Derek Alderton

Biography

Derek Alderton is the faculty director of the Anderson Strategy Group in the MBA program at UCLA Anderson School of Management. He has been an adjunct faculty member at UCLA Anderson for 10 years, developing and teaching courses in entertainment strategy, entrepreneurship and venture initiation, entrepreneurial operations and strategy. His student teams have won multiple awards in the Applied Management Research MBA field study program.

Alderton holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, degrees in law and economics from the University of Sydney and a diploma in finance from the Securities Institute of Australia. He is also a chartered accountant (U.S. CPA equivalent). Before starting his own boutique management consulting firm, Alderton spent 10 years at McKinsey & Company, where he was responsible for the West Coast media and entertainment practice, and became a leading expert on the impact of technology on entertainment business value chains. His clients range from established global entertainment companies to the fastest growing technology companies, and even some exceptional startups.

He has been on faculty at numerous corporate training programs, including McKinsey, and has spoken at a wide variety of technology, media, entertainment and entrepreneurship conferences. Alderton is also multi-published.

Alderton is a qualified flight instructor in single-, multi- and jet-engine aircraft. He was the acting chief flight instructor at the largest aerobatic school west of the Mississippi, and bought, restored and operates a Russian fighter jet.