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Graziadio School Celebrated Summer 2006 Graduation 

August 1, 2006 - The Graziadio School of Business and Management celebrated its summer 2006 graduation on Saturday, Aug. 5, at 10:30 a.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse on the Malibu campus. Michael C. Kuan, founder and managing partner of Strategic Impact Group (SIG) based in Shanghai, China, received an honorary doctorate at the ceremony. Gloria L. Austin was honored as a Distinguished Alumna.  

About Michael C. Kuan

Michael C. Kuan is the founder and managing partner of Strategic Impact Group (SIG) Capital Partners Limited.  Launched in 2001 and based in Shanghai, China, SIG provides capital and financial advisory services to an American and international clientele.  In only a few short years, the organization has achieved an impressive track record of successful leveraged buyouts and cross-border transactions involving IPO’s, mergers and acquisitions, and company privatizations.

Mr. Kuan is one of the talented entrepreneurs who have helped transform China into an emerging economic powerhouse.  He began his career at a San Francisco venture capital firm as an analyst and went on to form his first investment firm focusing on Asian clients.  From 1992 to 2000 Mr. Kuan based operations in Hong Kong, successfully raising $500 million for 20 business ventures in China. 

Mr. Kuan has contributed to numerous Chinese business successes: OUR Corporation, China’s first privately-owned manufacturer of brain tumor treatment equipment; I-Switch, China’s largest systems integration company which has built the nation’s trading platform for securities brokerage houses; China Internet Corporation; and Cybercity International, a capital provider and technology incubator for start-ups in Hong Kong and China.

Many leading private and publicly-held companies seek his executive expertise and Mr. Kuan currently serves on the board of DBS Bank China Holding, Summit Biotechnology, Shanghai Technology Park, and China Energy Investment. 

Mr. Kuan is an ardent supporter of higher education and a frequent speaker at Chinese universities and conferences.  He is a contributor to an organization which provides financial aid to students in Tibet and in the western regions of China.  In partnership with Fudan University, Mr. Kuan cofounded Shanghai Technology Park providing capital to student-initiated ventures.

Michael C. Kuan lives with his wife Diana in Shanghai, China.

About Gloria L. Austin

Gloria L. Austin is chief executive officer of Brown & Toland Medical Group, a comprehensive multi-specialty physician organization serving over 200,000 patients throughout the city of San Francisco, the surrounding Bay Area, and at the prestigious University of California at San Francisco.  Founded on the philosophy that the patient is best cared for when physicians and patients make medical decisions, Brown & Toland is a three-time winner of the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH) Blue Ribbon Award for medical excellence.

By the time of her appointment as Brown & Toland’s CEO in 2000, Ms. Austin had earned national recognition for her distinguished career in the health care profession.  For more than 18 years she held various positions at FHP, Inc., a California-based HMO serving over 1.7 million clients in several western states.  Capping her FHP career as senior vice president, corporate health care delivery, she was responsible for staff model operations at 58 medical centers, two hospitals, and two skilled nursing facilities.  She was subsequently named vice president and president of California for the Talbert Medical Management Company, a spin-off of FHP.

A respected speaker on national health care issues, Ms. Austin is widely recognized for her activity in the greater health care industry, with appointments on numerous hospital and corporate boards.  She currently sits on the board and executive committee for the California Association of Physician Groups, which she chaired in 2005.  In 2005 and 2006, Ms. Austin was named one of the 100 Most Influential Women in the Northern California Bay Area.

Ms. Austin earned her bachelor of science in management from Pepperdine University in 1987 and received her executive MBA from the University of California, Irvine. 

Gloria L. Austin and her husband, Randal, make their home in Salt Lake City, Utah.