To say the Tiger blood runs thick and through is an understatement for the Shibuya family. Three members of the family graduated with their bachelor’s degree in finance from Pacific’s Eberhardt School of Business.
We caught up with the Shibuyas to learn more about how Pacific made such an impact on their family and their success in business.
Robert “Bob” Kinji Shibuya ’83: From Pacific student to CEO
The first Shibuya to attend Pacific, Robert “Bob” Kinji, a Hayward, California native, graduated from Pacific in 1983.
“During my Pacific experience, I gained invaluable experience by being a part of a social fraternity (Sigma Alpha Epsilon), where I served as chapter president. I was also the president of the interfraternity council,” said Bob.
Bob recalled gaining additional leadership skills by serving as a resident assistant. The two most influential Pacific faculty and staff that impacted his experience were Paul Tatsch, his finance professor, and Jess Marks, who was a Student Life leader.
Bob also met his three oldest and dearest life-long friends at Pacific, who he said “…have supported me throughout my adult life: Jim Clifford ’83, Les Serpa ’83 and John Wayland ’84.”
“The Eberhardt School of Business alumni community has helped me throughout my career in winning new business and sharing best practices. Tigers help Tigers,” said Bob.
During his time at Pacific, Bob also completed a wealth management internship with Smith Barney. From there, his career skyrocketed. He landed the role of regional director with Equitec Properties Company in Oakland in May 1983. Here, Bob served as a financial analyst underwriting acquisitions and later transferred to asset management directly leasing and managing office and industrial properties.
Bob later served in many senior executive and C-suite executive roles and executive positions in the Greater Los Angeles area, including senior director for Cushman & Wakefield, executive vice president for CBRE, principal of global brokerage services for Trammell Crow Company, COO of the Americas for Cushman & Wakefield, and global chief executive for Cushman & Wakefield.
Today, Bob Shibuya, chairman and CEO of Mohr Partners, has over 40 years of commercial real estate experience in the acquisition, development, finance, leasing and disposition of office, industrial, retail and healthcare properties representing both occupiers and investors.
Robert and Richard Shibuya ’18 and ’19: Continuing the family legacy at Pacific
After completing his own academic career at Pacific, Bob encouraged his sons, Robert and Richard, to attend the university.
Robert said hearing about his father’s positive experience at Pacific is what inspired him to attend the university as well: “I had been influenced by my father’s stories of the incredible time that he had during his time at Pacific and the friendships that he had made, including a few of his very closest friends.”
Richard, Robert’s younger brother, also grew up hearing these stories and developed a desire to attend Pacific.
“It seemed to me that assistance he was able to receive from professors or peers during a very developmental period of his life helped him become the person he is today,” said Richard. “Most of his lifelong friends are also from UOP. I wanted to follow his legacy and make my own memories and story.”
Robert graduated from the University of the Pacific in 2018 from the Eberhardt School of Business, earning his bachelor’s degree in finance as his father did.
Robert also participated in social Greek Life and is a brother of Pi Kappa Alpha. He described his time at Pacific as “a period of time in which I developed a handful of invaluable relationships that I continue to cherish.”
After graduating from Pacific and starting his career with one of the top five firms in the finance industry, Robert joined his family’s business at Mohr Partners, Inc. Today, he oversees one of the companies’ largest accounts as a senior account manager.
“I wanted to create a career in the commercial real estate industry because it is an industry that has operated in a similar fashion for decades. In my opinion, an industry that has operated like this can present great opportunities to further innovate and optimize to run more efficiently,” said Robert. “I hope to continue to gain further knowledge and understanding of the industry in order to identify these opportunities and capitalize off them.”
Robert’s younger brother, Richard Shibuya ’19, also graduated from Eberhardt with a finance degree. During his time at Pacific, Richard enjoyed taking business and finance classes and credits economics Professor Sharmila King, former Eberhardt Career Management Center director Margaret Roberts and Dean Lewis Gale for positively impacting his Pacific experience. Richard, like his brother, is also a member of Pi Kappa Alpha, a social fraternity at Pacific.
Richard Shibuya also completed multiple internships as a Pacific student, including roles with Montgomery Advisors, Prudential Financial and Mohr Partners, Inc. Richard stepped into his internship with Montgomery Advisors after hearing about the company from a close family friend, a fraternity brother of Bob Shibuya while he was attending Pacific.
Through his internship, Richard enjoyed being able to use and apply his education from Pacific to the workforce for the first time in his life.
“It was my first time ever doing and learning something of this caliber and I initially thought I would be unprepared, but I was not,” said Richard. “It was exciting to know I had the education and experience to be comfortable on many of the assignments I faced during my time at the company, including knowledge on cash flows, payment periods, and tax assessments.”
During Richard’s junior year, he interned with Mohr Partners in their Dallas, Texas office. In this internship, Richard learned about site selection, working with industrial and health care clients.
Richard said the internship taught how a company is ultimately supposed to function and surpass competitors to be successful.
“I enjoyed how I was able to apply myself at the company based on my education and former experience. I never felt lost or confused and credit a lot of the success I’ve had to my finance and business management classes at Pacific,” said Richard.
After graduation, Richard climbed the ladder at Mohr Partners, Inc, beginning with his role as an analyst and now serving as a senior client solutions specialist. In the future, he hopes to manage the company some day and head into multi-family investments.
Like his father and brother, Richard credits Pacific for playing a key role in his success: “Pacific has such a great, tight-knit community and a great business school, which has set me up for the rest of my life. I wouldn’t be where I am now without all the knowledge, tools and connections Pacific has given me.”
Learn more about how you can achieve your own goals at the Eberhardt School of Business.