California Research Center

California Research Center
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In July 1997, HBS opened the first of its off-campus research centers – the “California research Center” (CRC) in Silicon Valley. The CRC is located at 3000 Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, and run by Alison Berkley Wagonfeld (MBA '96), Executive Director.

The charter of the center is to facilitate faculty research and case writing in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area in general. Since its opening, the CRC has helped develop more than 225 cases that are used in the School's MBA and Executive Education programs. Cases have focused on topics such as the issues faced by very early stage companies, venture capital firms focusing on early stage companies, angel financing, sales force issues in entrepreneurial companies, acquisition-related manufacturing integration processes, the commercialization of technology, capacity issues at biotech companies, growth challenges for clean-tech companies, and people-related issues in companies of all sizes.

In addition, our office also plays an important role in other functions of the school such as career services, student activities and alumni relations. For example, we help students with research projects relating to Bay Area companies, and we can provide counseling to students who are interested in finding jobs in the Bay Area. We also help organize a one-week Silicon Valley Immersion Program (focused on cleantech and consumer internet businesses) for students interested in pursuing an entrepreneurial career path.

Advisory Board

The research center's Advisory Board is currently chaired by Stephanie Schear Tilenius (HBS '96). The previous chairs were Arthur Rock (HBS '51), considered the "father" of venture capital; James Breyer (HBS '87), Managing Partner of Accel Partners; Doug Mackenzie (HBS '89), an Affiliated Partner of Kleiner Perkins, Caufield & Byers; and Jason Green (HBS '94), General Partner and Co-founder of Emergence Capital Partners. The Advisory Board includes HBS alumni, HBS professors, and several representatives from Stanford's Graduate School of Business and School of Engineering

Recent Center-Assisted Cases

Contact Information

Harvard Business School California Research Center

3000 Sand Hill Road
Building Two, Suite 150
Menlo Park, CA 94025

work
Tel:+650-233-8703 work
Fax:+650-233-8703

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Alison Berkley Wagonfeld Executive Director

Alison Berkley Wagonfeld is the Executive Director of the HBS California Research Center located in Menlo Park, California. She is responsible for developing and writing business cases and research materials about Bay Area companies, and she serves as a west coast liaison for the school. She received her B.A. (magna cum laude) from Yale University and her MBA (as a Baker Scholar, with high distinction) from Harvard Business School.

After graduating from Harvard Business School, Alison joined Intuit, where she founded the company's home-loan business, QuickenLoans. As the Director of Marketing for the business, she grew QuickenLoans into one of the country's largest online lenders. Alison later became the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Greenlight.com, an online car sales company, incubated by Kleiner Perkins, which was later acquired by CarsDirect. She joined Greenlight.com as the second employee.

Prior to her years at HBS, Alison worked in the investment banking group at Morgan Stanley (in New York and Hong Kong) and she worked as a product manager at Microsoft.
Liz Kind Senior Researcher

Liz Kind is a Senior Casewriter with the Harvard Business school California Research Center.She is responsible for doing research projects and writing cases focused on West coast companies.

Prior to joining the HBS California Research Center, Ms. Kind ran Community Partners, a program of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association of Northern California. Community Partners provides pro bono consulting advice to Bay Area nonprofit organizations through the efforts of HBS alumni volunteers. Before Community Partners, Ms. Kind was General Manager of First Data Corporation's merchant banking group.In addition, Ms. Kind has over eight years of investment banking and financial consulting experience, most recently with Merrill Lynch and Duff & Phelps.

Ms. Kind received her B.A. in economics from Mount Holyoke College and her MBA from Harvard Business School.
Lauren Barley Senior Researcher

Lauren Barley is responsible for developing and writing business cases and research materials for the Harvard Business School California Research Center. Prior to joining the California Research Center, Ms. Barley consulted in brand management and marketing communications to both Fortune 500 and start-up companies. Before starting her marketing consulting practice, she was brand manager at The Clorox Company. Ms. Barley also worked at Arthur Andersen & Co. in the tax and audit division where she earned her CPA.

She received her B.A. in economics from Stanford University and her MBA with honors from Harvard Business School.

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