"Meet Canadian Studies" returns! In our third entry highlighting our friends and supporters, longstanding board member Russell Kalmacoff talks about his deep connection to Berkeley, the importance of Canadian-American exchange, and how he's seen the program develop over the years.
What's your connection to Canada and Berkeley?
I was born in Kamsack, Saskatchewan. After two years of engineering at the University of Alberta, Calgary (as it was called at the time) I switched, getting a bachelor of commerce at the University of Manitoba, majoring in accounting. I then went straight to Berkeley, landing at International House in January 1965. The place was resonating with the Free Speech Movement. Eric Hoffer, a burly longshoreman who worked on the docks and read widely when he retreated to a cabin in the High Sierra, spoke to a small group of us at International House, describing his new book, The True Believer, that was his take on the Free Speech Movement. You can probably find a copy at Moe’s on Telegraph. I also had a research assistantship under Sherman Maisel, who headed the Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics. He was hired by LBJ to reorganize the Federal National Mortgage Association - a reward of sorts to Berkeley, since the Movement was partly about students campaigning against Goldwater.
The B.Comm. gave me advanced standing and a master of business administration in two semesters. With a fellowship from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, I continued into the doctoral program. By 1966, I could see I needed work experience, and with the gracious permission of CMHC I transferred to the evening doctoral program at New York University, and also went to work on Wall Street. Hooked on finance, I returned to Canada in 1967 and pursued a career in investment banking between Toronto and Calgary until 1999. I've lived in Calgary the last twenty years, dividing my time between running a family office, Rockmount Financial Corporation; volunteering in academia; and consulting in public policy, when they'll listen to me (I designed the Alberta Enterprise Corporation).
How did you first get involved with Canadian Studies at UC Berkeley?
In 2001, I volunteered as an alumni rep for Haas. After needling them about Canadian content, they introduced me to Canadian Studies founder Tom Barnes, who asked me to chair the campaign for a professor of Canadian Studies. We hit it out of the ballpark thanks to Dr. Hildebrand of Fresno, originally from Canada. Another board member, Brad Barber, introduced us. It turned out Dr. Hildebrand was from Arcola, Saskatchewan, near where I grew up - we Saskatchewan people venerate these little burgs! Working with Dr. Barnes, Nelson Graburn, and now Irene, I’ve continued on the board, having lost count of the number of trips from Calgary to San Francisco.
What do you think makes this program special?
We Canadians can be guilty of simplistic generalizations with respect to the United States. I often say that the U.S. may be ten times larger than Canada, but it’s a hundred times more complicated. We ignore keeping abreast of events there at our peril. Conversely, we can’t expect Americans to reciprocate, but I tell folks at UC Berkeley that while it is arguably the best public research university west of the Mississippi, that sphere of interest and influence should include Western Canada. Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver are rated in the top ten of the World’s most livable cities by the Economist Intelligence Unit. San Francisco suffers from an absence of regional planning and inability to facilitate orderly densification.
I think Irene is doing a great job with the program. I did appreciate her bringing Michael Benarroch, the dean of the business school at Manitoba, to explain how Canada avoided the 2008/9 subprime meltdown, because comparative capital markets is an area I am researching. Michael became president of the University of Manitoba this summer.
What other work are you doing at Berkeley, and what important trends do you see?
Academia is becoming more interdisciplinary, and I’ve been able to take advantage of that by joining the advisory board of the Clausen Center. Endowed by Tom Clausen, who was president of the World Bank, it is a venue at Berkeley where macroeconomists and central bankers exchange ideas. What a time and place to brainstorm monetary policy! In this regard, I’d encourage everyone to read the cover story of the July 31st issue of The Economist, entitled “Free Money”. As a self-described capital markets generalist, and as the world has become more interconnected, I’ve become an advocate of broader financial literacy. Finance needn’t be mysterious or boring. I've crossed paths with Michael Lewis, who lives in Berkeley. He followed me on Wall Street, and wrote a book about his experience, entitled Liar’s Poker, which might be sub-titled “Animal House on the trading floor at Salomon Brothers”. Years later he wrote The Big Short, which uses over-the-top humour to describe the sub-prime meltdown of 2008/9. It was made into a good movie, which I highly recommend to those who aren’t familiar with the industry and want to understand that fiasco. We might try to get Michael to speak at one of our sessions.