Of the degrees held by the nation’s top tech CEOs, more come from UC Berkeley than any other school, according to a June report by Network World magazine.
The magazine looked at the educational backgrounds of 50 CEOs that it ranked as the top in the tech industry in the United States. Five of the 81 total degrees of this group were conferred at UC Berkeley, more than both Stanford University, which had four degrees, and Harvard University, which had three.
Two of the degrees are MBAs from the Haas School of Business held by Paul Otellini, CEO and president of Intel, and Shantanu Narayen, CEO and president of Adobe. The remaining three degrees are held by Paul Jacobs, CEO and chairman of Qualcomm, who holds bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from UC Berkeley.
Karen Rhodes, executive director of marketing and communication for the campus College of Engineering, said both the campus engineering and business programs have had an emphasis on developing leadership in the tech field.
The Haas Management of Technology Program, according to Rhodes, was tailored to business students who want to deepen their relationship with technology. The program was recently suspended after 23 years in response to the creation of the campus Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership two years ago.
The Fung Institute prepares UC Berkeley students for careers in science and engineering management.
“We have long recognized that engineers deserve to be at the table when decisions are made,” Rhodes said.