CBA Announces New Life Sciences EMBA in Partnership with Gallup University
Start Now to Prepare for Graduate School Next Fall
New Board Members
Faculty/Staff News
Student News
Events
Alumni News
Submit Class Notes
College of Business Home |
NEW CBA ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS:
 John Kontopuls
SDSU alum, John Kontopuls, is president and CEO of Elite Show Services, San Diego's largest provider of security and other support staff for a wide variety of events including: conventions, trade shows and sporting events. Prior to starting Elite with his older brother, Gus, in 1995, Kontopuls worked as a lending officer at Great American Bank. Kontopuls also currently owns Kontopuls Financial Group.
Elite Show Services has been built around a vision that event security is a customer service business. The company's customers include Qualcomm Stadium, the Padres, the Holiday Bowl, Cox Arena and the San Diego Convention Center. With 200 full-time employees and 2,500 part-time employees, Elite had revenue for fiscal 2005 of more than $12 million.
Under Kontopuls, Elite became one of the first security companies in the state to provide extensive employee training, offering programs to help workers improve their skills and advance their careers. In addition, Elite has been a leader in hiring senior citizens and disabled individuals.
 Deborah Rocco
Deborah Rocco, Chief Learning Officer (CLO) for Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., provides overall direction for executive development and learning efforts across the company. Prior to joining Amylin, Rocco held lead positions at the field and corporate levels for several large telecommunications companies. In these positions, she was responsible for leadership and executive development, organization effectiveness, as well as operational training initiatives.
Prior to working in the telecommunications industry, Rocco was the assistant dean for Career Development & Placement at the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, where she established the center responsible for the placement of the school’s executive and full-time MBA students.
Rocco holds a Masters of Education in Human Resource Development from Colorado State University. She is a certified executive coach and holds a Senior Professional in Human Resources designation.
 Tom Afzal
Tom Afzal, a 20+ year veteran of the life science industry, is currently the President and CEO of Spinal Kinetics, which he co-founded in 2003. Spinal Kinetics, located in Sunnyvale, CA, is a privately held company developing the next generation of artificial discs for the treatment of diseases of the spine.
Afzal has founded companies both in the U.S. and in Europe and has raised over $100 million from venture capitalists and corporate investors for these start-up companies. Prior to founding Spinal Kinetics, he was the founder and CEO of CardioVention, a company that developed a minimal invasive bypass system used in cardiac surgery. Afzal was a senior executive for start-up CardioThoracic Systems, the leading developer of minimal invasive cardiac surgery products for beating heart surgery, which after going public was acquired by Guidant Corp.
Earlier in his career, he held various senior management positions for a number of multi-national companies such as Sulzer Medica, Intermedics, Baxter Healthcare and American Hospital Supply Corp. He has been named on over 10 issued or pending patents and continues to contribute to new ideas in the development of medical technologies. Afzal received his bachelor's of science in business from SDSU in 1983.
NEW REAL ESTATE PROGRAM ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER
 Eric Bergstrom, president and founder of Bergstrom Capital Advisors, Inc. (BCA), received a bachelor's of science in accounting from SDSU in 1988.
Bergstrom formed BCA in 2001, after 13 years as a CPA and leader of E&Y Kenneth Leventhal’s Real Estate Capital Markets Group. BCA is a boutique real estate capital markets advisory firm specializing in raising equity capital for real estate developers and owners of commercial and residential projects throughout the United States, as well as Canada and Mexico. Bergstrom is a member of the University of California, Irvine Graduate School of Management-Real Estate Advisory Board, as well as an active member of numerous other real estate organizations.
|
