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Leadership Development

Dava Newman Sm '89, PhD '92 Eric Amundsen ‘94, SM ‘99 Karina Funk CE ‘97 Ajit Kambil ‘85, SM ‘89, PhD ‘93: December 5, 2008; Running Time: 1:12:21

About the Lecture

About the Lecture

A trio of graduates from MIT’s Technology and Policy Program (TPP) discuss their career paths, bumps and all, and offer guidance to current students.

Having studied as a mechanical engineer, Eric Amundsen “never in life thought (he) would be an attorney.” Then he “stumbled across patent law.” He attended a graduate student seminar where he was forced to rank his likes and dislikes. When he analyzed his priorities, he discovered that engineering was not the best fit, while patent law “matched up close to 100%.” Amundsen feels vindicated in his choice. He continues to put his technical expertise to good use, enjoys helping clients “get value out of their IP,” offers strategic advice, and negotiates difficult problems. Whatever the situation, Amundsen notes that “it often comes down to relationships: You can be the best attorney in the world but if (clients) don’t like talking to you, you’re not going to serve them well.” From Amundsen, this parting lesson for career-builders: “Pay attention when you get a sure gut feeling that something’s not right.”

Karina Funk “went from engineering, to dabbling in policy, explaining science to policy-makers, to business and operations, to finance and investing.” Funk credits MIT with her ability to open doors to many fields, because “unlike other academic environments,” the MIT culture encourages combining disciplines. After developing an interest in health and the environment, and realizing she was not going to make a difference in the policy world, Funk turned to business. She describes an early experience that resulted in an important insight she’s since carried with her. Two weeks before starting a graduate degree in physics at Berkeley, she realized she “didn’t want to be a lab rat.” (She found the TPP program instead.) She tells her listeners: “You figure out what you don’t want to do. I’m not kidding when I say some of my best decisions have come very quickly when I’ve been literally stopped dead in my tracks, disgusted or disappointed by the path ahead of me. I know I have to make a change.”

Within the context of an “elevator pitch” to launch an entrepreneurial business school in Asia, Ajit Kambil describes some milestones in his career, and his philosophy. A cancer survivor, Kambil has learned “you live every day; make the most of it.” For him, this means less emphasis on success, and more on “what you are going to give.” His TPP focus, around information technology, engaged him in further studies of how information systems affect organizations. Kambil has been in academics; started various companies, “some duds, some successes;” and written a book on auctions and markets, looking at why the Dutch “are so good at flowers.” He learned that certain problems that crop up in life take a long time to answer. His recommendation: “Persist.” He also suggests “setting bold goals” to stretch yourself and others to a higher purpose, building a network with a few good people, and preparing before taking the lead on a new challenge.

Lecture Details

Location: Faculty Club

“Leadership is not about having a title and making decisions, it’s about building a ‘followership’ that’s committed to you.”

Ajit Kambil

About the Speakers

Dava Newman Sm '89, PhD '92

Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems Director of Technology and Policy Program and MacVicar Faculty Fellow

Dava Newman specializes in investigating astronaut performance across the spectrum of gravity. She is currently the Principal Investigator (PI) on the MICR0-G space flight experiment to quantify astronaut intravehicular activity (IVA) onboard the International Space Station. Previously, she has been the PI for Space Shuttle experiments dealing with load sensors and astronaut workloads.

Newman earned a Ph.D. from MIT in Aeronautics, Biomed and Engineering.

Eric Amundsen ‘94, SM ‘99

Associate, Wolf Greenfield

Eric Amundsen assists clients with patent preparation and prosecution in the areas of manufacturing equipment, sporting goods, medical devices, consumer products, software, and business methods. He also assists with opinion work and product clearance analysis.

Before joining the firm, Amundsen worked as a mechanical and environmental engineering consultant for GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. where he designed and implemented remediation strategies, including treatment systems and regulatory controls. He also served as a technical specialist for the Environmental Management Unit of the Massachusetts Port Authority.

Amundsen received his J.D. from Suffolk University Law School, and two M.S. degrees and a B.S. from MIT.

Karina Funk CE ‘97

Equity Research, Winslow Management Company

Karina Funk joined Winslow Management Company after working as an independent consultant to entrepreneurs and venture capital investors in the clean energy space. Prior to joining Winslow, she managed direct investments at the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust, where she launched an $8 million initiative for early-stage companies and managed the Trust's commitment as lead LP of the Massachusetts Green Energy Fund, a $17 million venture capital fund. Earlier in her career, Karina was a strategy consultant at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, and before that she was at Électricité de France, advising their corporate strategy division on the economics of alternative energy technologies.

Funk holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University, two Masters degrees from MIT, and a post-graduate diploma from the École Polytechnique in France. She is a CFA charterholder.

Ajit Kambil ‘85, SM ‘89, PhD ‘93

Global Research Director, CFO Deloitte

Ajit Kambil is also a distinguished scholar in residence at Babson College. His management research focuses on harnessing the value of emerging technologies to improve business performance. His technical research focuses on combining human and machine intelligence to improve information retrieval and knowledge management in organizations.

Before joining Deloitte in 2003, Kambil was a senior research fellow at Accenture’s Institute for Strategic Change where he led diverse research initiatives in electronic commerce, innovation, supply chains and marketing. He was previously on the faculty of New York University’s Stern School of Business, where he introduced electronic commerce into the MBA and executive programs, and led a project sponsored by the National Science Foundation that pioneered the dissemination of U.S. corporate disclosures on the Internet.

Kambil is widely published in leading business journals and magazines such as the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Across the Board, Journal of Business Strategy and Management Science. He also has published in technology journals. Harvard Business School Press published his book, Making Markets: How to Profit from Online Auctions and Exchanges, in June 2002. The book was co-written with Dr. Eric van Heck.

Ajit Kambil earned a Ph.D. in management information technologies, and M.S. degrees in technology and policy, and in management science. He earned a B.S. from MIT in electrical engineering and computer science

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