June 17, 2020 • By Sydney Charles
The UCI Paul Merage School of Business is highlighting alumni, faculty and community members who have created a positive change in the face of these uncertain times via a new series: The Dean’s Suite Virtual Series. The third discussion focused on gathering insights from Merage School alumni across California.
The panel discussed what leadership looks like in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The conversation was moderated by Dean Eric Spangenberg and the alumni ambassador for the San Francisco Bay Area Theresa Wang MBA ’14 and featured James Bennan MBA '87, Pat Salber MBA '99 and Prakash Gupta EMBA '09.
Each individual has made critical adjustments in their day-to-day lives because of the pandemic.
Chief Operating Officer for Adult Services at the UCSF Medical Center and COVID-19 Incident Commander Bennan said, “Things changed drastically on the night of Superbowl Sunday. We received our first two patients, a couple from San Benito County, who were both infected, and that got us in the game pretty quick.”
Gupta, who is the founding chief revenue officer of the labor marketplace based company Turing, explained that COVID-19 has humanized different aspects of the business.
“I think that the most important thing that has changed for us is that we used to have business conversations with our clients,” he said. “We used to have straight talks with our investors and our employees. I think those conversations have changed to be a more human conversation.”
Despite the necessary adjustments, each alumnus has found a silver lining.
“I can’t even think about the things that haven't changed because so much has changed in the last 100 days. But what has stayed the same is our mission and values as an organization and our goal which is to be the best provider of healthcare in the Bay Area. Those have kept us straight,” said Bennan.
Dr. Selber is editor-in-chief of The Doctor Weighs In (TDWI), an award-winning online platform that uses new media to share stories about healthcare innovation and relies heavily on the art of communication.
“I think the biggest thing is that we have increased conversations. So we used to meet once a quarter, and people would spend all this time getting to the meeting, then we’d hang out for an hour, talk about our stuff, and then we wouldn’t meet again for another quarter. People weren’t really communicating in-between,” Dr. Salber explained. “We’ve all gotten to know each other better than we were before with our in-person meetings. It’s given us an opportunity to engage people more because we’re meeting more frequently and talking about more things.”
You can catch the entire interview with Bennan, Gupta and Salber here.
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