International Leadership in an Age

Business School of
São Paulo of Disruption
IBS-SP
Summer 2024
Short-Term Executive
Certificate Program

July 08 – July 25, 2024

CSUN “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it
is the one most adaptable to change.”
International Programs &
—Charles Darwin
Partnerships
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330

Copyright © 2024
 Program Schedule

Week 1: Leadership yesterday, today and tomorrow

Working on foundations of Leadership revisited by contemporary trends. Personal and
professional characteristics of a leader; Strategic Leadership in the Digital Era; Leading changes
in traditional business; creating new business models in revolutionary startups.

Week 2: Organization in Transition

Exploring the impact of new technologies over the way we do business. Digital-born startups
and Digital Transformation of Traditional Companies; Emerging technologies; Company-Client in
the Digital Age

Week 3: The new social architecture and the multi-generation workforce

Managing high performance teams in a global, digital workplace. Team building and team
management in the 21st century; new organizational structures for multi-task, multi-generation
teams; improving productivity and life quality at work.

Business English
During Business English classes students will quickly improve their English language skills for the
business environment as well as learn important strategies that will help them feel more
comfortable when doing business presentations and participating in meetings and project
development. Students will also learn techniques that will help them gain confidence when
writing reports and email correspondences of business nature.

IBS Leadership in the Age of Disruption 2024

IBS Summer 2024 Program Calendar – LAD
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

08 09 10 11 12 13
7:30 am to 8:45 am
10:00 am - 12:00 pm 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Welcome breakfast
Business English Business English 1:30 pm – 5:00 pm
and Q&A (optional)
EU 133 EU 133 Seminar Week 1
Welcome & EU 101 / Atrium
EU 133
CSUN Campus Tour OPTIONAL:
12:30 pm - 2:30 pm 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
2:00 pm 10:00 am --12:00 am L.A. Port Visit (IBS)
Lunch Lunch Week 1 class project
Business English Or
presentation &
EU 133
Meet at the 1:30 pm – 5:00 pm 1:30 pm – 5:00 pm critique Chargie Company
Orchard Conference Seminar Week 1 Seminar Week 1 Visit
12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Center EU 133 EU 133 5:00pm at Kurland
Lunch
Hall
5:00pm – 5:45pm 6:00pm – 8:00pm Guest Speaker
1:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Join us for a Pool Party Student Fabian Silva, X
Seminar Week 1
fun networking event Housing (formerly Twitter)
EU 133
EU Atrium

14 15 16 17 18 19 20
9:00am – 12:30pm 9:00am – 12:30pm 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Seminar Week 2 Seminar Week 2 Seminar Week 2
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
EU 133 EU 133 EU 133
Seminar Week 2
EU 133
12:30pm – 2:30pm 12:30pm – 2:30pm 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm Yakult Factory
Lunch Lunch Lunch
Week 2 class project Tour
presentation &
2:30pm – 4:30pm 2:30pm – 4:30pm 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm
critique
Business English Business English Business English
EU 133 EU 133 EU 133

21 22 23 24 25 26 27
9:00 am - 12:30 pm 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Seminar Week 3 Seminar Week 3
9:00 am - 12:30 pm 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
EU 133 EU 133
Seminar Week 3 Seminar Week 3 Safe Travels
EU 133 EU 133
12:30 pm - 2:30 pm Week 3 class project
Lunch presentation &
12:30 pm - 2:30 pm 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
critique
Lunch Lunch
2:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Business English 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm
2:30 pm – 4:30 pm 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm
EU 133 Certificate
Business English Business English
Ceremony and
EU 133 EU 133
5:00pm at Kurland Dinner Celebration
Hall Guest Speaker Orchard Conference
Kimberly Hicks Center

IBS Leadership in the Age of Disruption 2024

 Guest Speaker Lectures

Thursday, July 11, 2024

Fabian Silva
Lead Client Account Manager at X (Twitter)

Friday, July 12, 2024

Chargie Company Visit
More Details to be announced at the beginning of the program

Friday, July 19, 2024

Yakult Factory Tour
More Details to be announced at the beginning of the program

Thursday, July 22, 2024

Kimberly Hicks
Vice President of Strategic Planning at Comcast

Additional information for each lecture will be provided at the beginning of the program.
Times and dates subject to change based on executive’s availability.

Certificate Ceremony and Dinner Celebration

CSUN staff and faculty will honor students with a culmination dinner and certificate award
ceremony. All students who successfully complete the short-term executive certificate program
will receive a Certificate of Participation.

No more than one absence is allowed in order to receive the certificate.

IBS Leadership in the Age of Disruption 2024

Executive Certificate Program Faculty

Tom White
Tom White’s passion is building companies. As a customer experience architect, a design-thinking strategist and
an award-winning storyteller, Tom creates value by fueling buyer attraction and commitment to generate growth.
As a marketing executive, Tom helped Lockheed-Martin win the $70 billion F-22 fighter jet contract from the US
Air Force. He founded consultancy Three Dimensional Imagination and collaborated to raise billions in sales and
investment for companies like Motorola, Volvo, Philips, Iridium and others.
Tom has managed repositioning initiatives for advertising agencies and design firms, achieving unprecedented
growth by developing new programs that attracted partnerships from clients including Ferrari, Shell, Unilever,
Paccar, GE, HP and others. Tom collaborates with entrepreneurial ventures, early stage organizations and start-
ups to guide their positioning for acquisition, or for market leadership when launching new products and services.
In the academic sector, Tom successfully oversaw the increase in enrollment and the financial turnaround as the
President of The Columbus College of Art and Design. He was also instrumental in development of the strategic
plan for the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta. Tom has taught at his alma mater CSUN (California
State University, Northridge) and at the UCLA Extension. He received his undergraduate degree in Industrial
Design from CSUN with highest honors from the Industrial Design Society of America, and his MBA from
Pepperdine University.

