John Hui

Start-to-Finish, Virtual COBE Journey in Nine Months   

For John Hui, living in the greater New York area and arranging his schedule to attend UC Berkeley Executive Education in-person programs would be akin to completing a Rubik’s cube. His work, travel, family obligations and personal life colored his schedule with precision, leaving little to no wiggle room. It was a year ago during an online search for product management training courses that he discovered Executive Education, but at the time it would have been nearly impossible to fit such an endeavor into his busy life.

Fast forward to 2020. When Covid-19 forced the nation into sheltering in place, John turned to UC Berkeley Executive Education’s online offerings with serious consideration. After all, he had more time on his hands to focus on learning, plus he could do it all from home.

John is an entrepreneurial business executive in the healthcare industry who has more than 17 years of expertise in digital health, healthcare management, clinical laboratory, diagnostic imaging, medical device and pharmaceuticals. John was aware of many programs at other top tier business schools, but his interest in UC Berkeley Executive Education was piqued not only because of the institution’s reputation, being a part of the Silicon Valley ecosystem and inclusion of likeminded individuals – but ultimately because of Exec Ed’s speedy navigation to offer online programs when the pandemic first took hold.

“When I learned that Executive Education made a quick pivot to online learning because of Covid-19, I was impressed. I believe UC Berkeley was one of the few top business schools to start offering many online programs so quickly. As an entrepreneur I was looking for a way to pivot my own business – so I wanted to learn from an organization that could do that I signed up for my first Exec Ed program, online Digital Transformation,” says John. 

“Right away I was impressed by the teaching quality and the way the instructors combined the coursework with live online sessions. In Product Management Studio, we had access to a product coach who followed up with us regularly. The facilitators were more hands-on than I would have ever expected from an online program,” says John. He got the bug.

 “I became addicted to learning. I was interested in other courses and I realized that a COBE was a great way to tap into the Berkeley ecosystem to continue to build my business network and connect with other professionals like me,” he says. John committed to focusing on a COBE.

Completing an online COBE, with remarkable speed

John already has an MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management under his belt, but he says the Financial Data for Analysis for Leaders live online program amazed him. “Surprisingly, I thought this course would be the least valuable to me, but it was a great refresher and the professors were extremely knowledgeable – they really understand how to simplify the subject of financial data and make it really easy to grasp, while providing concepts that I continue to use on a regular basis.”

To learn more about John's COBE experience, visit here.