Alumni
Alumni are most valuable members of our School of Management community, and we strive to always serve them best.
Our network is more than 13,000 alumni globally strong, and each one of them is important
to us. Not only are our dedicated professors, staff, and advisory council members
are ready to assist our alumni with advice or access to networks, but alumni have
proven many times that they are proud to help each other in the many ways listed below.
Annually, we also honor two alumni with our “Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna” and “Young
Alumnus/Alumna” awards.
What can I do?
Here are just a few of the different ways you can stay involved and continue to play an important role in the continued success of the School of Management:
- Update your information so we know how to reach you
- Share your Cal Lutheran story with others
- Join our alumni community on LinkedIn!
- Tell your colleagues, friends and acquaintances you are a Cal Lutheran alum. With the vast majority of our alumni living and working in the area, chances are good that there are Cal Lutheran alumni among your colleagues and friends.
- Refer prospective students, employees and friends to our programs.
- Attend School of Management events and continue your professional development with networking and lifelong learning.
- Mentor a business or accounting major.
- Hire a Cal Lutheran graduate who has been well prepared to shape the future.
- Maintain your ties to our faculty, staff and community.
- Volunteer to become a School of Management Executive Connection member.
- Support the School of Management by joining the Dean's Circle.
Upcoming Events
SOM 2025 Young Alumnus of the Year
James Werbe
Founder, Wayside Energy
James Werbe is the recipient of the 2025 School of Management Outstanding Young Alumnus of the Year award. He joined to Cal Lutheran as a transfer student from UCLA. During his time at Cal Lutheran, he pursued an interdisciplinary major in "Business, Philosophy, and Psychology" from which he graduated in 2023. As part of his program, he took courses in Entrepreneurship and participated in several activities such as the New Venture Fair or Startup Weekends and an active community member at Hub101, our startup community space. In 2022, he founded Wayside Energy, an early-stage company developing intelligent battery management systems for electricity providers. In 2024, he received a Dorfman Incubator Grant for Wayside Energy, which was followed by a large grant from Cal Seed - selected from nearly 100 promising clean technology companies in California. While still only two years out of Cal Lutheran, he is not only making an impact as a successful entrepreneur, but he has also started to give back by engaging with extra-curricular programs for our students at the School of Management and community members at Hub101, and by helping the communities in which we live - during the devastating Palisades and Eaton Fires of 2025, he actively worked with relief organizations in the area to collect clothing, food, and other support for impacted families.
SOM 2025 Distinguished Alumna of the Year
Sushma Vasudevan
Senior Vice President for Analytics and Data Science, PureSpectrum
Sushma Vasudevan is the recipient of the 2025 School of Management Distinguished Alumna of the Year award. Sushma is Senior Vice President for Analytics and Data Science at PureSpectrum, a leading global market research and insights platform, incubated at the School of Management’s Hub101. At PureSpectrum, Sushma has played an instrumental role in building and scaling the technology and where she is responsible for the company’s suite of PureProducts. Her hands-on expertise in developing artificial intelligence-driven products - spanning natural language processing, predictive analytics, reinforcement learning, and recommendation systems - has resulted in the creation of proprietary assets that are central to the company’s strategic offerings. Prior to PureSpectrum, Sushma’s career is also marked by significant contributions to global technology leaders such as IBM Corporation and GE Capital International Services, where she honed her expertise in leveraging data-driven insights to drive technological advancements and business transformation. As an accomplished speaker, she frequently shares her insights on ethical and responsible AI practices through keynote addresses, webinars, and corporate discourse, underscoring the importance of transparency, fairness, and accountability in AI development. In addition to her leadership role, Sushma serves as a board member for the School of Management’s Center for Economic Research and Forecasting (CERF). She has also contributed to our programs as an Adjunct Professor, where she teaches graduate-level courses in Statistics and Market Research.