01/31 Speaker Bios | Unlocking a Source of Growth – Women in the Boardroom
Steven Currall | Amanda Kimball | Anne Simpson | Deborah M. Soon
Dean, Steven Currall, UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Steve Currall is Dean and Professor in the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis. He has conducted research and taught for over 20 years on organizational psychology topics such as innovation, emerging technologies, negotiation, and corporate governance.
At the invitation of the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Currall was a member of the Nanotechnology Technical Advisory Group. He has been a grantee on $17,633,893 in external funding of which over 80% came from refereed research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Currall’s research has been published in management, psychology, and science/engineering academic journals. He has served on numerous editorial review boards.
He has served as a member of the boards of the University of California Global Health Institute, BioHouston, and Leadership in Medicine, Inc. He has been quoted over 400 times in publications such as the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Economist (UK), Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, Business Week magazine, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) television and the Nightly Business Report.
Currall was formerly Vice Dean of Enterprise and Professor of Management Science and Innovation in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences at University College London (UCL). He was Visiting Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Entrepreneurship and Faculty Co-Director of the Institute of Technology at London Business School. At UCL, he was founding Chair of the Department of Management Science and Innovation. Currall was the William and Stephanie Sick Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Brown School of Engineering at Rice University and tenured Associate Professor of Management, Psychology, and Statistics in the Jones Graduate School of Management. In 2003, he was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
Amanda Kimball, UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Amanda Kimball is a Research Specialist at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. She authors the school’s annual census on California Women Business Leaders, and serves as a collaborator on other faculty research projects. Kimball is in the final stages of completing her PhD in Economics at UC Davis, where she earned her masters degree in 2003, with concentrations in Microeconomic Theory and Industrial Organization. She has a background in business and economics including having worked for Capital One, the Investment Company Institute, and the Corporate Executive Board.
Anne Simpson is Senior Portfolio Manager for Corporate Governance at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest public pension system in the United States with approximately $228.9 billion under management. She heads the corporate governance program which includes CalPERS Focus List of shareholder engagement with companies, global proxy voting, legal and regulatory reform agenda and CalPERS actively managed corporate governance investment strategy. Anne is a Visiting Professor and Senior Faculty Fellow at the Yale School of Management where she teaches corporate governance with Ira Millstein. She has recently been appointed a member of the Investor Advisory Group of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Anne also sits on the Editorial Advisory Board for the journal “Corporate Governance: An International Review” published by Blackwells. Her former roles include: Executive Director of the International Corporate Governance Network, head of the World Bank’s Global Corporate Governance Forum and Joint Managing Director of the investment firm PIRC Ltd in London. Anne read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at St Hilda’s College, Oxford University and Development Economics as a Slater Fellow at Wellesley College. She is author of a number of publications including, with Jonathan Charkham, ‘Fair Shares: the future of shareholder power and responsibility’ published by Oxford University Press.
Deborah M. Soon, Catalyst
Deborah M. Soon is responsible for Catalyst’s business strategy and planning, market assessment, and overall marketing operations. For Catalyst’s entry into new markets, she sets priorities and develops the business model, entry strategy, and plan. In addition, she is responsible for brand management, corporate events, public affairs, IT, and Catalyst’s Corporate Board Services.
Prior to working at Catalyst, Ms. Soon was a consultant at Spencer Stuart, one of the leading global executive search firms. Her search engagements focused on the areas of technology, education, and healthcare, with specific functional emphasis on CEO, other senior executives, and board placements. Prior to Spencer Stuart, Ms. Soon was the CEO of Larscom, a telecommunications company she took public in 1996 and subsequently led as a public entity. Earlier in her career, Ms. Soon held various executive positions in marketing and software engineering at AT&T, BBN, and EDS.
Ms. Soon holds a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of California at San Diego and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. She also completed special studies in Mathematics at Cambridge University, England. Ms. Soon is a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Advisors of DirectWomen Board Institute.
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