The Berkeley Liberty Initiative proudly thrives as a grassroots movement, made possible through the generous support and leadership of a dedicated group of Cal alumni.
Mr. Shuster (Business Administration ‘76) has served as Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board of NMI Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: NMIH) since January 2019. Mr. Shuster founded National MI and served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from 2012 to 2018. Prior to founding National MI, Mr. Shuster was a senior executive of The PMI Group, Inc. (NYSE: PMI), where he served as Chief Executive Officer of PMI Capital Corporation. Before joining PMI in 1995, Mr. Shuster was a partner at Deloitte LLP, where he served as partner-in-charge of Deloitte’s Northern California Insurance and...
Peter Desforges (Economics '83) is the CEO of Peak Real Estate Management & Investment Inc., a firm he founded in 2022 to manage his commercial real estate portfolio. His real estate career began at Wohl Investment Company in 1985, where he served as President from 1992 to 2021. Mr. Desforges and his wife, Suzanne, also run Desforges Vineyards in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley, which has produced multiple award-winning wines.
A UC Berkeley Economics graduate, Mr. Desforges has been active in his community, having chaired Big Brothers Big...
Eric Davidson (History '83) spent most of his career developing and managing senior living facilities. In 1993, he joined ARV Assisted Living, a company started by his father Gary, and served as senior vice president. In 1998, he co-founded Vintage Senior Living and served as co-CEO until 2016. After retiring, Mr. Davidson purchased the Orange County Breakers in 2017, a professional tennis team that competes in World TeamTennis. He is the owner of the Palisades Tennis Club and in January 2019, he became the majority owner of World TeamTennis and serves as chairman of the board.
Ambassador Frank E. Baxter (Economics '61)was born in and attended grammar and high school in Northern California. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a BA degree in economics with honors in 1961. Before college, he enlisted in the Air Force for four years.
After college, he worked at the Bank of California, San Francisco. In 1963, he joined J.S. Strauss and Company, San Francisco, which then was a major third market firm.
From 1974 until 2002, he was employed by Jefferies and Company, a global...
Purvi Kunwar (Development Studies ‘92; Political Economy of Industrialized Societies ‘92) is co-founder of startup Precision NeuroMed with her husband Dr. Sandeep Kunwar. Precision NeuroMed is a platform for central nervous system therapies based upon Dr. Kunwar’s research. Ms. Kunwar has successfully bootstrapped capital from friends and family and recruited notable professionals in the sector to join the firm in executive roles.
Ms. Kunwar has been a resident of the Bay Area for more than 40 years, having immigrated from India in 1978. She has a professional...
