Angel L. Samartino is the Founder and Director of Startup University Ventures, focused on accelerating and investing in seed and early-stage startups, as well as Founder and Director of Forward Challenges, a unique Technology & Innovation Partner for Big Corporations, Corporate Venture Funds and Venture Capitalists, dedicated to anticipate how disruptive technologies and new trends will impact industries, companies and consumers.
Angel holds a MBA and two Certificates on Entrepreneurship and Management of Technology from University of California at Berkeley, and a Double Degree in Industrial Engineering from ICAI Madrid and Ecole Centrale Paris Universities, as part of the Top Industrial Managers for Europe Program.
At Haas, Greg LaBlanc teaches primarily in the areas of finance and strategy in the MBA and MFE programs and in Executive Education. LaBlanc has also worked in competitive intelligence and litigation consulting and has advised consulting teams in finance, marketing, and strategy. His research interests lie at the intersection of law, finance, and psychology, in the area of business strategy and risk management. LaBlanc is the recipient of teaching awards including the Earl F. Cheit Award for Outstanding Teaching, 2009; and the Haas EWMBA Graduate Instructor of the year, 2004-2005.
La Blanc received a B.A. (History, Politics, Philosophy, and Economics) and a B.S. Economics (Business Administration) from the University of Pennsylvania, where he continued his education as a University Scholar and graduate fellow, studying in the schools of Arts and Sciences, Business, and Law. He later pursued a J.D. at the George Mason University and an L.L.M at Berkeley’s Boalt Hall. La Blanc has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in all areas of business. Prior to arriving at the Haas School in 2005, La Blanc taught at Wharton, Duke, and the University of Virginia.
Adam Sterling is the executive director of the Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy (BCLBE) at Berkeley Law and the co-founder of Startup@BerkeleyLaw. Previously he was a startup and venture capital attorney at Gunderson Dettmer and the co-founder and director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force. Adam currently serves as a non-resident senior fellow for the Enough Project. In 2007, Adam was one of six featured subjects in the documentary, Darfur Now, produced by Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle. Adam’s writings and work have appeared extensively in the press; including contributions to The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and National Public Radio.