For our next webinar, Milton Chang will discuss, “50 Years in Business … And Still learning.”
He will be interviewed by Jane Frommer (PhD ‘81).
Date: Thursday, May 15
Time: 5:30-7:00pm Pacific
After the webinar, you’re invited to talk to the speaker and mingle with other alumni in a post-webinar social via a Zoom meeting.
We look forward to seeing you.
Peter Tong (BS ’81, PhD ’85)
50 Years in Business and Still Learning
By Milton Chan (PhD ’69)
Milton will describe the best practices for starting and building a company and will also describe his recent experience in starting a consumer product business (BonsaiHeirloom.com).
He will offer a point of view on how techers can excel in any field, by broadening what we know to making the most of our superb problem-solving skills.
He will use his new venture to illustrate some of these points, including why he chose bonsai, how he evaluated the opportunity, positioned the company for sustainable competitive advantage, set up a low overhead infrastructure to be the lowest cost producer, and used eCommerce marketing techniques to develop the business.
Milton (PhD ’69) is an entrepreneur and an angel investor who mentors entrepreneurs. He is the author of Toward Entrepreneurship (www.miltonchang.com).
Milton pivoted to tech entrepreneurship soon after graduating from Caltech. He was President and CEO of Newport Corporation and New Focus, taking both companies public. He has successfully incubated more than a dozen startup companies. Recently he started Bonsai Heirloom, an e-commerce business.
Milton earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering with highest honors from the University of Illinois, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Caltech. He also earned an executive MBA from Harvard.
He was awarded Distinguished Alumni by both Caltech and the University of Illinois. Milton has served on the Visiting Committee of NIST and on an SEC advisory board.
In addition to incubating Bonsai Heirloom, he is a board observer on PhotonPharma, and advises several tech companies, including Coreshell Technologies.
Milton is a Trustee of Caltech.
