smith connector · 2018. 11. 1. · smith business o spring 2010 smith businessis published twice a...

PLUS: An Intellectual Stimulus Plan ° A Summer of Microfinance ° Remembering the Happiness Lecture

B US I NE S SROBERT H. SMITH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS • UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND • SPRING 2010 VOL. 11 NO.1

SPECIAL INSERT: Remembering Bob Smith ’50

SmithConnectorHigh Speed Net-workingfor Your Career

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KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Why consumers buy extendedservice contracts12 Developing managerial talent

with stretch assignmentsWhy some people benefit morethan others

13 How to curb your impulsespending

• IT and profitability14 Information security breaches

Cybersecurity breaches aren’taffecting stock prices the waythey used to.

• New associate dean ofresearch appointed

15 Motivation and expatriateeffectivenessYou need more than a goodattitude to succeed in an overseasassignment.

CONNECTIONS

Smith Businesses to Watch For:Sol Systems27 60 Seconds with Eleanor

Rutland31 Ernst & Young endows

Freshman Fellows Orientation

Contents

GET CONNECTEDA sophisticated andeasy-to-use newsocial networkingtool exclusively forthe Smith com-

munity willhelp you getconnected,fast.

22 ENGAGING THE GLOBALDEBATE ON FINANCIALPOLICY Smith’s new Center forFinancial Policy brings in big namesto discuss big issues.

FEATURES

2 Smith Business Online10 Smith at a Glance28 Alumni News and Notes29 Alumni Spotlight30 Your Career32 Last Word

LEADERS DIGEST U.S.

New Baltimore campus opens4 Students “Pitch Dingman” for

venture funding5 Don’t Worry—Be Happy

Do you remember Bill Nickels’Happiness Lecture? You’re notalone.

Leadership for a Better WorldThe inaugural conference for Smith’snew Center for Social Value Creationshows how profitability and socialgood align.

LEADERS DIGEST WORLDWIDE

Scott’s Summer of MicrofinanceA Smith freshman finds that an intern-ship in Honduras brings risk, rewardand a really cool global experience.

SMITH BUSINESS SPRING 2010 VOL. 11 NO. 3

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SPECIAL INSERT: Remembering Bob Smith

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SMITH BUSINESS O SPRING 2010

Smith Business is published twice a year—spring and fall—by the Robert H. SmithSchool of Business at the University ofMaryland, College Park.

Smith Business welcomes input fromalumni, partners and friends on articles andbusiness issues. Please send all correspon-dence to the editor.

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARDG. Anandalingam, DeanKelly Brown, Assistant Dean of Development

and Alumni RelationsRosetta Clay, Director of Alumni Programs

and Special EventsKathi Dantley-Warren, Campaign Director,

Office of External RelationsJudy Frels, Executive Director of Marketing

CommunicationsLawrence A. Gordon, Ernst & Young

Alumni Professor of Managerial AccountingN.R. Prabhala, Associate Professor of FinanceRhonda Reger, Associate Professor of

Management and OrganizationRoland Rust, Distinguished University

Professor; David Bruce Smith Chair inMarketing; Chair, Department of Marketing,

Marguerita Chen, ’93 Financial Advisor,American Express Financial Advisors

Loretta Downey, Empower IT, Inc.Maya Rao, MBA ’05, Associate, InvestmentBanking, Sandler O’Neill & Partners, L.P.

EDITORRebecca Winner

CONTRIBUTORSJessica BauerStacia CouchCarrie Handwerker JOUR ’02Claire JacobsonScott LewisTimothy D. LewisRebecca Winner

DESIGNJeanette J. Nelson, University Publications

PHOTOGRAPHY

Amy Taylor JOUR ’06John Consoli ARHU ’86Scott Shuffield

ILLUSTRATIONJeanette J. NelsonBrian G. Payne

Robert H. Smith School of BusinessOffice of Marketing Communications3570 Van Munching HallUniversity of MarylandCollege Park, MD 20742-1815Tel: 301.405.7282Fax: 301.314.6685http://[email protected]

Copyright ©2010 Robert H. Smith School ofBusiness. This publication is produced by theOffice of Marketing Communications.

SMITHBUSINESS nline

LearnSmith Podcastswww.rhsmith.umd.edu/podcast/

NetworkOnline registration foralumni eventswww.rhsmith.umd.edu/alumni/

RecruitHire Smith studentswww.rhsmith.umd.edu/career/

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THERE’S ALWAYS MORE GOING ON AT THE SMITH SCHOOL THAN WE CAN POSSIBLY FIT INTO SMITH BUSINESSMAGAZINE. GET MORE NEWS, ARTICLES AND INFORMATION ONLINE AT OUR WEB SITE,WWW.RHSMITH.UMD.EDU/SMITHBUSINESS.

WWW.RHSMITH.UMD.EDU/SMITHBUSINESS

Click to

WEB POLL:

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» Log on to the Web site and let us know atwww.rhsmith.umd.edu/smithbusiness.

