Steve will join Sears Holdings as senior vice president and president, Home Appliances. Steve comes to Sears Holdings from Sony Electronics, where he most recently served as executive vice president, leading the Product to Consumer Marketing and the Home and Digital Reading business divisions.

In his new role, Steve will lead the company’s effort to continue driving profitable growth in its industry-leading appliance business.

Steve said of his new role, “I am excited about the opportunity to join Sears Holdings, with iconic brands like Kenmore. Sears is an industry leader in appliances and I believe we can further that position with great products, and by delivering a great experience to our customers and members.”

Steve earned over 20 years of experience with Sony, holding roles of increasing responsibilities working in Sales, Marketing and General Product Management.  He started his career in 1980, having founded Trolley Stereo during his undergraduate years. As president, he grew the company into an audio/video retail and mail-order business.

Steve is a 2007 MBA graduate from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.

Frank was recently named vice president of retirement plans at National Planning Holdings, Inc. (NPH®), one of the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer networks. Frank will be the first executive to fill this new position at NPH, and will be tasked with supporting existing retirement plan business, as well as helping NPH representatives grow their practices in the qualified plan space. Frank will be based at the company’s Santa Monica headquarters.

Under Frank’s direction, the NPH network will expand its service offerings for advisers seeking to develop retirement plan and 401(k) business. He will also oversee new support programs that help NPH representatives address evolving compliance regulations as they work with plan sponsors on their retirement plan offerings. Read the rest of this entry »

Calvin was named president and chief executive of the Boys & Girls Clubs of King County. Calvin was a member of a Boys & Girls Club in Gary, Ind., as a youth.

Calvin formerly worked for Talaris, a Seattle-based nonprofit focused on supporting parents and caregivers in raising socially and emotionally healthy children, as director of partnerships. Additionally, he served as an executive director for Rainier Scholars, where he was responsible for all aspects of the educational non-profit including general business operations, fundraising, marketing, and program operations. He has worked at Boeing and Washington Mutual in diversity and senior human-resources roles.

Calvin completed the Executive Leadership Program at Seattle University. He is also an inventor with a U.S. Patent to his credit and the founder of a small company developed to introduce new products to market.

Calvin received his MBA in 1990 from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.

Jason, the well-known organizer of the LA Startups Uncensored events, and founder of Docstoc, has a new project, License123, a new service that helps entrepreneurs and small businesses figure out what licenses and permits they need to operate legally. The new service seeks  to help business owners avoid fines and operate legally, saving them hours and days of research time and calls. The service will also allow users to download required forms, link to online applications, and provide all of the contact information needed by businesses.

License123 is part of DocStoc.  Before starting Docstoc, which provides a wide selection of documents to start, grow and manage one’s small business or professional life. e was a partner in a venture consulting firm in Los Angeles where he worked with dozens of start-ups.

Jason was the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2009 Most Admired CEO for a small business. He holds a BA from UCSB and his JD/MBA from Pepperdine University. He was the student body president of both universities.

Read more about Jason at www.jasonnazar.com.

Blake recently accepted an offer with Palmer Capital Inc. as a capital markets partner. Palmer Capital Inc., is an independent real estate capital markets firm that focuses on the acquisition, disposition, financing and capitalization of office, retail and industrial properties.

Among his new responsibilities at Palmer Capital Inc., Blake will be underwriting for commercial real estate assets and managing client accounts.

Blake was the first runner up at Pepperdine’s 2011 Business Plan Competition. He earned $5,000 for his advertising company, Impakt Media Group, specializing in the design and delivery of “mobile billboards.” Read the rest of this entry »

Charlotte, a BSM graduate and MBA candidate, recently published an article on cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity for an industry publication for law firms. 

Read the article here.

Charlotte is the manager of Technology Services for Sheppard Mullin. She has led and participated in software upgrades and implementation projects for nearly 100 law firms and corporations. Charlotte serves as the communications liaison for ILTA’s User Support Peer Group and is a featured speaker at ILTA conferences and regional events. Read the rest of this entry »

Allan was recently appointed head of Technicolor’s worldwide media services business unit with P&L, sales, operational, R&D and strategy responsibility. Technicolor operates in the media and entertainment sector, and is committed to digital innovation. Technicolor’s research and innovation laboratories deliver advanced video services to content creators and distributors, and also focuses on imaging and sound technologies.

Formerly, Allan was employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM Global Services.

Allan is an honors graduate of the the University of the West of England, where he studied systems analysis. He is also a 1997 MBA graduate from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.

Michael is the new social media strategist at Woo Agency, a full service ad agency which specializes in developing fully integrated marketing programs using both traditional and non-traditional media tactics to drive results including guerilla, branded content, viral and social media.

Michael employs a mix of industry-standard and proprietary web- and real-time-monitoring tools and social analytics software to obtain business intelligence, inform social business strategy and determine the tactics to create and distribute powerful word-of-mouth marketing and business success.

Formerly, Michael worked in a variety of digital and marketing strategy positions at Marketingworks, Walt Disney Company, and Dove Entertainment.

In 2009, Michael teamed with fellow Graziadio School alumni Daniel Endrei, MBA ’09 and Anna Khoubian, MBA ’09 to launch Oomph!, a Los Angeles-based branding strategy consultancy.

His undergraduate major was biology at the University of Chicago. In addition, Michael concentrated in marketing and entrepreneurship while attending the Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management where he earned his MBA in 2008.

Jim recently joined the board of directors at Legal Genie, Inc., an online unbundled legal services provider. Legal Genie allows users the optional choice of connecting with a private attorney to provide document review, legal advice and guidance.

As a member of the board, Jim will be working closely with private equity firms to secure funding. He formerly served as president of Cellular One of San Francisco and later as a southeast regional president for McCaw Cellular Communications, where he was responsible for over $10 billion in assets. Jim then became the first president of Nextel Digital Mobile Networks.

Jim is a 1982 graduate from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management where he received his MBA.

Stephen is now a board member at Greater Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce, a member-driven, professionally staffed nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the region’s business community.

The Chamber has approximately 1,400 business and professional firms as members, making this chamber one of the largest in California. The strength of the Chamber lies in its membership—working together to make the communities of Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and Agoura Hills a better place to live, work and raise a family.

Stephen current serves as a partner at LearnItByEar.com, an audio-based study system designed to improve learning and retention through the listening of short-track MP3 audio files to definitions and key concepts of popular courses for students with a busy, on-the-go lifestyle. Read the rest of this entry »