Exploring Global Careers: Careers in Business & Entrepreneurship

Brian is an advisor to public and private organizations on transformation. He has served as an executive in California state government and for a global information technology and business process management firm. Brian has founded 7 businesses and non-profits, including 2 cooperative corporations. Public service is his passion. He has helped to organize water, sanitation, literacy, and health projects around the globe. Brian served in the US Peace Corps, South Africa (2018-2019), where he leveraged his business expertise to aid in the fight against HIV. The US State Department recognized his efforts with the Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy. Brian is a UC Davis alumnus and is the 2020 Cal Aggie Alumni Association Emil Mrak International Award recipient. 

Noemi Danao-Schroeder is a Vice President at DAI, responsible for the company’s billion dollar portfolio of US government-funded global projects. Her 30 plus years in international development started as a volunteer in rural Paraguay, and includes Executive Director and Country Director positions for non-governmental organizations in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Ecuador. More recently, Ms. Danao-Schroeder has led large-scale projects for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), including a $34 million justice and human rights project in Honduras, a global initiative of USAID and NASA to use geospatial information for climate change decision-making in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and mobilizing private sector investment to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Ms. Danao-Schroeder lived in Latin America for over 20 years, and her work and travel spans more than 50 countries around the world. She received a BA from UC Berkeley and earned her graduate degrees from UC Davis, with an MS in Community Development and an MBA from the Graduate School of Management. She currently resides in the Washington DC area with her family.

José Palma is passionate about climate change, biodiversity protection, and sustainable development. He is a lawyer from the University of Chile and holds a master's degree in public policy and administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science, with a special emphasis on climate change. Mr. Palma is the founder of the Latin American Climate Action Network, a non-profit association promoting climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies in the region. The network was created in the context of COP25 in Chile and currently has more than 30 member organizations.

Elizabeth Yang is an online business strategist and monetization expert helping service entrepreneurs grow online with consistent revenue in repeatable marketing and sales systems with their teams. She’s the CEO of Better With Company, a high-touch business coaching and consulting agency. She specializes in high ticket sales and lead generation, high performance, leadership, and talent optimization. She has 10 years of experience in innovation and product marketing with Fortune 10 companies.

Elizabeth champions diversity with inclusive selling to maximize visibility and impact that converts. Happy sales start with the human connection to becoming the first choice for your ideal customers, nurturing and closing faster. She’s also the founder of Hmong Women Take on the World, a Global Online Leadership Summit that brings hundreds together to globally celebrate women and girls across 8 countries. 

She enjoys helping clients become better leaders building winning teams and achieving organic sales growth with better customer experiences and communities. She's trained in Neuro-Linguistics Programming (NLP), Tiny Habits, Gallup's Builder Profile 10 Talents, and Predictive Index.