Explore LFCoB Online Event for Admitted Students

Maria Valdehueza, Senior Vice President, Ticketing and Events, Golden State Valkyries

Maria Valdehueza is in her 16th season with the Golden State organization and her first with the Valkyries as Senior Vice President, Ticketing and Events. Prior to joining the Valkyries, Maria spent three seasons as Vice President, Ticketing for the Golden State Warriors. Maria has also served as a member of the inaugural Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council since 2017, was a director-level sponsor of the Working Parents Employee Resource Group, and now serves as the executive-level sponsor of the Women of the Warriors Employee Resource Group.

Maria joined the Warriors as a sales intern in 2007 before joining the team full-time as a Group Sales Account Executive in 2009. Throughout her tenure with the Warriors, she has also served in various roles on the Group Sales team before being promoted to Vice President, Ticketing.

Orlando Montalvo, Managing Director, BlackRock

Orlando Montalvo is a Senior Portfolio Manager on the Derivatives and Digital Assets Portfolio Management team within BlackRock’s Global Markets & Index Investments (BGM) group. In this capacity, he is responsible for managing and overseeing a diverse range of investment strategies and financial products, including currency-hedged, commodity, and cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Orlando's work focuses on portfolio construction, risk management, and the efficient implementation of index-based and derivative-driven investment solutions across global markets.

Eugene Sivadas, Ph.D., Dean of the Lam Family College of Business at San Francisco State University

Eugene Sivadas is Dean of the Lam Family College of Business at San Francisco State University. He spent 15 years on the faculty of the Milgard School of Business at the University of Washington, Tacoma where he held appointments as Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, Director of the MBA Program, Coordinator of the Masters’ Program in Cybersecurity & Leadership and Professor of Marketing. He also served on the University of Washington Faculty Senate, on the executive council of UW Tacoma’s Faculty Assembly, as Chair of Milgard School’s faculty council and as Chair of UW Tacoma’s Appointment, Promotions, and Tenure Committee.

He holds a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Cincinnati and has held faculty appointments at Rutgers Business School, the University of Cincinnati, and Emerson College. Dean Sivadas has published in leading marketing journals including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Marketing Letters, Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management etc. and has recently co-authored the 9th edition of the leading marketing channels textbook. His research has been cited more than 5,000 times.

Kenneth Estrella, a junior, B.S. in Business Administration with a Concentration in Finance

Kenny Estrella is a third-year Business Administration student, concentrating in Finance, at San Francisco State University. He is passionate about the world of finance and currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer for the Fintech and Innovation Network, a student organization at SFSU. Kenny has gained valuable experience through multiple internships in the tech industry and is eager to continue exploring and growing within the field of finance.

Jairo Garcia (B.A.; B.S., '21), Fixed Income Strategy Associate, iShares, BlackRock 

Jairo Garcia is an Associate at BlackRock on the iShares Fixed Income Strategy team. He graduated from San Francisco State University in 2021 with a B.A. in Economics and a B.S. in Mathematics. At BlackRock, Jairo focuses on driving product commercialization by delivering investment insights to both wealth and institutional investors. He is also the co-founder of The Tech Give Back (TTGB) initiative, where he connects founders and investors, fostering meaningful partnerships across private markets.

Emma Paquette, a senior, B.S. in Business Administration with a Concentration in Management

Emma Paquette, originally from Orange County in Southern California, is a Business Management major with a focus on human resources at San Francisco State University. On campus, she actively leads as President of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Chapter, connecting students with HR professionals, and co-founded the Boba & Business Mixer to create a welcoming space for business majors to engage in casual networking. Emma has built professional experience through HR internships with the CSU Chancellor's Office and at Hosa Technology. She launched her career before graduating and currently works as an HR Assistant at Jewish Vocational Service (JVS), handling employee inquiries, recruitment, and compliance trainings. Upon graduation, Emma plans to continue advancing in her HR career, where she can turn her passion for supporting people into meaningful workplace impact.

Liza Kucherova, a senior, B.S. in Business Administration with a Concentration in Marketing

Liza Kucherova is a senior at San Francisco State University, Lam Family College of Business, majoring in Business Administration, with a Marketing concentration. Through LFCoB’s hands-on experiences, she has taken on leadership and marketing roles across campus, serving as President of the Marketing Association (a student organization), Digital Marketing Assistant for the LFCoB Marketing Office and as the TEDxSF State Event Marketing Coordinator.

Currently, alongside completing her degree, Liza works as a Go-to-Market Intern at NexDiscovery, a San Francisco based AI startup, contributing to messaging, positioning, and growth strategy. Previously, she interned at Applied Materials, where she was selected out of 115 interns to present directly to the company CEO.