. Getting the very best people into every role, but often they don’t work well together, how many sports teams do we know that have flunked (failed), people, a team, full of stars, but they don’t do well together. Not about a team of stars but it is a star team, how do you build a star team? Even more important in the kind of world we live in.”
-Vik Malhotra, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
Discover the Executive | Power of Leadership
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2024:
As class representative of her Executive MBA, Ann brought a corporate partnership mindset to the cohort—grounded in formative advice she once received from senior leaders at Bosch: “you must build wide”and “it takes all kinds.” Inspired by that guidance, she set out to create the conditions for collaboration, proposing a cross-university partnership that would expand the EMBA network beyond familiar boundaries and reflect the reality of modern work, where influence matters more than title or background.
Ann pitched the idea to both UCI Paul Merage School of Business and USC Marshall School of Business, drawing on her formative history with USC—as an undergraduate, work-study student and full time administration supporting multiple programs and departments, including Marshall School of Business.
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Both institutions were incredibly generous with ideation, collaboration and time. They embraced the vision, securing alumni speakers and co-creating a sold-out series of engagements that expanded access, sparked new collaborations, and reinforced a CEO-level mindset grounded in partnership, venture building, and the shared belief that strong ecosystems are built by bringing many paths, perspectives, and people together.
Leadership in Academica vs. Real World Application
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2023:
One of the many Executive MBA experientials was led by Noah Askin, PhD Faculty Director and Associate Professor of Organization and Management at the University of California.
His approach included campus ropes course and several alternative obstacle and framework led activities to challenge our assumptions about leadership, roles, collaboration, and risk-taking as new teams formed to conquer activities or fail forward.
The pedagogy pushed us to test our self-awareness, adaptability, and willingness to cross boundaries, revealing real behaviors under pressure.
For me, it reinforced how effective leadership shifts between technical execution, achievement, and shared values—often with culture, not authority, guiding the best decisions in real-world teams. Not all shared the same views, perspectives or outcomes in the experience.
Set yourself apart in the workforce. Engage in practical, hands-on learning designed to satisfy your curiosity, challenge your assumptions, and expand your thinking with the Voices of GSB: -Stanford Connection
Explore ‘something new’; see how it connects with your experiences, industries and future path ahead.
happy
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2025:
Ann participated in a Stanford Engineering course, where Innovation Bridges Academia and Enterprise Stakeholder Interest, pitching happy—an AI-powered workplace wellness concept designed to address cognitive fatigue, nutrition gaps, and disengagement in modern organizations. *Graduate Certificate Awarded.
The proposal positioned wellness as enterprise infrastructure, integrating personalized nutrition insights, cognitive stimulation through music, and centralized analytics to support productivity, relationships, retention, and decision-making at scale.
Built for seamless integration with enterprise systems, happy aligned with AI-driven digital transformation strategies adopted by global B2B employers. The pitch demonstrated a scalable path to market, grounded in research, cross-generational demand, and the growing convergence of digital health, AI, and workplace performance.
Looking ahead, this vision extends into connected automotive ecosystems, where in-cabin cameras, audio signals, and AI-driven music cues integrate with vehicle cloud data to detect shifts in driver behavior ahead of fatigue, braking events, parking errors, or incidents. These predictive & prescriptive insights enable healthcare providers, insurers, and mobility partners to assess risk, prevent accidents, and improve long-distance and value chain driving performance at scale.
Ann had the opportunity to learn from Ritta Katila, Ph.D, a scholar whose research points in the intersection of technology strategy and organizational learning, using machine learning, statistical analysis and mixed methods. She teaches learners & firms to innovate best by blending ‘something old, something new’—pairing existing technologies with novel ideas and ensuring diverse voices shape the creative process. Dr. Katila is a Professor of Management Science, a Faculty Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program and Scholar at Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.
My Ambition:
“Help improve workplace performance and interpersonal behavior.”
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2025:
Wanting to stay current in methodologies, frameworks and working models, continuing design thinking, Ann participated in a Stanford Engineering course, where Innovation Bridges Academia and Enterprise Stakeholder Interest, pitching happy—an AI-powered workplace wellness concept designed to address cognitive fatigue, nutrition gaps, and disengagement in modern organizations.
This was part of an online/hybrid global program created by Stanford Online, a Stanford Engineering extension program on behalf of Stanford University.
