Imran Currim
Distinguished Professor, Marketing
Director, Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Imran Currim served The Paul Merage School of Business as Associate Dean of the Undergraduate Program (2012-2014). Prior to that, he served as Associate Dean for Marketing & Student Relations for the Executive MBA Programs (2010-2012), and Associate Dean of the Masters Programs (2008-2010).
He is the recipient of two of the highest honors in marketing:
Professor Currim’s recent papers have been finalists for:
Professor Currim received:
Professor Currim was recently named a Distinguished Professor at UCI, a title that is the highest campus-level distinction and is reserved for senior faculty who have achieved the highest levels of scholarship over the course of their careers. He also received one of the highest commendations awarded by the University of California, Irvine Academic Senate, the Distinguished Faculty Lectureship Award.
Ken Beall
Chairman, Advisory Board
Ken Beall is the co-founder along with his father, Don Beall, of the Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the UCI Paul Merage School of Business. He believes in the importance of an entrepreneurial education as a key driver of our economy and fosters this at UCI by providing leadership at the Beall Center.
In addition to his involvement at the Beall Center, Ken is the founder and principal of Bridge Partners, Dartbrook Partners, LLC, and Precision Hospitality & Development, LLC.
Bridge Partners is a real estate investment and management company founded in 1990 with offices in Newport Beach and Walnut Creek, California. Dartbrook Partners in an investment management firm which actively makes direct investments in private companies, real estate, venture capital, LBO, hedge fund and public security. Precision Hospitality & Development is a franchisee of Dunkin’ Donuts.
Ken also serves as a board member for CT Realty, The Fieldstone Company and Port Logistics Realty. He is a member of the World President's Organization.
Ken is very involved at the University of California, Irvine. In addition to his leadership as the co-founder and chairman of the Beall Center board of directors, he volunteers his expertise on the Dean's Advisory Board of the Merage School, as well as the Center for Real Estate. He is also on the Founders Advisory Board at UCI Applied Innovation.
Ken completed his BA in Economics and MBA in Finance/Real Estate at UCLA.
Don Beall
Chairman Emeritus, Advisory Board
Don Beall retired from Rockwell in 1998 after an extraordinary 30-year career of guiding one of the world's most influential companies and launching innovations that literally shaped the trajectory of technology and electronics globally.
He served as president of the company for 10 years and then served as chairman/CEO for the next 10 years. Under his leadership, Rockwell became a global leader in aerospace, electronics and automotive markets.
Through a series of strategic actions, the company became focused on a diversified group of leadership electronics businesses serving factory automation, communications, avionics and various communications-semiconductor world markets. Those electronics businesses today are represented by six public companies through which significant shareowner value has been created. The stock received by the Rockwell shareowner from these actions has increased in value from 1979 until June 2007 at a compounded annual rate of nearly 16 percent, including reinvested dividends.
Don believes very strongly in the value of higher education as being crucial to the innovation and entrepreneurial process that will lead to a stronger America. He has volunteered his expertise to UC Irvine's Merage School, the School of Engineering, the Beall Center for Art and Technology within the School of the Arts, the UC Irvine Chief Executives Round Table and the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information.
In addition, Don is a former trustee of the California Institute of Technology. An alumnus of San José State University, Beall earned his BS degree in Metallurgical Engineering in 1960. He earned an MBA with honors from the University of Pittsburgh in 1961. He is also involved in numerous professional, educational, public service and philanthropic endeavors. Included among the many accolades Don has enjoyed over his lifetime is the Horatio Alger Award from the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.
Breanna Hale
Assistant Director
Breanna Hale is dedicated to inspiring students to start, build and grow their ventures. She earned her BA in Communication from UC Santa Barbara and an MBA with a focus in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the Merage School.
With a passion for opportunity identification and problem solving, Breanna has worked on numerous startup concepts and launched a line of natural beauty travel kits for airline passengers.
Breanna is an organizer of Irvine’s chapter of the Kauffman Foundation’s 1 Million Cups events and serves on the board of entrepreneurial nonprofit, Tech Coast Venture Network (TCVN). Additionally, she is an adjunct professor at Irvine Valley College where she teaches classes in Business, Entrepreneurship and Marketing.
Merage School undergraduate Patrick Dumas' startup Waterborne Skateboards sells simple, easily installed aluminum parts that transform skateboarding into surfing-like experience. Demand for the product line — which includes not only the adapter, but three skateboard models — is growing so fast that Dumas recently opened a warehouse in California.
Enroll with just the grain of an idea to start a business, or to profitably grow an established organization in an inventive way. Nine months later, graduate with a plan to innovate — plus the knowledge, skills and network to do so.
Fifty-four teams competed in the final round of the 2018 New Venture Competition held Friday, May 18 at the UCI Paul Merage School of Business. Fourteen of those teams walked away with cash and prizes valued at more than $100,000. The event was hosted by the Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in collaboration with UCI Applied Innovation.
A total of 54 teams will be heading into the final round of the 2018 New Venture Competition (NVC) presented by the Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and UCI Applied Innovation, where they will compete for more than $100,000 on May 18 at the Merage School. See the list of winning teams here.