Last issue’s Web poll results:Will there be an economicrecovery in 2010?

Yes: 69% No: 31%

[email protected]

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Survey Results

IN THE FALL 2009 SMITH BUSINESS MAGAZINE, we asked for readers’ feedback to

understand which features are most important to you, how you use the magazine, what pieces

you enjoy most, what sections you could do without, and more. Readers could complete the paper

survey and return it in a pre-paid return envelope or complete it online. For all of you who

responded, we thank you. We are working now to incorporate your feedback into future editions

of Smith Business in print and online.

Here are some highlights:

» 78% of respondents say that Smith Business istheir best source of information about the SmithSchool and 71% of respondents aresatisfied.

» The most important feature of the magazine isConnections, followed by Alumni News & Notesand Smith at a Glance.

» The least important feature is the Alumni EventsPhoto Gallery section, but still, almost half ofrespondents said it was important to them.

» 31% have passed their copy of Smith Business onto a friend or colleague.

» 31% have visited the companion web site, SmithBusiness Online.

» Many readers commented on the Smith at aGlance graphic that compared Smith alumni giv-ing to Smith’s peers. Data shows that only 2% ofSmith MBAs and 1% of Smith undergraduatesgive to the school, compared to 21% of DukeMBAs and 28% of UNC undergraduates.

» Several people requested that we have alumniwrite and submit their own stories.

» For every person who asked us to quit printingthe magazine and move to online only, anotherperson said, “Please don’t go 100% online;I like to read on the beach, on planes. ...”

The Smith School hasacquired a new home awayfrom home at the Universityof Maryland BioPark inBaltimore. This space will beused to connect with currentMBA students, faculty and theapproximately 8,000 alumniwho live in the region. It willserve as an academic site andas a site for professional devel-opment and building alumnirelations. When complete, theBioPark will have 1.8 millionsquare feet of lab and officespace in 12 buildings and islocated at 801 W. BaltimoreSt. The Smith School’s14,000-square-foot space willhave technology-equippedclassrooms, team break-outrooms, staff offices, a confer-ence room, a small computerlab, and a lounge area.

The space has alreadyhosted the ThoughtLeadership@Smith speaker series,which features research-based presentations from Smithfaculty and provides networking opportunities for alumniand business leaders. In January 2010, part-time MBAclasses began being offered in the new space.

“The university is excited about the Smith School’sexpansion in Baltimore,” said C. D. Mote, Jr., president ofthe University of Maryland, College Park. “I am confi-dent that our highly ranked MBA program will thrive inits new Baltimore setting.”

The Smith School signed a long-term lease for a spotin BioPark Two and is the only University of Maryland,College Park school to have a space in the new 10-acre

development. Acquiring this space enables the SmithSchool to move from its existing Baltimore location inthe University of Maryland’s School of Nursing andquadruples the square footage of available working space.

“The Smith School is committed to Baltimore andpartnering with leaders in its robust business community,”said G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the Robert H.Smith School of Business. “Relocating in the BioParkputs us at the nexus of great research and innovation inBaltimore, and provides us great proximity to supportGovernor Martin O’Malley’s strategic initiatives as wecontinue to prepare business leaders to drive the stateeconomy.” –JB

SPRING 2010 O SMITH BUSINESS

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Smith in Baltimore

[email protected]

ALUMNUS BILL GOSSMAN HONORED

LEADERSDigest

Bill Gossman, MBA ’91 was honored as the Smith School’s

2009 Distinguished Alumnus at a ceremony in Seattle last fall.

Pictured, from left to right: Martha Longbrake; Bill Longbrake,

PhD ’76; Dean G. “Anand” Anandalingam; Bill Gossman,

MBA ’91; and Cheryl Gossman.

[email protected]

LEADERSDigest

Tensions were high at the Nov. 20, 2009, Pitch DingmanCompetition, a program of the University of Maryland’sDingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Smith School ofBusiness. Pitch Dingman allows students to share a businessidea that is evaluated by the Dingman Center’s professionalinvestment staff and entrepreneurs-in-residence. Presenters atthis Pitch Dingman Competition had already passed the firsthurdle: one of the weekly informal sessions held every Fridayduring the semester. During the informal sessions, potentialbusiness owners receive actionable feedback and advice.

But on the last Friday of the month there is money on thetable: $2,500 in start-up funding. The competition is fierce.Students bring their “A game” and a polished pitch, hoping toconvince a panel of distinguished judges that they are worthyof capital.

This Pitch Dingman Competition was no exception. Withonly six minutes to present, the pressure is on even before thestudent opens his or her mouth. Carefully dressed in theirprofessional best and speaking with carefully prepared electronicslides behind them, students discussed their business plans,explained how their company was going to become financiallyviable and fielded pointed questions from judges about strategyand metrics.

The crowd of onlookers filling the packed classroom includedfriends of the presenters, brought in to provide a confidence-

boosting friendly face, and David Hillman, founder and CEO ofSouthern Management Corp., for whom the university’sHillman Entrepreneurs Program is named.

