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Wharton Club Career Forum: Where does an MBA fit in San Diego?
June 15, 2002

Wharton Club of San Diego's career planning and development forum - Saturday, June 15

Where Does an MBA fit in San Diego?
9:00 AM-12:00 noon
Grand Pacific Palisades Resort & Hotel in Carlsbad

On Saturday, June 15th, The Wharton Club of San Diego will host a career planning and development forum entitled "Where Does an MBA fit in San Diego?" This event has been designed to help MBAs understand the economic landscape of the San Diego area and to provide insight on the best ways of finding, securing, and creating opportunities in these sectors.

The event will draw upon the knowledge and insights our invited panelists have developed through their time in San Diego and throughout their careers. We have asked them to share learning from their career and professional experiences, rather than to speak about their companies or specific job opportunities.

The morning is filled with two panel discussions. Panel 1 participants will describe San Diegoís economyóthe companies found within San Diego and how the economy has changed through time-- in an effort to highlight career and industry growth trends. Panel 2 speakers will talk about themselves, their backgrounds, their professional insights, and how they developed a career in San Diego.

Date: Saturday, June 15, 2002
9:00 AM-12:00 noon
Location: Grand Pacific Palisades Resort & Hotel
5805 Armada Drive, Carlsbad, CA 92008
760-827-3214
Easily accessible from the 5, East on the Palomar Airport Road Exit above the flower fields.

If paid in advance, Members: $35
If paid in advance, Non-Members: $45
$5 extra if paying at the door

Payment Information:
Please make a check out to the Wharton Club of San Diego, and send to c/o Ellen Chang, 7045 Charmant Dr., #129; San Diego, CA 92122
OR
Pay on-line by major credit card
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=22368&Referrer_id=9414
(transaction fee shared)

Panel 1
Sam Bressler, SAIC
John DeWitt, Lee Hecht Harrison
Judy Thompson, Thompson and Associates
Reo Carr, Editor in Chief, San Diego Daily Transcript

Panel 2
Jarvis Bowers, Sony
David Chen, Lifespan Biosciences
Tom Noon, D. R. Horton

Panelist Bios:
Panelists for Panel 1:

SAM BRESLER
Sam Bresler currently serves as Corporate Vice-President and Western Regional Director of Human Resources with SAIC). Samís current responsibilities include accountability for the strategic and operational effectiveness of HR service delivery in SAICís domestic business units West of the Mississippi River. He is also accountable for the effective management of SAICís Employee Dispute Resolution Process.
A native of Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Sam obtained a Bachelors degree from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as an MBA from the Universityís Wharton Graduate Division. He is a nationally Life-Certified Senior Professional in Human Resources and has also earned Certified Compensation Professional accreditation from World At Work, the professional society formerly known as the American Compensation Association. Sam served as an Industrial Psychologist in the public sector from 1975-85 before moving onto a more operational Human Resources leadership career path, serving as Computer Sciences Corporationís Director of Employee Relations for twelve years before joining SAIC in his current role four years ago.

REO CARR
Named editor in chief of the San Diego Daily Transcript in June of 1999, Reo Carr brings over 20 years of experience as an editor and journalist to the San Diego business scene. As editor in chief, Reo is responsible for all editorial, Web site, and special section content of San Diego's only daily business publication. The San Diego Daily Transcript has a countywide circulation of over 15,000 per day; and the Transcriptís Web site, The San Diego Source, is a pioneer in the field of electronic and Internet news and archival information. The Daily Transcript has been publishing since 1886. Most recently, Reo was the editor of the Fresno Business Journal. He began his career as a journalist over 20 years ago writing about agriculture for a small daily paper in central California. He has worked on both sides of the business, not only as a journalist and editor, but also as an advertising salesperson and a sales and marketing executive.
Reo has extensive experience in the book, magazine and newspaper publishing industries, as well as extensive experience with online and Web-based publishing products. He holds a bachelorís degree in liberal arts and a masterís degree in urban geography from San Jose State University. He has undertaken additional post-graduate work in journalism and business at Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley.

