Sara Beckman

Sara Beckman teaches new product development and operations management at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Since joining the Haas School faculty in 1987, she has developed, institutionalized, and directed the school's Management of Technology Program; initiated new courses on design, entrepreneurship in biotechnology, new product development, and work and workspace design; won four awards from MBA students for excellence in teaching; and received the Berkeley campus Distinguished Teaching Award. Her present research interests lie in the general area of innovation management, with specific explorations of the role of design in business, environmental supply management, and development of operations strategy.

Sara has also taught in Stanford University's Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management; in 1994 and 1999 she was a visiting faculty member at MIT, where she taught in the Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM) Program. She continues to supervise master's thesis fieldwork for LFM students.

Prior to and concurrent with her involvement at the Haas School, Sara worked for the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), most recently as director of the Product Generation Change Management Team. This group was responsible for supporting strategic decision making; workforce planning and design; manufacturing education and training; and environmental, health, and safety management throughout the company. She also managed the corporatewide Surface Mount Technology program that was responsible for the rollout of new standard board-assembly processes at HP.

Before joining HP and the Haas School, Sara worked in the Operations Management Services practice at Booz Allen Hamilton, where she had an opportunity to develop manufacturing strategy with a number of diverse companies in industries from pharmaceuticals to aerospace. She serves on the boards of the Building Materials Holding Corporation and the Corporate Design Foundation.

PhD, Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, Stanford University

Master of Science, statistics, Stanford University

Master of Science, industrial engineering and engineering management, Stanford University

Bachelor of Science with distinction, industrial engineering, Stanford University