Katherine Kiang

University of California-Berkeley, Haas School of Business

“Pragmatic optimist who loves chatting about almost any topic and eating gluten-free food.”

Hometown: Willowbrook, IL

Fun fact about yourself: I’m fluent in Greek.

Undergraduate School and Degree: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, BS in Bioengineering

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Eli Lilly and Company, Sr. Scientist

Where did you intern during the summer of 2024? Pfizer as an Internal Consultant, New York City

 

Where will you be working after graduation? I’m in the dual MBA/MPH degree program at Berkeley, so I’m not graduating until December. Therefore, I don’t know where I will be after graduating, but I’m excited to be working as an R&D project manager at Kite Pharma this summer, helping bring new cell therapies to market. Long term, I hope to stay within the industry in a role that helps me immerse myself in the business decisions of the pharmaceutical world so I can better advocate for investment in underserved diseases and states and better access to innovative medicine.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

• Consortium Member
• Academic Cohort Representative
• VP of Admissions, Haas Healthcare Association
• VP of Events, Haasabilities
• Race Inclusion Initiative Team Lead, Allyship Project
• Student Interviewer for prospective applicants
• Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Business Analytics
• Berkeley Haas Dean’s Scholarship
• Inaugural Student Advisory Committee Member, Bay Area Global Health Alliance
• Volunteer, North Berkeley Senior Center

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am most proud of being part of the board that restarted Haas’ disability advocacy group, Haasabilities, post-COVID-19 because I saw it was an under-discussed dimension of identity in our classes. One thing our board emphasized is that disability can impact anyone at any time and can be temporary or permanent. Funny enough, I modeled that when I broke my wrist hiking this past fall. More specifically, I helped plan two story shares to bring those with lived experience and allies together to hear poignant stories from those with lived experience. It was so rewarding to see a packed room for the first events of this reformed club and to hear such lovely feedback on how impactful the event was from classmates and those who volunteered to speak. I also made an effort to emphasize more focus on identifying ingredients/allergens when serving food at large events, and I have started to see that modeled at more events since. Somewhat selfishly, as a celiac, I love this.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I am most proud of bringing an efficiency change onto the manufacturing floor that operators had been seeking for a while and could be done from a scientific perspective. However, no one had any ownership to actually bring through the change process. This change involved shortening the buffer mixing time on all of my line’s products. This had the ability to cut the step-in half, saving time and money on the line. Most rewarding, however, was seeing how thankful the operators were that someone prioritized something they wanted. This experience taught me how important it is to listen to those closest to the work and how to be the activation energy to bring a good idea into reality. I’m proud of the direct and tangible impact I made, and these learnings have stayed with me in how I lead in business school and hope to lead in my future professional roles.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose Haas because of its unique culture, where students believe that doing well and doing good can go hand-in-hand and genuinely want to shape the world for the better. And I think all my Haas classmates and fellow alumni will agree this isn’t just talk. Even at social events or when people need to make decisions on where their careers and time are going, I see these values put into action. This was the most important thing for me in choosing a business school because my ultimate career goal is to combine my business knowledge with my technical background and public health degree to push for focus on underserved populations and diseases in the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, coming from a less typical MBA background, I felt that the values would be core to ensuring I found a like-minded community.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? As an MBA/MPH, I have to give a shoutout to our mama bear Kim MacPherson, who leads the MBA/MPH dual degree program. She brings a wealth of institutional knowledge and is super well-connected. I’m actually working on my MPH capstone at the moment, and one of the speakers she brought in during my first class with her inspired the subject of my capstone, which is on how to bring more innovation to the ultra-rare disease space. She is also always willing to fit in time in her busy schedule when people need her support for anything MBA/MPH related and has played a huge role in making the MBA/MPH program the success it is!

