Satiya Witzer (’13) just cares about people.
Sure, her title at KPMG is managing director of people strategy, but titles might mean anything in the occasionally dry world of consulting. In that role, Witzer has supported over 100 M&A deals from transaction to transformation, helping her clients navigate complex financial and employee matters. Her expertise ranges from performance improvement to organization design, from compensation and benefits to retention and communications.
But that’s just what it says on paper.
In conversation, what comes across most is the way she listens, the way she considers what she’s hearing and the way she incorporates what she’s heard into new ways of looking at the task at hand. It’s the same quality she displayed as a member of UCLA Anderson’s admissions team, a role she held from 2016 until 2018, before deciding to return to consulting. At the time, she joined a boutique firm, Alvarez & Marsal, where she spent four years before joining KPMG.
“I specifically like to focus on employee strategy and often partner with clients’ chief people officers,” Witzer says. “Our teams advise them on everything from culture to change management to workforce optimizations, benefits and the whole nine yards.”
Witzer continues to cultivate a close relationship with her b-school alma mater. Though not formally involved in admissions anymore, she’s quick to answer the call when asked to attend a recruiting event and she is a dedicated advisory board member with the school’s Riordan Programs.
With her work and family — Witzer is married and the mother of a teenage daughter and three-year-old son — she’s now adding on a new role as the president of Anderson Women, one of the alumni network’s alumni resource groups. “My vision is to build on what the prior board has created, with a focus on increasing visibility of our Anderson alumni offerings and the various avenues for involvement,” Witzer says. “AW is for all women and any woman. We can amplify and bring so many more resources to the attention of our alumnae, when and how they need us to.”
Witzer enthusiastically discusses her decision to run for president of AW and her goals for the organization.
Before we get too far into our conversation, how does Anderson Women fit into the greater Anderson alumni network? Are you directly affiliated with the network and its board of directors?
We are part of a group of what Anderson calls alumni resource groups. The Anderson Black Alumni group is another ARG. Our mission is to connect alumni, nothing else. We’re not designed to raise money, we’re not designed to fund scholarships. I also applied to join the alumni board, and outgoing AW president Annette Blum (’10) is on the alumni board, too. So, there are overlapping roles.
Does Anderson Women have a connection to the student-led Women’s Business Connection?
The relationship between the Anderson Women alumnae group and the WBC student club should be one of the strongest we have. When everyone is so busy, it’s not easy for large groups to connect outside of Anderson’s annual Velocity Women’s Leadership Summit. But I think it’s a natural pipeline for hundreds of women. You join the WBC as students, perhaps serve in a leadership role, and when you graduate you join Anderson Women. It’s not like you have to pay dues to join AW, you just sign up and join us when you can.
The incoming WBC president, Jessica Lai (’25), and I met up recently, and I found myself asking her for advice, given her leadership role with the Anderson Strategy Group and the board retreat she led for WBC. It’s crazy how small the world is because she remembered me from when I spoke at an admissions event when she was applying to Anderson. I’m excited to see what the WBC board has in mind for Velocity this year, and how AW can help support that vision.
Before becoming president, were you a member and did you serve in any leadership roles with Anderson Women?
Since graduating in 2013, I probably attended two events a year plus Velocity. But one of the things they introduced this year when they were putting out the call for applications was the idea that candidates could be an “outsider.” There were questions that invited you to describe how quickly you could get up to speed and be effective from day one.
I really want to show students and the alumnae community that you can have kids, you can pursue everything you want in a career and still give back. Anderson is such a priority for me. Women are a priority for me. And it wasn’t about doing a million more things. We already have an amazing alumni relations program. The goal of my platform was improving visibility and promoting events and opportunities.
What can you tell us about some of your fellow board members?
One of the great things about our board is the diversity of experiences we all bring. I couldn’t do this without Tamerri Ater (’23), Ella Profenius (’20) and Fanny Pinoul (’23), our seasoned board members, who will continue in their current leadership roles and ensure a smooth transition. We have new members, like Robin Zucker (’97), who’s really cool. She was senior VP of marketing at Playboy Enterprises, she led social marketing at Yahoo! Now she’s CEO of the firm she founded, The CMO Practice. We have Cory Lopez (’23), a recent EMBA graduate who is the senior marketing director at Believer Meats. They’ll be joining BHAUS EIGHT Real Estate & Lifestyle co-founder Sonia Benavides Haendel (’10) as co-VPs of marketing and communications. We’re bringing in Shana Berg (’17), the director of planning at Lamps Plus, to be co-VP of programming and events, joining Kathy Hoss (B.S. ’88, ’94), a women’s precision wellness specialist.
What are some of your plans for the coming year?
We have a board retreat coming up in September to really plan out how we can expand our mission. We want to think about how our programming can address the interests of different women, like alumnae and students at different points in their careers and their personal and professional journeys.
Our events have included everything from webinars on different life cycle stages — like being the primary caregiver for your parents, deciding between private or public school for your children — to professional-themed panels in partnership with other alumni organizations. For example, we’re talking about a Women in Sports panel for Anderson’s annual Worldwide Welcome Weeks to anticipate the Olympics coming to L.A. in 2028. There is interest in Angel City Football Club, which was founded by Julie Uhrman (’04) and just purchased by Bob Iger and Willow Bay.
Is there a place to recognize the importance of allyship within Anderson Women?
That’s an exciting idea. I don’t know if we’ve ever really explored an allyship leadership role. But there are a lot of men who would benefit from the exposure of being on a women-led board. To build their understanding and awareness as leaders professionally, too, but also to keep allyship top of mind for us. I mean, how could we make our programming relevant for all alums? Because our intent here is to create an inclusive environment. I would want to partner with OUT After Anderson, our LGBTQ+ alumni network for our events, too. I think there’s more work we could do to let people know, “Hey, you are an Anderson alumnus. Come as you are.” It’s open to everyone, it’s meant to be a safe space where we respect and continue to help each other.
