EXECUTIVES-IN-RESIDENCE

Richard J. Heckmann in the classroom
Richard J. Heckmann in the classroom

Unique to the UCR Palm Desert Graduate Center MBA program is a corps of world-class executives and entrepreneurs who bring a real-world perspective to the learning experience. These proven, successful men and women are committed to a mentoring relationship with students while providing personal accounts to challenging management cases and problems and inside views into how those challenges were met.

As mentors, our Executives-In-Residence help students sort through career alternatives, goals and aspirations. They provide unmatched insights into how to land that first job or to launch that first company.

In the classroom, they offer best practices idea sharing; discussions on contemporary issues facing management, and lead case studies for analysis and drawing of conclusions, based on personal experience in like situations.

Here are a few members of our distinguished Executives-In-Residence group at UCR Palm Desert:

William Blair

  • Graduate, Pennsylvania State University
  • Real estate entrepreneur specializing in neighborhood shopping centers and small apartment complexes
  • Owner-operator Best Western properties in Washington and Oregon
  • Now partner in DFI Funding, Inc., with $100,000,000 in assets

Ed Gingras

  • Graduate, Dartmouth College
  • Founding officer, Businessland, Inc.
  • Former CFO, Realty and Mortgage Investors of the Pacific
  • Former Corporate Controller, Saga Corporation
  • Founder, Worldwide Data Solutions, a virtual company providing services from China, India, the Phillippines and Zimbabwe

John D. Glenn

  • BA, University of Redlands – MA, Boston University
  • Former COO, major Los Angeles-based real estate company
  • Former Vice President or Arthur D. Little Valuation, Inc. and Marshall and Stevens
  • Former Director of Valuation Services at Touche Ross
  • Now President and Managing Director of The Mentor Group

Richard J. Heckmann

  • Founding shareholder, Callaway Golf
  • Founder, U.S. Filter
  • Former Chairman, K2 Inc.
  • Owner, Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury
  • Founder, Heckmann International Center for Entrepreneurial Management
  • Founder, Heckmann Corporation

Rick Langley

  • CEO, Regency Homes

William T. (Bill) Powers

  • Two-decade career with Bank of America
  • Supervising officer of 30 BofA branches, including the Los Angeles region
  • Now President and CEO, Pacific Western Bank
  • Civic and community leader

Gary Silverman

  • BA, MA, University of Illinois
  • Former Managing Director, Korn/Ferry International
  • Former Vice President and Senior Client Officer with Booz, Allen and Hamilton
  • Board member, LightPath Technologies, Inc.
  • Now Managing Partner of GWS Partners, specializing in senior-level management and board of director executive search engagements

Hal Spielberg

  • BS, MBA, The Ohio State University
  • Former Marketing Vice President, Levi Strauss & Co.
  • Former member of the Board and General Manager of Heublein’s Colony Wine division in San Francisco.
  • Former CEO of Gillette Mexico in Mexico City, capping a 23-year career with Gillette, where he also served as executive vice president of the Personal Care and Toiletries division.