The judges on Nov. 20 included Kevin Donoghue ’84, CEOof Enhanced Rehabilitation Technologies LLC; WilliamGreenblatt UM ’79, founder and CEO of Sterling InfosystemsInc.; corporate attorney Stanley Jutkowitz; investors Paul andDeanne Shatz; Joseph Valeri, MBA ’99, president and COO ofLucernex Technologies; and Bruce Winter ’84, president of FSGLeasing Inc. If the students brought charm and enthusiasm to thetable, the judges brought a wealth of knowledge and practicalentrepreneurial experience.

“I started my business with $100 of capital,” Winter confidedto the students. “I wish I’d had this kind of opportunity.”

Six minutes go by pretty quickly when you’re trying toencapsulate the entire business plan for your new venture, sothere were a few anxious moments as students tried to wrap uptheir talks in the appointed time. Their ideas ran the gamut fromgrand to practical to somewhat fanciful. One presenter hoped tocreate the next big media conglomerate. Another was aggregat-ing local networking events held by many organizations ontoone Web site, to make it easier for small business owners to finda place to network. Yet another wanted to produce environmen-tally friendly “party cups” that printed measurements on theside, to allow party-goers to more accurately judge how muchalcohol they were imbibing.

The big winner on Nov. 20 was NuSkool, a local hip-hoprecording studio and production agency, which won a prize of

$2,000 and was voted as the audience favorite, winning anadditional prize of $250. Networking Loop, the business thataggregates local networking events, also took home $500. Theannouncement was greeted with delighted grins from thewinners and a round of raucous applause from the audience.Students were then invited to stay for lunch courtesy of paneljudge Bill Greenblatt, to hear about his early career experi-ences as an entrepreneur and to network with the judges andeach other.

Pitch Dingman is open to all current University of Marylandstudents, faculty and staff who want to explore a potentialbusiness idea. Students who already own and run establishedbusinesses are also encouraged to come to the Pitch Dingmansessions for more advanced advice on how to take their businessto the next level. For more information about Pitch Dingman,visit www.rhsmith.umd.edu/pitchdingman. –RW


4The competition is fierce. Studentsbring their “A-game” and a polishedpitch, hoping to convince judges theyare worthy of capital.

Pitch Dingman

[email protected]

5


Long before work-life balance started appearing as a core value on cor-porate Web sites, Bill Nickels, emeritus professor of marketing, taughtbusiness students at the University of Maryland about life manage-ment through his legendary “happiness lecture.” Instead of recom-mending long hours and aggressive tactics for getting ahead,Nickels prescribed a different course. “Think of happiness as a goalinstead of something that happens when you become a success atsomething,” says Nickels, who was surprised to observe that manyof his high school friends who had become successful in careersas doctors and lawyers were not happy. “I said, ‘Wait a minute,they told us that if we were successful we would be happy,and they’re not.’”

Nickels eventually wrote a book on the subject, “Winthe Happiness Game.” It’s no longer in print, but theprinciples he taught—and embodied—have influencedtens of thousands of students.

Nickels was known to be a great—and funny—teacher, turningkey concepts into catchy one-liners like, “A percentage of a lot ismore than a percentage of a little” and “Almost everybody almost allthe time is almost always wrong.” One student even took Nickels’quotes and turned them into buttons for other students to wear.

During the course of his 25-year Maryland career, Nickels’ stu-dents selected him as “Outstanding Teacher on Campus” fourtimes. Many of his former students still keep in touch, and heloves receiving messages from people like Carly Fiorina, whowent on to lead Hewlett-Packard. “Carly Fiorina said I taughther how to have a sense of humor,” Nickels recollects.

Nickels didn’t just teach students how to be happy, of course.He is also author of several scholarly works in the field of marketing.And the introductory textbook he co-authored, “UnderstandingBusiness,” is in its ninth printing and is the number one textbook in itsarea worldwide. It’s been translated into Chinese and Spanish, and it isoften the text for the only business course taken by students in somecommunity colleges.

Nickels hopes his students remember the basicsof marketing he worked so hard to make interestingand accessible for them. But he’s also resigned tobeing forever known as the Happiness Lecture guy.“After a whole semester talking about business, Iwould talk about life, stress and life management.And they remember that, because it was fun, inter-esting, useful, applicable,” says Nickels.

And because that lecture had such a significant impact on so manyof his students, people still call and request that Nickels come visit theirorganizations to deliver the Happiness Lecture to their employees.

Nickels is retired from full-time teaching these days, but he keepsbusy writing successive editions of “Understanding Business.” Nickelsalso lives up to his own advice and schedules daily time for fun withgolf, tennis and dinner outings with friends.

But he also finds happiness in his continuing student connections.“I’m happy that they’re using the principles,” says Nickels. “I’m happythat they write me every once in a while and tell me that they areusing the principles. And I’m happy that they’re happy.” –TL

‘DON’T WORRY—BE HAPPY,’SAYS B-SCHOOL PROFESSOR

TWO PIECES OFADVICE FROM THE

HAPPINESS LECTURE

Schedule time for fun, two hours

a day. “People say they don’t have two

hours a day. Of course, they have 24. But

they just don’t take them.”