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3 graduate certificates covered 2 specific engineering categories and were provided Graduate Certificate Awards.
Compassion and skills to help you get through to anyone.
Extend beyond, change moves with integrated systems for a better tomorrow.
Trade offs; building highly effective teams.
McKinsey emphasizes that “successful change agents aren't just implementers but catalysts who foster employee "will," drive energy, and embody new behaviors, often by leveraging hidden influencers, starting with personal change (like Leo Tolstoy's idea), and creating new norms through rituals, making the transformation deeply personal and systemic, not just procedural.”
They stress that “leaders must model change, empower broad networks beyond just core agents, and use storytelling and engagement to get buy-in, recognizing that even the best plans fail without people embracing them.”
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2025:
Celebrating the courage and entrepreneurship of our Executive MBA Cohort; and to the University faculty and Executive MBA admissions team. They dedicated a large focus on AI transformation and venture and entrepreneurship in ‘Lead the Future’ EMBA program.
Congratulations to our Cohort from a variety of backgrounds who constantly seek ways to improve our world in our lines of business.
“Oh Captain My Captain, Trust but Verify”, -Thomas Eppel, Ph.D Lecturer & Professor in Decision Sciences and Information Technology for Management; Former Assistant Dean for Curriculum and Information Technology, and former professor in Decision Analysis, Risk Management & Business Analytics at the Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine
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If you are considering a hybrid/ in person Executive MBA program, or similar, I encourage you to explore to learn more.
clio
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2025:
Clio, the UCIStella Zhang New Venture(NVC) Entrepreneurship Competitioncrowning keystone semifinalists.
Clio represents a ground breaking approach to dementiacare, combining the nostalgia and simplicity of a rotary phone with advanced artificial intelligence to create a companion for individuals with dementia that’s both engaging, comforting, and familiar. This unique combination addresses a crucial gap in dementia care; the need for accessible, non-invasive, affordable and effective cognitive stimulation and companionship.
Learn about Silver Tech or Silver Economy and the Matthew Affect.
The University of California is continuously finding ways to transform everyday convenience care into effortless AI-Enabled Senior Care, congratulations on the all new UCI Health expansion programs and healthcare policy and conferences.
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The Operations Team
Ann served as Founder, Co-Founder, and CEO. She initially formed the team with a fellow prospective student she met during the admissions process and invited him to compete together. Due to personal circumstances, he was unable to continue and withdrew from the competition. Ann proceeded independently, assembling a core team aligned to the competition requirements and execution needs.
Ann recruited an EMBA specialist in technical service development with IT expertise in live events and gaming to collaborate on product execution. Together we added the final two key members.
Ann brought on an EMBA finance professional with a background within the insurance and financial services sector to support.
The team was further strengthened by a corporate healthcare EMBA specialist and certified administrative services business owner with California market expertise in senior care and dementia facilities. She provided insight into market demand, healthcare operations, medical device sales, and channel distribution, and leveraged her leadership experience in insurance and Medicare to support patient and facility validation for proof-of-concept and pitch execution.
As part of market validation, the team engaged family, friends, and professional peers to assess potential interest. The healthcare specialist led targeted research within her network to meet competition requirements and strengthen market assumptions.
Advisors
The team partnered with a local Chief Product advisor with a background in marketing strategy and software solutions to support product refinement and market positioning.
Ann also recommended an additional financial advisor and investment banking professional (anonymous) to review the business model and market validation prior to final pitch submission.
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Present an original venture idea that is less than two years old. Ideas must be in the pre-incubator stage and cannot have received more than $10,000 in external funding from accelerators, incubators, companies, or investors. Teams that didn’t win last year are welcome to compete with the same idea, while past winners must submit a new concept. All business concepts must be created by the registered participants.
Eligibility Requirements and Rule(s) Disclosures
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This opportunity also counted towards achieving a Graduate Certificate track, other coursework, courses and elective requirements were to be achieved. General submission and competition approvals were part of the initial concept submission process.
Not all group members participated in the certificate track as part of EMBA.
The Certificate was awarded at the UCLA Lake Arrowhead Awards Ceremony and closing residential on behalf of the University of California Irvine Paul Merage School of Business.
Hard Decisions, Factors, and Change Agents:
#responsibleAI #engineering #mobility #digitaltransformation #healthcare #innovation #technology