George Powell spent the first ten years of his career in the aerospace industry before founding his skateboard company in 1976 at the age of 33. Powell is credited with 4 patents, 2 of which helped to define contemporary skating. He has also been responsible for the development of a number of skateboard product innovations like the introduction of high-rebound skate wheels, double radius (rounded edge) skate wheels, industry leading Bones urethane wheel formulas, Bones Swiss Bearings, Bones Double Action Truck Bushings, AirLam skateboard deck laminating presses, and in partnership with Stacy Peralta, the skateboard video genre. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 29499]

Peter Levine is a partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He was previously senior vice president and general manager of the Data Center and Cloud Division at Citrix where he was responsible for revenue, product management, business development and strategic direction. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 29503]

A leader in innovation and entrepreneurship for more than four decades, T. Gary Rogers is an icon in the food industry. Since 2013 he has served as chairman of Pleasanton, California.-based Safeway Inc., which has more than 2,400 stores and 250,000 employees. For 30 years, Rogers grew Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream from a 75-employee company with $6 million in sales to one of the world’s largest ice cream companies with more than 9,000 employees. Series: "UC Davis Graduate School of Management's Dean's Distinguished Speaker Series" [Business] [Show ID: 29449]

Christian Felipe is the Managing Member of CAF Holdings, a private investment office in Santa Barbara. He has participated in numerous Angel investments throughout the US. Prior to that, Felipe founded and managed Sirios Capital Management in Boston, Massachusetts, a multi-billion long/short global hedge fund and also worked for 13 years at MFS where he led the #1 ranked growth fund in America for the 3 years ending 1999. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an Economics degree from UCLA. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 28962]

Kevin O'Connor is the co-founder of FindTheBest, a research engine founded in Santa Barbara in 2009. Previously, O'Connor was a co-founder of DoubleClick, an internet advertisement-technology, and founder of O'Connor Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in early stage companies, including 9Star, Surfline, Travidia, ProCore and CampusExplorer. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 27767]

Waguih Ishak joined Corning in 2007 to establish a new Silicon Valley facility, the Corning West Technology Center (CWTC) in Palo Alto, California. CWTC is part of Global Research and is staffed with scientists and engineers working on high-speed interconnects, touch displays, solid-state illumination and sensors. Additionally, CWTC is responsible for business development and collaborations on the West Coast. CWTC also hosts several engineers and scientists from Corning’s business units and the Emerging Innovations Group. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 28964]

Considering a life as an entrepreneur? If so, you won’t want to miss “Create Your Own Job,” an informative panel discussion featuring four professionals who all took the plunge by creating their own companies. Moderated by Lee Ann Kim of Pacific Arts Movement, panelists include Adam Markowitz of Portfolium, Denise Bevers of Kindred Biosciences and Henry DeVries of Indie Books International. While each are in different stages of their careers, they all share stories of sacrifices and risk-taking, setbacks and triumphs…and why they wouldn’t have it any other way. Series: "The Career Channel" [Business] [Show ID: 29132]

Steve Zahm has been the President of Procore Technologies Inc., a cloud-based construction software provider, since 2004. As President, Steve is responsible for overseeing revenue generation and customer success at the company. Prior to Procore, Steve co-founded DigitalThink, one of the first significant cloud-based software companies in the corporate learning industry. While at DigitalThink, Steve was responsible for marketing and business development efforts. DigitalThink had its IPO in 2000, and was later sold to Convergys Corp. for $120 million. Steve received his AB from Stanford University and his MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 29136]

Jim Zarley spent the first nineteen years of his career with RCA Corporation in various senior management roles with a focus on sales and operations. He acquired his first business (Quantech) in the mid-1980's where he served as CEO and led the initiative to automate the California Department of Motor Vehicles and later sold the company to Automated Data Processing (ADP). In 1996 Mr. Zarley became Chairman and CEO of Best Internet, a pioneer in the web hosting industry. Best merged with Highway Technologies in 1998, and Jim served as COO until its merger with Verio in 1999. In April 1998 Mr. Zarley became Chairman and investor in Valueclick a pioneer in the digital marketing space. Jim joined Valueclick as President in January 1999. One year later he was appointed CEO and led the company through an IPO. Jim served as CEO through 2012 and still serves as Chairman of the Board. For the past ten years Jim has served as a board member of The Texas Roadhouse Restaurant chain. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 29137]

What were the talents that allowed certain inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their visionary ideas into disruptive realities? What led to their creative leaps? Why did some succeed and others fail? Walter Isaacson's talk is centered around his latest book, The Innovators, and how the creators of Microsoft, Apple, and others came to be the leaders of the current Digital Revolution. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Business] [Show ID: 28925]