Appreciate what you have right now. “Happiness

is the ability to appreciate fully who you are, what you

have and life the way it is now. Treat happiness as a goal,

instead of something that happens when you become a suc-

cess at something. By then it’s too late.”


LEADERSDigest

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Selling beer is not normally the way tosolve a severe public health problem in adeveloping nation. But that is just whathappened in Kenya.

Diageo, the largest alcoholic beveragecompany in the world, bought an EastAfrican brewing company. When it wasexploring marketing options for its beer,Diageo discovered illegal home-brewedbeer had the largest market share in Kenyabecause of the high tax on beer imposedby the Kenyan government. But homebrew was often made with locally availablewater. Beer made from contaminated watercaused blindness, which became a wide-spread public health problem as a result.Diageo negotiated with the Kenyan gov-ernment for lower taxes on beer, whichwould allow Diageo to sell its beer at acompetitive price—a win for the company.But safe affordable beer bottled under quality standards also reduced the incidenceof blindness in Kenya—a win for thecountry and its citizens.

This was just one of the stories heard at “Leadership for a Better World,” theinaugural conference of the Smith School’sCenter for Social Value Creation, on Sept.25, 2009, co-sponsored by the SmithSchool’s Center for International BusinessEducation and Research. Almost 300 attendees from the public, private and non-profit sectors packed the auditorium at theRonald Reagan Building and InternationalTrade Center, also home to the SmithSchool’s Washington, D.C., campus. Theforum was the official launch event of theSmith School’s Center for Social ValueCreation, which was created to supportDean G. “Anand” Anandalingam’s visionand address a growing demand from stu-dents, corporate constituents and alumni tomake social and environmental impact aSmith School priority. The center will helpinspire and equip students to tackle someof society’s most critical environmental andhumanitarian needs through an engagingcurriculum, real-world field experience,cutting-edge research, and targeted careerplanning.

[email protected]

Leadership for a Better WorldSmith’s new Center for Social Value Creationexplores the ways profit and social impact align.

THE SMITH SCHOOL’S CENTER FOR SOCIAL VALUE CREATIONprovides a host of opportunities for students to innovate at the

intersection of public policy, non-governmental organizations and

the commercial sector. A number of its events and initiatives are

also open to Smith alumni.

Please join the center on March 25 for its second annual

Social Enterprise Symposium, featuring workshops around social

entrepreneurship, environmental sustainability and international

development. The center has also partnered with the U.S. Agency

for International Development (USAID) to sponsor a national busi-

ness innovation challenge. Teams from around the country will

devise innovative and effective ways for a multinational corpora-

tion to participate in the economic development of a given

region through a public-private partnership. Finals will be held in

Washington, D.C., on April 23. Both events are free of charge.

“Alumni have already done so much to support student

opportunities. They’ve opened up their networks, invited students

to events, introduced them to employers,” says Melissa Carrier,

executive director of the center. “We’d like to build strong rela-

tionships between alumni and the center.” Alumni can also:

• Host student Career Treks• Sponsor a social venture consulting project• Help open networks and create partnerships• Provide much-needed funding for center projects

To learn more contact [email protected].


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In a panel discussion moderated by

Alan Webber, founder of Fast

Company magazine; Smith School

professors Rachelle Sampson, assis-

tant professor of logistics, business

and public policy; Oliver Schlake,

Tyser Teaching Fellow of manage-

ment and organization; and Ritu

Agarwal, Robert H. Smith Dean's

Chair of Information Systems; doled

out some practical advice for aspiring

social innovators in a lively question-

and-answer session. Much of their

conversation focused on changing

corporate culture.

Social innovators must use the

power of market-based incentives,

says Sampson, and corporations must

be persuaded—or strong-armed—

into putting their focus on long-term

goals. For example, an emphasis on

managing the “end of life” of prod-

ucts to ensure they can be successfully

recycled would change the way prod-

ucts are designed.

Agarwal said trust and transparency

must become cultural norms within a

company. When a company’s ethics

are called into question, trust is bro-

ken between the company and its

stakeholders, and even a company’s

best efforts toward sustainability and

social responsibility will be treated

with cynicism.

Oliver Schlake, a serial entrepre-

neur who teaches entrepreneurship

courses at Smith, urged aspiring

social innovators to create a corpo-

rate culture where risk is rewarded,

even when the innovation doesn’t

succeed on some measures.

One of his former companies gave

an annual prize to recognize the most

important failure of the year—one

that taught the organization some-

thing valuable and important.

“You can’t solve new problems

with old categories,” said Webber,

quoting from his new book Rules of

Thumb. “Nonprofit, government and

business are no longer a useful way of

divvying up the world, because our

problems no longer fit neatly into

those categories.”

