Bryna Chang

Teaching Statement

Bryna Chang teaches GSBGEN 541: Problem Solving and Creativity, with Professor Jonathan Bendor, The Walter and Elise Haas Professor of Political Economics and Organizations and Professor of Political Science, by courtesy. Bryna’s background is in higher education, entrepreneurship in the food industry, internet product management, and strategy consulting. She was the former Director of the Stanford MBA Program Office. Bryna draws on her deep knowledge of the MBA student experience and broad experience across multiple disciplines and industries to help students focus their problem-solving efforts. She formerly co-instructed GSBGEN 202: Critical Analytical Thinking, a course that was part of the MBA core curriculum. She has been teaching at the Stanford GSB since 2013.

Bio

Bryna Chang is a Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she teaches a course on problem solving and creativity. Her most recent operational experience was as Founder of Waverley Ridge, where she incubated several entrepreneurial concepts, including the development of a quinoa-based snack for retail sale. She also consulted to Three Trees Foods, an artisanal almondmilk company, assisting the startup with strategy, HR management, and general operations. Prior to that, she spent almost ten years at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She was the Director of the MBA Program Office, where she ran operations, strategy, curriculum management, and communications. She also served as the acting director of the Public Management Program (now part of the Center for Social Innovation). Additional experience includes internet product management at Campus Pipeline, which built intranets for colleges and universities, and as a management consultant with The Boston Consulting Group.

In addition to her work at the GSB, Bryna is the President of the Board of Directors of the Silicon Valley Boychoir. She is an active volunteer in the Palo Alto Unified School District, serving on various PTA executive boards, the district Report Card Committee, and chairing the Hoover Elementary School Site Council.

Bryna received a B.S. in Biological Sciences with Honors and Distinction and an MBA, both from Stanford University. Her outside interests include environmental issues, hiking, skiing, cooking, and of course, eating.

Academic Degrees

• MBA, Stanford GSB, 2003
• BS,Biological Sciences with Honors & Distinction, Stanford University, 1997

Academic Appointments

• At Stanford GSB since 2013

Teaching

Degree Courses

2017-18

GSBGEN 541: Innovation and Problem Solving

This project-based seminar is a rare opportunity for students to focus on a significant, currently ongoing problem from their work/lives: with the help of classmates, participants spend 5 weeks exploring how various problem-solving methods and...

2016-17

GSBGEN 541: Problem-Solving and Creativity

This is a project-based course on problem solving and creativity. It is expected that everyone who takes the class will work on some significant problem that’s currently ongoing (e.g., the design of part of a complex project, a difficult...