Andy Howard

Bashir Tafti

Emily Stephens

Gonzalo Freixes

Jessica Luchenta

John Childs

Sumkh Shevde

The FEMBA network spans the globe…from Westwood to Hong Kong! Yesterday, I was jogging at lunch on south campus and who did I see but first-year FEMBA Bashir Tafti ’17 M.D. Bashir is a Clinical Instructor here for UCLA Health.

Bashir is one of the eight Medical Doctors in the FEMBA Class of 2017; it still amazes me that we have 8 doctors in one class. (I’m calling all the top part-time MBA schools to verify, as I don’t think there’s a school in the country that can boast that.)

Bashir: Great to see you Dylan. Good for you getting some exercise. Hey, I’ve been meaning to tell you. Remember what you said in Leadership Foundations, about seeing your thinking about business change almost immediately as you go through FEMBA? Well that has been my experience. I noticed it last Fall Quarter that I was already looking at problems (and solutions!) with new eyes from the moment FEMBA began.

Well, you might say, Most MDs in any part-time MBA program and a random meeting on-campus, well that’s pretty good, but…What else to you got Dylan?

So, as you know, I was in China with two of the four Global Immersions UCLA Anderson offered over Spring Break.

In Hong Kong, at the Hyatt Regency in the New Territories, as I’m leaving the elevator, I hear, “Hey…Dylan?”

I turned to see a face I knew I knew, even though I couldn’t place it.

“What are you doing here?” asked Sumukh Shevde, FEMBA 2013, Director, Product Management, Wireless Power Solutions, Qualcomm.

“I’m here with a bunch of Anderson students on a Global Immersion! Why are you here?” I asked. (Here we are below, with our selfie in the lobby.)

“I’m on a global team and we’re meeting. It’s actually a job that Anderson helped me get. We’ve got a very cool technology that we’re very close to launching. We all meet here periodically to get everyone in the same place,” Sumukh told me.

“Well, we’re all going to be in the lobby in a few minutes. If you have time, come down and I’ll introduce you. It’s Professor Gonzalo Freixes and we have FEMBA, EMBA and MBAs all in the program.”

“Give me five minutes,” said Sumukh.

Next thing I knew, Sumukh was back in the lobby, wearing–I am not making this up–his UCLA t-shirt.

“Sumukh, that is so great you travel with your UCLA colors!” I said.

“Yes, this is my workout shirt,” he replied. “I never travel without it!”

“Well we’re having an alumni mixer tomorrow night, downtown, and you’ve got to join us!”

Left to right above: John Childs FEMBA 16, Jessica Luchenta staff, Professor Gonzalo Freixes, Emily Stephens FEMBA 16, Andy Howard MBA 16 and Sumukh Shevde FEMBA 13.

It really is a small world, when you get connected to UCLA Anderson.