[email protected]

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ernest L. ArbuckleProfessor at Harvard Business School, author,and one of the morning’s featured speakers,shared the Diageo story to illustrate the unex-pected ways in which profitability and socialgood align. “Supercorp,” Kanter’s new book,examines the business practices of “vanguard”companies—highly profitable and successfulorganizations that put social value at the heartof the enterprise. These “supercorps” outper-formed their peers even during the financialcrisis, Kanter found.

Kanter emphasized the connectionbetween a company’s purpose and values andits ability to inspire enthusiasm among itsemployees and trust among its customers.IBM garnered its supercorp status when itadopted as one of its core values “innovationthat matters for our company and for theworld.”

Honest Tea didn’t make Kanter’s supercorplist. But Seth Goldman, its CEO and co-founder, also spoke of the way profitabilityand social good align in his organization inanother morning session. Goldman relatedsome of the challenges his company faced intheir pursuit of sustainability. Recently HonestTea redesigned its bottles to use 22 percentless plastic—a win for the company, becauseof the lower cost of materials and the lowercost to transport the bottles, and also a win forthe environment.

But the lighter plastic bottle had a prob-lem: It buckled under the weight of the bev-erage inside. In order to be structurally sound,the bottle had to be redesigned with a largedivot in the bottom. To some of Goldman’scustomers, the divot made it look as thoughthey were getting less tea for their money.Honest Tea is still working on helping con-sumers understand the reason for the newbottle design, said Goldman.

All the morning’s speakers reinforced themajor principles of the Center for Social ValueCreation: Businesses can experience economicprosperity while driving transformative social

change. “The pace of social inno-vation is so fast right now; wecouldn’t possibly keep up with itfrom a traditional research model.The center is a critical link for theSmith School. It provides a bridgebetween theory and what is reallyhappening in the business world,”says Melissa Carrier, executivedirector of the center. “We givestudents opportunities to explorethese issues as they’re evolving.”

More highlights from theforum, including video and pho-tos, can be viewed at the SmithSchool Web site. –RW

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THREE RULES FOR SOCIAL INNOVATORS

Have a business model that works, says

Rachelle Sampson. It’s not enough to want

to make the world a better place. Your

business has to be financially viable too.

Eat like a fly and poop like an elephant,says Oliver Schlake. Find ways to have the

biggest possible impact using the least

amount of resources.

Trust is a must, says Ritu Agarwal. Your

customers must have a reason to trust your

integrity, so make sure your corporate

behavior is above reproach.

When Smith School sopho-more Scott Shuffield received thenotice about an internship inHonduras, he passed it on to fel-low members of the GlobalBusiness Society—but thendecided he'd like to apply as well.That’s how Shuffield found him-self in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, lastsummer, working as a junior loanofficer for Prisma Microfinance, aprivately owned credit unionwhose CFO is Smith alumnusKendall Mau, MBA ’76.

Junior loan officer dutiesincluded shadowing Prisma’sHonduran staff on their dailyrounds. Shuffield’s entire firstweek was spent on collections, aneye-opening experience.

“It was a little nerve-wrackingbecause you’re going into quitedangerous neighborhoods to tellpeople they need to pay youmoney. I imagine it might

have looked like I was the loanenforcer,” laughs Shuffield.

Living and doing business in aforeign country was an adventure,from the day it rained so hard thestreet flooded to the day “Tegus”shut down for the U.S/Hondurassoccer matchup (the U.S. won).It also presented some uniquechallenges. Shuffield is reasonablyproficient in Spanish, but he hadto learn the business and technicalterms for financial services tofollow loan officers’ conversations.(They don’t teach you how tosay “mortgage” in most Spanishclasses.)

A few weeks later Shuffieldgraduated from loan collectionsto face-to-face marketing withpotential clients, most ofwhom were small entre-preneurs and many ofwhom were women.

Shuffield and other Prisma loanofficers went door to door, intro-ducing themselves to neighbor-hood residents and educatingthem about Prisma’s services.Sometimes potential clients wereimmediately receptive. But oftenpeople were resistant to the verynotion of credit because of badexperiences. Some had beenburned by credit cards. Otherswere victims of predatory lendingpractices by large foreign banksor by local strongmen chargingusurious interest.

Toward the end of his intern-ship, Shuffield was conductingbusiness evaluations with potentialclients—both a thrill and anotherchallenge. “Most people inHonduras don’t have computerskeeping track of what they’rebuying or selling,” says Shuffield.“They just know, so you have toask them—what do you want tobuy, how much do you want tobuy, how will it help your busi-ness grow, how will it help youpay back this loan?”

Prisma’s loans are small—$200to $1,000. Shuffield worked withpeople who were requesting loanson the low end, just $200 or$300. That is often just enoughmoney to purchase a new piece ofequipment—a tortilla maker, asewing machine—that will helpexpand a tiny entrepreneurialventure into something that canlead to more profits and a better

life for theloan recipi-

ent. And that is what Shuffieldfound most rewarding, he says—seeing people’s lives improving.

