Graduate Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series Event With Anderee Berengian

Graduate Division Dean Gillian Hayes is excited to continue her Graduate Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series, with the next lecture featuring Anderee Berengian presenting on the topic of industry partnership in academia. He will talk about the importance of the relationship between academia and industry, his personal journey, and how his experience in higher education is why he is where is today.

In this series, Dean Hayes will host three talks per academic year, each featuring a prominent leader in our community who will speak to one of Graduate Division's three core pillars: Student Success and Wellness, Diversity and Inclusion, and Industry Partnership. The goal of this series is to not only show what UCI Graduate Division prioritizes, but also illustrate why UCI's graduate students are the lifeblood of the university.

About Anderee Berengian

Anderee Berengian is CEO at Cie Digital Labs and Managing Partner at RezVen. He is a serial entrepreneur and board member. Cie Digital Labs (CDL) is a hybrid interactive development firm and technology startup studio. CDL creates leading-edge digital solutions, serves as an innovation lab for a variety of prominent global brands, and acts as a platform to develop ideas and turn them into new technology ventures.

Cie Digital Labs blends Silicon Valley know-how, startup dynamism and speed with the business maturity of serial entrepreneurs, seasoned venture capitalists, and Fortune 500 executives. This combination gives CDL a deep understanding of how to apply the latest technology to solve strategic and operational business challenges. CDL's unique hybrid model also enables the company to identify new opportunities that CDL's startup studio incubates, develops, and accelerates into new products and companies. Through his roles at CEI and Rezven, Berengian supports and mentors a wide variety of startup entrepreneurs as well as UCI students.

He earned his BS in Biochemists from UCLA, M.A. in Business from USC, and completed ABD for his Ph.D. in Biophysics at UCLA before recognizing his true passion as an entrepreneur.

Berengian gives back by serving as a board member for nonprofits Discovery Cube of Orange County and as a Board Member for Human Options, Inc. as well as for profit companies PETCO Animal Supplies, Vody, and Titan School Solutions, amongst others.