What was your favorite course as an MBA? Colin Boyle’s class, Strategy and Leadership for Social Impact, has been my favorite class so far. I’ve been learning practical frameworks for how to set up a social impact organization for success and have been able to see how some of the class concepts could apply even outside the not-for-profit sector. An assignment I just completed that was super cool was sitting in on a nonprofit board meeting for La Clinica. They do great work in the public health space, and it was uplifting seeing how they are navigating these uncertain times to continue driving their mission. The class has also helped me see how the social sector and the corporate sector can better work together to enact social change.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? My favorite MBA tradition has been the Service at Haas Service Auction. Every year, this event brings in thousands of dollars toward impactful charities, truly reflecting Haas’ commitment to social change. In addition, the auction items —such as dietary restriction-friendly baking classes and dance lessons—reflect the diverse talents and tight knit sense of community Haas has. Last year, I had a blast participating in the auction and hope to see it continue strong in the future.

What is the biggest myth about your school? The biggest myth is that going to Haas may put you on a career path where you are not earning as much as other top MBA peers long-term. I don’t believe this is true, as I believe my peers and I want to set ourselves up for stable financial futures and get the investment of time and money from our MBA back. We have plenty of people who go into consulting, banking, finance and other traditionally high-paying fields. The difference I think comes from the fact that some Haas students who go into those fields may do that for a short period to get to a certain financial goal, and then be willing to prioritize other career goals over financial ones once they hit that goal. Ultimately, this goes back to the culture of being able to simultaneously do well and do good that we have.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? Coming from the Midwest, I still cannot get over the amazing weather in Berkeley. Being able to go to places like the Rose Garden or Botanical Gardens at (almost) any time of year is amazing.

What movie or television show (e.g. The Big Short, The Founder, Mad Men, House of Lies) best reflects the realities of business and what did you learn from it? Being in the Bay, I’m going to have to give a shoutout to Silicon Valley. I’m not in the tech industry, but that show taught me a lot about the importance of team dynamics and how a business evolves as it grows.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? Almost any class you take has some discussion of how AI is impacting that field. For example, in a marketing class I took last semester, our final project was how Apple could innovate with their suite of AI tools. Regarding integrating AI directly, I’d say it mostly comes into background research on various projects. We get a free Perplexity AI subscription, which is useful to learn about new topics and find data sources when doing a project. This helps us work more efficiently and do better research.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I’m going to give a shoutout to Shefali Agrawal. She always asks such insightful questions in class and has a way of presenting that really makes people listen to her ideas. In fact, some friends and I were having dinner the other day, and we were hypothesizing who in our class would most likely become a CEO, and she was unanimously on that list. Not to mention she juggles the MBA life with a young child.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

1. Helping bring a novel molecule to market for an unmet need.
2. Serving on a nonprofit board.

What made Katherine such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2025?

“For years, underrepresented students at Haas disproportionately shouldered the burden of educating peers and leading diversity initiatives, underscoring a need for greater allyship. Katherine tackled this challenge head-on, designing and leading a year-long Activating Allyship project through the Race Inclusion Initiative. Through this initiative, she launched the inaugural Allyship Picnic, the first event of its kind, where aspiring allies engaged in meaningful conversations with classmates from underrepresented backgrounds about concrete ways to offer support. To address low attendance at educational events, Katherine and her team piloted a second initiative in the fall, partnering with a core faculty member to integrate co-curricular allyship events into coursework. Her ability to assess needs, launch new initiatives and implement structural change—all within the constraints of an academic year and MBA student schedule—was truly remarkable.

Beyond Activating Allyship, Katherine played a pivotal role in reviving Haasabilities, a critical student organization fostering community and education around disability access. Katherine and the Haasabilities board implemented an innovative 50/50 leadership structure, ensuring equal representation of individuals with disabilities and allies—an intentional approach that strengthened the club’s reach and impact. As VP of Events, Katherine set a new standard for inclusive event planning, developing best practices (i.e.: wording on accessibility), reference guides (i.e.: dietary restriction friendly brand/vendor recommendations) and consultations to ensure all Haas events were inclusive. Her example has influenced other student events as well as staff organized events, using the Haasabilities checklist for our design. Haas is full of great ideas, but Katherine stands out for her ability to turn ideas into action. Her unwavering commitment to inclusivity, talent for mobilizing others and drive for lasting change make her an exceptional leader.”

Sarah Dobson
Associate Director of Student Life & Leadership Development

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