His summer of microfinancewas brought to an unceremoniousclose when the president ofHonduras was overthrown by themilitary. With Venezuelan PresidentHugo Chavez threatening toinvade, the local airport shuttingdown and electricity inTegucigalpa cut off,Shuffield (and hismom and dad)feared that ifShuffield’s cell-phone batterydied, he’d be cut offfrom the United States.Shuffield boarded a planeand headed back to his fam-ily in Miami. It was anunusual way to wrap up asummer internship.

Shuffield wantsto pursue a careerin internationalbusiness, probablyfor a large corpo-ration. But he’dlike to do it in away that is stillrespectful of localculture and thatbrings value to thelocal community.

Shuffield’s experiencewas made possible by ascholarship fromKendall Mau, andShuffield received

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LEADERSDigestWORLDWIDE

Scott’s Summer of Microfinance

[email protected] BUSINESS O SPRING 2010

SCOTT’S BLOG


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JUNE 5After showing me a little of what they do, like calculating “mora” or

late fees, I went with Susan (the office manager/head loan officer for

the Pedregal Office) and Dilcia to five or six places to seek out avales

(a financial guarantee by a third party to assume the burden of a

debt in the event of default) of people who are behind on payments.

According to Susan, more people than usual have fallen behind. …

The goverment raised the minimum wage 45 percent in March.

Raising the minimum wage seems like a good thing until businesses

are closing their doors because they can't pay workers. Many people

think the president, Manuel Zelaya, did this to gain favor among

poorer workers because elections come in November.

JUNE 17Today turned out to be my most exciting day of work so far. ... I shad-

owed Dilcia, a loan officer, while she performed a new client evaluation.

We rode two buses from Pedregal to Flor del Campo where we walked

to Catalina's business. She rents a small space about the size of a bed-

room where she sells all types of clothes from children to adults. Her

rent for the space every month is 1,300 Lempiras (about $65) Can you

imagine renting anything for just $65 a month?

JUNE 20Work at Prisma the last few days has been really cool. On Thursday,

we went out to an area of Tegus called Policarpo to do interviews

with… Esperanza, Doris and Claudia. Esperanza sells food from her

home (tacos, fried bananas, etc.); Doris sells fruit next door to

Esperanza; and Claudia has a pulperia, or a small market. They decid-

ed to name their group "Women in Victory." The women that Prisma

works with play a big role in their homes and are always proud to be

receiving loans and growing their businesses.

JUNE 26When I applied for this internship, I thought I would be learning

about business, small entrepreneurs and the microfinance industry.

Little did I know it would turn out to be an education in political

science! As I wrote those last two sentences, I actually ran upstairs to

the terrace to look at the main street of the Miraflores neighborhood

(where I live) because I heard lots of honking. Turns out “Mel’s”

(President Manuel Zelaya) supporters were driving down the street

yelling and honking. … There is speculation that there will be a coup

tomorrow by the military.

JUNE 29I feel like I really learned about microfinance and how it can really

help people. I also saw the ugly side of any finance company when

people refuse to pay. But I realized the huge majority of people who

receive microloans use them to better their lives. … Right now, dur-

ing all of these problems, the poor in Honduras (about 70 percent of

the population) will be the most affected. In times like these, more

than ever, these people need to continue to have access to microloans

through agencies like Prisma.

a small stipend from Prisma.Shuffield’s only out-of-pocket costwas his airfare.

In January 2010, scholarshipsfrom the Smith School’s GlobalOpportunities program made itpossible for 33 other undergraduatesto experience a short-term studyabroad trip. More than 400 under-grads and MBA students go on aglobal study trips or spend semestersabroad each year. In fact, the SmithSchool sends more students abroadthan any other school at theUniversity of Maryland—a full 10percent of our student body. ButDean Anand’s vision is to provideevery Smith graduate with globalexperience—through study trips,language learning or globally

focused classes or research.

It’s a big goal, but it’s a must forcreating students with global com-petence. “Any student going intobusiness must understand the globaldynamics of the business world,” saysDavid Wilmes, director of under-graduate study abroad programs.“Study abroad trips are so importantbecause they give students anunderstanding of the world thatthey can’t get in any other way.”

Shuffield would agree. “You haveto experience it to really understandthe culture and the people,” he says.“You see a totally different way oflife. It’s not any worse than life inthe U.S., but it’s not any bettereither. You can’t learn that fromtextbooks or from classes. You haveto go there and see it for yourself.”

Read Kendall Mau’s profile fromthe September 2008 issue of Smith

Business at our Web site. –RW

SMITH BUSINESS O SPRING 2010 [email protected]

SSMITH IN THE NEWS

THE ECONOMIST

Nov. 19, 2009

An article delves into new research from Tao

Chen, assistant professor of marketing, that

studies the psychology of why consumers

purchase extended warranties.

CBS NEWS

Nov. 19, 2009

Aviation operations researcher Michael Ball,

director of research and Orkand Corp.