Dr. Mahdi Najafabadi

Dr. Mahdi Najafabadi is a senior organizational development consultant with over 15 years of experience in
advising and leading change management teams, and teaching agile project management. He utilizes
standardized service management frameworks in business process reengineering, as well as strategic planning
and performance review. His approach allows client organizations to identify their process bottlenecks and to
become capable of reinventing their business processes in an optimized way. In his academic research, Dr. N.
studies the ways in which Information Technology (IT) and analytical tools enhance decision processes at
different levels, ranging from individual level to corporations and communities, and cities. His research interests
include impact of IT and IT decisions on sociotechnical ecosystems; social network analysis; and simulation
modeling for education and decision support. He is a software engineer with an MBA degree in Business
Management and an MPA degree in Information Strategy and Management. He received his PhD specializing in
Information in Society and Data Analytics from University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY), where
he also designed and taught an IT Project Management course for several years. Dr. N. is currently an assistant
professor of Information Systems; a faculty member of the California State University, Northridge (CSUN)'s
Systems and Operations Management department.

Smita Bagla
Smita Bagla is an international executive leader with many years of experience in strategic leadership, business
growth, and product innovation. In the course of her career she has worked for a variety of well-known and
reputable companies such as AT&T, Toyota, DirectTV and Kaiser Permanente. In 2019, she received the Visionary
Leader Award from the Lotus Petal Foundation. Currently, Smita Bagla is the CEO of Aligned Strategies LLC, and
Managing Partner at Amritt, Inc. Smita is the co-founder of Women Initiative Network, and a board member of
the South Asian Network. She was also awarded the South Asian Woman Entrepreneur of the year (2013) by South
Asian Business Alliance Network.

IBS Leadership in the Age of Disruption 2024

Business English Faculty

Nami Olgin
Nami Olgin earned a master's degree in English with the rhetoric and composition option and a TESOL (Teaching English as
a Second Language) certificate here at CSUN. Excelled in the knowledge of English grammar, she has taught the language
to a wide range of learners from all walks of life in many different settings and formats at various educational institutions.
In addition, she has extensive writing experiences in business including writing proposals, reports to government agencies
and educational materials for the general public. With her master's degree, she has expanded her writing competency in
academics. Nami is bilingual in Japanese and English and interested in AI's roles in education.

Karina Otaryan
Karina Otaryan is a committed professional who has been teaching students of various ages, levels, and cultural
backgrounds for 20 years. She received her Master’s degree in Linguistics/TESL at CSUN and she has proven effective in
motivating and directing students towards student learning outcomes. Karina is currently teaching at the IEP Program at
CSUN and California Lutheran University (as an Adjunct Professor). She won “Teacher of the Year” Award for Excellence in
Teaching two times while working at the ELS Intensive English Program (Thousand Oaks). Throughout her teaching career,
she has developed and taught a wide range of classes for all levels with focus on speaking, vocabulary, grammar, listening,
lecture note-taking, phonics, reading, composition/writing and academic research. Karina is fluent in Armenian and
Russian, knows some French and takes a great interest in different cultures. Karina is a great animal fan.

Mary Griffith
Mary Griffith has been teaching English composition for over 10 years. She graduated from CSUN with a Master's degree
in English, then earned a TESL certificate (Teaching English as a Second Language) from UCLA the following year. Mary
worked as a tutor and a consultant in the ESL department at Mission College, where she worked with students at every
level, and helped with speaking, reading, and writing skills. She went on to teach English at CSUN, Pierce College, and
Santa Monica College, and then joined the IEP department to teach writing and reading classes. She is bilingual, speaking
both English and Spanish. She loves to travel and meet people from all over the world.

Mona Macki
Mona Macki has been teaching in IEP since finishing her master’s degree in Linguistics here at CSUN. She has taught all
levels and can help students with everything from paragraphs to essays, as well as pronunciation, TOEFL, IELTS
preparation, Business English, Conversation, and other content English classes. She taught TEFL (Teaching English as a
Foreign Language) in Iran for 5 years and has more than 15 years of experience teaching ESL in the U.S to multicultural
groups at various levels: elementary school, high school, college, and older adults. She took Arabic and French in high
school and can read and write in Arabic. In addition, Mona teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in the Linguistics
Department at CSUN. She is a bilingual English and Farsi speaker and loves to learn about different cultures and languages.
Mona is interested in traveling and exploring new places.

Evelyn Arnold
Evelyn Arnold has been teaching in the IEP for over a year. She received her Bachelors in Linguistics with a minor in Middle
Eastern and Islamic Studies from CSUN, along with her Masters in Linguistics and an ESL Teaching Certificate. She has
mostly taught the beginner to intermediate-level classes, but can help students with any and all concerns related to
reading, writing, speaking, pronunciation, and much more. Evelyn also teaches Spanish to children at a private language
school and provides low-cost tutoring for elementary students in need of extra support. She is a bilingual English and
Spanish speaker and is currently learning Italian. She enjoys learning new languages, exploring new places, and spending
time with her family.

IBS Leadership in the Age of Disruption 2024