Graduate Update: Maria Briggs Berta

Previously working at engineering firm Integral Group/Rumsey Engineers since its start in the founder's garage, certificate graduate Maria Briggs Berta is now working at another engineering startup: Point Energy Innovations. This company, according to Berta, is "redefining the simple and cost-effective delivery of net-zero and high-performance buildings with better health and comfort for its occupants and higher returns for building owners and developers." To help start this company from scratch, Berta says she’s using all tools from her HR arsenal—a compilation of skills that she honed through the certificate.

Managers were impressed with the expanded resources I was able to develop for them as a direct result of knowledge I gained from classes.

"From setting up policies and procedures to making our first hire to growing an engaged and productive team," she says, "these are all theories and concepts I studied at Extension that I was able to put into practice at this new firm. I delivered my classroom assignments to my management team. That was remarkable to me: It wasn't just class work, but something I could use 100 percent at an engineering firm. Managers were impressed with the expanded resources I was able to develop for them as a direct result of knowledge I gained from classes."

And Berta is well-prepared to meet the demands of the company's growth, seeing that Point Energy Innovations has been forging successful relationships with forward-thinking developers and owners in the Silicon Valley. "We are working with some high-profile, high-technology confidential clients (due to NDAs) on both greening existing building stock, but also building new net-zero office developments."

2014:

Previously working at engineering firm Integral Group/Rumsey Engineers since its start in the founder's garage, Maria Briggs Berta is now working at another engineering startup: Point Energy Innovations. She credits the Certificate Program in Human Resource Management with giving her a breadth of knowledge that spanned organizational development theory to employment law to compensation strategy. "Without that wealth of knowledge and resources I gained from the certificate, I wouldn't have been as successful at my previous firm and have the confidence to venture out and do it all over again!"

Berta is able to put lessons learned in class immediately to work—specifically, coursework in Terri Lynn Cardona’s Effective Performance Management course. "I delivered my classroom assignments to my management team," she says. "That was remarkable to me: It wasn’t just class work, but something I could use 100 percent at an engineering firm. Managers were impressed with the expanded resources I was able to develop for them as a direct result of knowledge I gained from classes."

Preparing to take the HR Certification Institute's Professional in Human Resources exam, Berta is open to additional courses to fill future knowledge gaps. "If I need to learn more about labor law, I wouldn't simply buy a textbook," Berta says. "I would enroll in a UC Berkeley Extension course to get the hands-on learning."