Mt. Sierra College

By May S. Ruiz

These days we hear so much about the all-too-common sad tale of America’s youth graduating from a four-year college course saddled with several thousand dollars’ worth of student loans but unable to find jobs.
Mt. Sierra College, a Monrovia-based institution founded in 1990, helps students escape this pitfall by offering courses tracked for gainful employment. Geared for working students, flexible year-round class schedules allow for graduation in as few as three years. Many of its instructors are working professionals and leaders in the industry, who help students learn the appropriate skills for a specific career.
From its humble beginnings in Pasadena, with two classrooms and four paying students, Mt. Sierra College today occupies over 30,000 square feet of school space in its present site, with over 430 students. In October 2014, Wellsland LLC, owned by Chinese businessman George Jie Zhao, acquired Mt. Sierra College and installed Dr. Bill Kakish as President. Together, this dynamic duo hopes to position the school at the forefront of technological learning in Southern California.
George is a product of Mainland China’s automotive manufacturing family that counts Volvo and the London taxicab companies as part of its vast holdings. As a businessman with Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, he was instrumental in that company’s restructure that established two venture associated companies in Ningbo and Shanghai. He further achieved record international sales volume for Geely and the firm’s recognition as a major player in the European market as it established the Geely franchise distribution network in over 60 countries.
However, George’s true passion has always been education. He was one of the founders of Beijing Geely University, which has over 50,000 students. In 2012, he established Wellsland LLC intending to expose both American and international students to the cultures of the world. Wellsland aspires to foster an understanding of cultural standards and business practices in a global workforce and provide support to students in developing fluency in English and world languages.
Enter Dr. Bill Kakish, who has an extensive background in postsecondary education in various capacities as a faculty member, administrator, accreditation liaison officer, state regulatory staff and campus president. Bill holds a B.A. in Modern Languages from Notre Dame, an M.M. in Management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, a Ph.D. and M.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Chicago, and a J.D. from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois. Such employment accomplishments and academic achievements make him more than qualified for his post as Mt. Sierra’s head.
Together, George and Bill are embarking on an ambitious five-year plan that would catapult this school as a leader in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship; Media Arts and Design with concentration in Visual Effects, Digital Video, and Game Arts and Design; Information Technology with concentration in Computer Information Technology and Information Security; and Telecommunications Technology.
Bill’s first step in meeting this grand scheme was to hire ten full-time faculty who are experts in their fields, and invite recognized professionals onto its board. In mid-February, Mt. Sierra announced the appointment to its Board of Directors of screenwriter and director Xiaolu (Lulu) Xue. Ms. Xue is concurrently Associate Professor and Graduate Study Program Supervisor in the literature Department of Beijing Film Academy and the Director of Beijing Film and China Television Screenwriters’ Committee.
In February, Mt. Sierra College vied in an international weekend global game jam competition that saw over 77,000 contestants creating video games. Mt. Sierra mounted the second largest contingent of participants in Southern California with over 100 student entrants, second only to the Southland’s USC, which had over 300 contestants, but had more student aspirants than Chapman.
Mt. Sierra’s career counselors help place graduates with a variety of outstanding employers including Apple, IBM, ABC, CBS, NBC, Disney, WB, Caltech, JPL, Parsons, Universal Studios, SEGA, Boeing, Blizzard, Obsidian, etc. Mt. Sierra College has been in conversations with a Nigerian university and Costa Rica’s Department of State to establish international partnerships to build educational and career opportunities for their students.
In the works is a plan to build a larger campus in Monrovia that will house twice the number of classrooms, a subterranean parking structure and which will be made from sustainable building material with solar paneling that will power the school’s entire edifice.
George and Bill want to ensure that all of Mt. Sierra’s graduates succeed as employees and entrepreneurs. Indeed, there is such bright future ahead for Mt. Sierra College and its students!

Bill Kakish and George Jie Zhao in front of Mt. Sierra College

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