About Us

Program Overview

The Women in Leadership (WIL) Program in the College of Business and Economics offers students the opportunity to accelerate their skills, enabling them to succeed and advance professionally. This is an academia-industry collaboration that provides a significant and high-impact learning experience with insights from industry leaders, and creates the opportunity for high-potential students to work on social impact initiatives with their mentors to practice what they have learned.

Key Program Elements:

  • Mentoring: Fellows and Associates are paired with a business executive mentor for the academic year, who will provide advice on professional development.
  • Women in Leadership Seminar: Fellows and Associates will enroll and participate in a Leadership seminar at CBE during the Spring semester.
  • Social Entrepreneurship Leadership Project: Fellows will contribute to their community in a social entrepreneurship project of their choosing. Fellows will present their projects at a reception.*
  • Allowance: Fellows will receive an award of $1000 (contingent on funding availability and meeting program requirements)

*For example, fellows can identify a non-profit such as National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Habitat for Humanity, Alzheimer’s Foundation, 黑料福利网’s Pioneers for HOPE, or Kiva to lead an initiative for them. Fellows can also create a project from their vision that will positively impact the community. Take a look at projects by past Fellows.

Meet the Team

Asha Rao

Asha Rao, Ph.D

Program Director, WIL

Professor of Management

is a Full Professor of Management at CBE and heads the Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior area. She conducts research and consults on leadership, negotiations, and diversity and inclusion in a global environment. She has published her research on these topics and presented at many academic and practitioner conferences. Dr. Rao has developed and taught courses based on her areas of expertise at 黑料福利网, Rutgers, and McGill Universities and received the Outstanding Faculty Awards for Teaching and Service. She is a Senior Fulbright Fellow.

Lan Wang

Lan Wang

Professor of Management

Lan Wang is broadly interested in the application of analytical modeling and empirical analysis to strategical, tactical, and operational business functions, such as: sustainability analysis, data analytics, supply chain management, pricing & revenue management, etc.

Filippo Rebessi

Filippo Rebessi

Department Chair and Associate Professor of Economics

Filippo Rebessi has been with Cal State East Bay since 2016. Prior to his arrival in California, he was an Instructor and Writing Assistant at the University of Minnesota.
He received his M.A. and Ph.D in Economics from University of Minnesota after a B.A. and M.A. in Economics and Finance at Universita’ di Parma, Italy.
His research interests include Macroeconomics and Public Finance. Filippo's most recent research publications and articles span a wide range of topics such as agricultural policy, firm dynamics, and sports economics.

RHollenbeck

Rupal Hollenbeck

Industry Lead

President, Checkpoint Software Technologies

, President of Check Point, manages all go-to-market functions for the company. 

Ms. Hollenbeck is an advocate for inclusive organizations and the development of women around the world, having led communities with these goals at her previous companies. She is a founding member of Neythri, a non-profit organization dedicated to the professional advancement of South Asian women, and a founding LP in the affiliated VC firm Neythri Futures Fund. She serves on the Board of Directors of Blackbaud, the world's leading cloud software company powering social good.

Ms. Hollenbeck holds a Master’s degree in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and International Studies from Boston College.

WIL Advisory Board