JOHN DEWITT
As a Vice President in Lee Hecht Harrisonís San Diego office, John is responsible for business development, client relations, consulting with candidates and executive coaching. He has extensive one-on-one experience with all levels of employees in transition, including CEOs and Presidents, and has also worked as an internal coach with a wide range of senior level employees.
John has been involved in the career management field for over eleven years, and was a founder of the management consulting firm, DeWitt Allen. He started his career with the Carnation Company, progressing through a series of increasingly responsible management roles. He joined Herff Jones, a Fortune 1000 company, where he broadened his management and training experience working with franchisees. John is the author of three successful career transition manuals. He was also selected to write the curriculum for and teach UCSDís Military Officers in Transition course.
John has a Bachelorís degree from Lewis & Clark College. His expertise in business and career management has earned him numerous public speaking, radio and television appearances, as well as publication in several local and national business newspapers.

JUDY THOMPSON
Judy Thompson has been recruiting in this field for over twenty years, first for the top producing office of a 325-office national search firm, and then as founder of her own firm in September of 1981. She has served on the board of directors of the local chapter (500+ members) of the Institute of Management Accountants (formerly National Association of Accountants) for twelve years and was president from 1993-94. Judy is on the membership committee for Corporate Director's Forum and Corporate Finance Council, on the Board of Trustees. In addition to her many accomplishments, Judy founded and continues to run a monthly support group for Accountants in Transition. She also holds a B.S. in Psychology from San Diego State University.

Panelists for Panel 2
DANIEL CHEN
Daniel Chen is Vice President, Marketing and Business Development for LifeSpan Biosciences, a privately held company focused on molecular pathology and tissue proteomics. He has over 10 years of broad healthcare industry expertise in developing and implementing strategic business initiatives as well as experience in global sales and marketing and international business development. Prior to joining Lifespan February 2002, Dan was with Alaris Medical Systems here in San Diego where he held Director-level positions in both marketing and global business development. From 1996 to 1998, Dan was a Manager and Management Consultant within the pharmaceutical and healthcare practice of A. T. Kearney, from 1994 to 1996, an associate in the mergers and acquisitions group of Merrill Lynch & Company, and from 1990 to 1993 he was in marketing and sales at Glaxo Wellcome, Inc. ultimately serving as a product manager for certain neurology and oncology related pharmaceutical products. He holds an M.B.A. degree from the Wharton School of Business and a B.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of British Columbia.

JARVIS BOWERS
Jarvis is Vice President/General Manager Strategic Marketing of the Information Technology Products Division for Sony Electronics. In this role, he directs marketing investment strategy to drive increased demand generation for VAIO Notebooks and Desktops and CLIE Personal Digital Assistants. Mr. Bowers is a key member of the marketing team challenged with moving Sony from a product centric to a customer centric organization.
Mr. Bowers has an extensive marketing background with broad industry experience in financial services, telecommunications, packaged goods, and e-commerce. Prior to joining Sony, he worked in several internet start-ups including CarsDirect and E-Stamp, as well as AT&T Wireless, American Express, J. Walter Thompson, and Ogilvy & Mather. Jarvis received his MBA Wharton School and has a BA in English Literature from Amherst College. He currently lives in Carlsbad, CA with his family and continues a lifelong quest to lower his golf handicap, enjoy the arts, and the natural beauty of California.

TOM NOON
Tom Noon is President of Western Region, D.R Horton, Inc, which, at a projected $6 B in revenues for this year, recently has become the largest homebuilder in California and the U.S. In this position, he oversees the operations of 7 to 17 offices west of the Mississippi River, 3800 homes, and generated $822 MM in 2001. Tom founded the San Diego division of D.R Horton in 1993, building it to the top 5 division within 3 years. Prior to joining D.R Horton, Tom worked for Shea Homes, joining the company as a project manager/land acquisitions manager in 1980, and founding the San Diego division in 1984, upon graduation from Stanford. From '77 to '79, Tom founded and operated Raintree Development Corporation, a civil engineering consulting firm, worked for Shea from '76 to '77, and commenced his career in civil engineering/real estate in '71, working for the civil engineering consulting subdivision of Williamson & Schmidt, Van Dell & Associates of Irvine, CA. Tom is an '84 grad of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and holds a BS in Civil Engineering, Minor in Computer Science from the University of Illinois.