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Community Consulting Group Assists Land Trust on Path to Accreditation Nonprofit Preserves Landscapes around UC Davis by Linda Trinh ‘10 Focus on environmental conservation: Community Consulting Group team members with their client from Yolo Land Trust: (front row) MBA students Joe Escalada and Gerrit Buddingh; (back row): Yolo Land Trust Executive Director Judy Boshoven with MBA students Greg Murphy, Gretchen Bernheim, Raminder Hansra and faculty advisor, Professor Paul Griffin.
From the Blue Ridge to Clarksburg and from Davis to Dunnigan, the Yolo Land Trust has a long history of helping landowners preserve the landscape. Yolo County lands are wedged between the ever-expanding Bay Area and Sacramento, and the county is home to the UC Davis central campus. At risk are prime agricultural soils, pure water and the area’s rural atmosphere. “Nonprofit management is a specific field in itself, but the function of land trusts involves even greater nuances,” says Judy Boshoven, executive director of the Yolo Land Trust (YLT). Founded in 1988 by farmers, community leaders and conservationists, the trust has helped landowners place conservation easements on nearly 9,000 acres. Recently, a team of five UC Davis MBA students took to the challenge to understand the Yolo Land Trust’s inner workings and to deliver financial management recommendations. YLT had already begun the process toward accreditation by the national Land Trust Alliance when Boshoven approached the Graduate School of Management’s student-run Community Consulting Group (CCG) for assistance. CCG matches teams of MBA students with nonprofit organizations to address strategic planning, marketing, financial management and other organizational needs.
The UC Davis MBA student team worked with Boshoven on the financial and assetmanagement component of the accreditation process, providing YLT with draft policy and procedure recommendations to bring it in compliance with standards for effective and transparent management. The team streamlined accounting procedures, recommended an investment policy, and developed a stewardship and legal defense fund policy. Daytime MBA student and team leader Greg Murphy was attracted by the project’s focus on environmental conservation, the relationship between agriculture and urban development, and the opportunity to learn about the financial sustainability of nonprofits. He called the experience “a great complement to our classroom learning.”
“The project also gave us a chance to develop our presentation and other skills,” team member Gretchen Bernheim added. “It was very valuable to present our findings to the board of directors and answer questions about our original assumptions and methodology.” The effort also won high praise from Professor Paul Griffin, the faculty advisor on the project. “Within a few weeks of the initial consultation, the team had gathered the necessary input, asked the right questions, and formulated an excellent plan to meet the client’s needs,” he said. “All of the team’s recommendations have been implemented or are in the process of being implemented,” said Yolo Land Trust’s Boshoven. “In just a few months the team moved YLT a very large step toward accreditation.” — Daytime MBA student Linda Trinh ’10 is co-chair of the Community Consulting Group
Jack M. Gill Named 2010 Robert A. Fox Executive-in-Residence Renowned Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist to Teach Course on Start-up World by Tim Akin
Jack Gill, a founder and retired managing partner of Vanguard Ventures in Palo Alto, has joined the UC Davis Graduate School of Management as the 2010 Robert A. Fox Executive-in-Residence. The Robert A. Fox Executive-in-Residence program gives students and faculty a rare opportunity to meet and work closely with a top business leader. In addition to class lectures, the Executive-in-Residence draws on his or her network to invite other high-level executives to be guest speakers in class. Gill has more than four decades of experience working in Silicon Valley and Boston as a company founder and venture capitalist. He also has 10 years of experience teaching entrepreneurship courses in science, engineering 2 6 • Fa l l / w i n t e r 2 0 0 9
and medicine at Harvard Medical School, MIT and Rice University. During his career, Gill has earned distinction and honors as a scientist, senior executive, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, university professor and philanthropist. As the Robert A. Fox Executive-in-Residence, Gill will draw on his experience and expertise to teach a spring quarter course titled “The Role of Scientists, Engineers, Physicians and MBAs in the Start-up Business World.” Gill has founded and financed start-up companies in the instrumentation, computer, communications and medical industries. Vanguard Venture’s first five funds invested $155 million in 107 start-ups and generated more than $1 billion return to investors. Successful Vanguard Venture–financed companies include Aldus,
Network Appliance, Ciena, Cobalt Networks and Digital Island. The success of Vanguard Venture-backed firms has generated more than $40 billion in annual revenue, about $100 billion in market value and 25,000 jobs. Gill graduated cum laude from Lamar University (chemistry and engineering) and earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at Indiana University. In 1999 he received the prestigious Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans. He serves as trustee at Indiana University and on the boards of the National Academies, Project Hope, the Horatio Alger Association, the Texas Emerging Technology Fund and several nonprofits.
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