Professor of Management Science, talks

about overhauling the air traffic control com-

munications system.

BUSINESSWEEK

Nov. 2, 2009

Anil K. Gupta, the Ralph J. Tyser Professor of

Strategy & Organization, and Smith alumna

Haiyan Wang write about how Western busi-

ness schools should play Asia.

C-SPAN

Nov. 2, 2009

The launch of the Center for Financial Policy

was carried live for the morning session of

the Roundtable on Executive Compensation.

Coverage also included the afternoon panel

on compensation reforms and remarks by

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Daniel Tarullo.

THE WASHINGTON POST

Oct. 27, 2009

Janet Wagner, associate chair of marketing

and associate professor, comments on con-

sumer spending.

THE WASHINGTON POST

Oct. 2, 2009

Columnist Steven Pearlstein writes about the

launch event of the Center for Social Value

Creation and quotes Dean “Anand”

Anandalingam in a piece about rethinking

capitalism.

SMITH AT A GLANCE

SCHOLARSHIPS MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR MANY SMITH STUDENTSTO STAY IN SCHOOL, ESPECIALLY DURING HARD ECONOMIC TIMES THATMAY STRESS THEIR FAMILIES’ FINANCIAL SITUATIONS. EVERYSCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT HAS A STORY. HERE ARE A FEW:

“

““

“

“

This scholarship means moreto me than just money. It isthe ability to go through asemester without stressingabout the costs of attendance,and furthermore it has demon-strated to me personally theimportance of generosity.– FADZAI NHAMBURO

Class of 2010

This award will undoubtedlyhelp bring me one step closerto my dreams by easingsome of the financial burdeninherent in the universityprocess… . I will be able todedicate even more of mybrainpower to meeting goals,personal development, career

advancement and giving backto the Smith community.– EUGENE VASSILAS

Class of 2010

While I attend the Robert H.Smith School of Business, Ialso have a part-time job tohelp pay for my tuition. It’snot always easy to jugglework and school, and I amtruly grateful for the assis-tance that I am receivingbecause of you.– RIZWAN SHAMIM

Class of 2011

I have always worked hard, attimes balancing a full-timework schedule as well as a full-

time class schedule in order tobe able to pay for my educa-tion. Thankfully, I have alwayshad help from generous donorssuch as BB&T Bank and theSmith School of Business tohelp fund my education.– JOSE ALVAREZ

Class of 2010

I realize that the current diffi-cult academic times haveplaced many demands ondonors. …This scholarship willhelp me to complete my sen-ior year at the University ofMaryland and obtain mydegree in accounting.– SARAH THALER

Class of 2010

UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS IN FY10:

163

229

$412,541

APP

LICANTS

RECIPIENTS

TOTAL

DOLLARS

AWARDED

10


11

>>MARKETING

[email protected]

KnowledgeTRANSFER

You’ve been there: standing at theregister at a big-box electronics store,waiting for the cashier to ring up yourpurchase, when he or she asks you ifyou’d like to purchase an extendedservice contract (ESC) to lengthen thecoverage provided by the manufacturerwarranty.

ESCs are extremely profitable forretailers, with an average margin of 50percent to 60 percent—eight times themargins for the products themselves. In2003, ESCs represented about 50 per-cent of Best Buy’s profit.

Experts recommend against buyingESCs, feeling they provide little value;but consumer demand for them remainshigh. Why are people willing to shellout an extra $50 or $100 for somethingthey may never use?

Tao Chen, assistant professor of mar-keting, conducted a study examiningthe purchasing records for consumersfrom the electronics department of aretailer during the course of a year tolearn why consumers are purchasingservice contracts.

Product category matters. Chenfound consumers were more willing to

buy ESCs for products like game con-soles that were more “hedonic” (morefun), than for products that were moreutilitarian, like printers. This could bedue to the fact that consumers may per-ceive a higher value for the fun prod-ucts than the utilitarian products, evenwhen both cost the same amount.

Price promotions also play a factor inconsumer willingness to buy a servicecontract. “According to other research, ifyou buy a product on sales promotion,you know that you have saved money,and you are likely to put your savingstoward the purchase of another prod-uct,” Chen says. Chen found this ten-dency held true for ESCs as well. If youpurchase a product on sale, you are morelikely to purchase a service contract.

The effect is even more pronouncedif the product is sold through an unad-vertised, in-store promotion. The unex-pected savings puts consumers in a posi-tive mood, says Chen, and this elevatedmood affects their attitude toward risk.People who have a positive mood aremore risk-averse, and are more willingto purchase a service contract to guar-antee their peace of mind.

People who have experienced prod-uct failure are also more likely to pur-chase a service contract. Once bitten,twice shy: People who have experi-enced the pain of purchasing a replace-ment product are more likely to thinkthat products are inclined to break, andare thus more willing to pay for a serv-ice contract rather than experience thesame aggravation again.

Lower-income consumers are morelikely to purchase ESCs than higher-income consumers. Someone who canafford to replace his or her DVD playerdoes not purchase a service contractbecause he or she is not as concernedabout the replacement cost, says Chen.Lower-income consumers purchaseESCs because they worry about notbeing able to afford a new DVD playerif the current one breaks. So the peoplewho tend to purchase ESCs as productinsurance are the ones who can leastspare the added expense of the ESC.

Men and women may buy ESCs fordifferent reasons. Men are more sensitiveto the expected replacement cost, whilewomen are more risk-averse. This maybe because men are more sensitive tothe cost of replacing a product thanwomen. “Or it may be because there’ssome truth to the stereotype that menare more responsible for maintainingand taking care of the family electronicsand applicances,” says Chen.

What about Chen? Does she buyextended service contracts? “Personally,I do. I always did when I was a graduatestudent, when I knew I couldn’t affordto replace things,” she admits. “It gaveme peace of mind. Now, it might be adifferent situation.”

“Why Do Consumers Buy ExtendedService Contracts,” co-authored by TaoChen; Ajay Kalra, Rice University; andBaohong Sun, Carnegie MellonUniversity; was published in the Journalof Consumer Research. To learn moreabout this research, [email protected]. –RW

Buying Extended Service Contracts

KnowledgeTRANSFER>>MANAGEMENT & ORGANIZATION


12

[email protected]

Want to Develop Leadership for the NextGeneration? Try Stretch Assignments.

On-the-job experience can be a powerfullytransformative tool for professional growth.In fact, research indicates it may be the pri-mary vehicle for learning critical leadershipskills. Many companies use job assignmentsto groom high-potential managers, but whatkinds of experiences are really valuable fordeveloping manager potential? And whatkinds of managers benefit most from theseexperiences?

Paul Tesluk, Ralph J. Tyser Professor ofOrganizational Behavior and Human ResourceManagement and chair of the Department ofManagement and Organization, and Joyce E.A. Russell, Ralph J. Tyser DistinguishedTeaching Fellow, examined the effectivenessof “stretch assignments”—experiences whichchallenge and potentially broaden a person’scurrent capabilities—from the lens of individ-ual goal orientations.

“Stretch assignments are those that requiresomeone to manage and negotiate change,exert influence over others and build coali-tions. These assignments are highly develop-mental because they require new managers tolearn new skills in order to be successful inthe assignment, and they have significantchallenge, which motivates new managers towork hard to improve their capabilities,” saysTesluk.

Which employees are most likely to seekout and benefit from stretch assignments?Tesluk and Russell found that employees witha strong learning orientation benefited mostfrom stretch assignments. Learning-orientedpeople are motivated by a desire to demon-strate mastery of new skills and behaviors.They enjoyed being challenged and learningsomething new and were more likely to seekout critical feedback.

Senior executives responsible for develop-ing high-potential talent in their organiza-tions should identify those with a learningorientation in their groups, and then createan environment where stretch assignments arevalued and where people are given access to

them. The best stretch assignmentopportunities are often guarded,says Tesluk. Companies may notwant to lose a person who isalready doing a fine job in a mis-sion-critical position in order togive a high-potential junior man-ager the opportunity to grow inthat position. “It requires someorganizational discipline to haverotational programs and createincentives for managers to takestretch assignments,” says Tesluk.

“Yet, this has become increas-ingly important for organizationssince today’s employees are muchmore likely to be looking for rota-tional opportunities in order toenhance their own marketability,”says Russell.

In an economy where manycompanies have had to lay offemployees, stretch assignments maybe more a matter of necessity thanof opportunity. Juggling workloadsand reassigning tasks can be framedas an opportunity for junior man-agers to gain new skills. Managersshould consider how they aredeveloping leadership for the nextgeneration and use challenging on-the-jobexperiences, in combination with active men-toring and review processes, to help high-potential employees grow. “This is especiallycritical today,” says Russell, “given the pend-ing retirements of the baby boom generationand the large number of Generation X and Yemployees who will need to be developed toassume those managerial positions.”

“Companies have cut back on leadershipdevelopment activities because of tight budg-ets, but firms will need that leadership to helpthem surmount the challenges of a difficulteconomy,” says Tesluk. “Managers need topresent assignments by saying, ‘Here is whatyou’re going to learn through this process,

these are the things at which you will have tobecome highly proficient, I know you’regoing to struggle and here is how we’re goingto help you through the process.’ Then itbecomes less about the end result and moreabout performing through the process.”

“Understanding Managerial Development:Integrating Developmental Assignments,Learning Orientation and Access toDevelopmental Opportunities in PredictingManagerial Competencies,” was published inthe August issue of the Academy ofManagement Journal. For more informationabout this research, [email protected] [email protected]. –CH


>>PERSONAL FINANCE>>INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

13

[email protected]

IT AND PROFITABILITYInvesting in IT may have more ofan effect on your firm’s profitabilitythan advertising or even R&D

New research indicates that investing

in IT may have more of an effect on a firm’s

profitability than advertising or even R&D.

Newer IT systems—those deployed

since 1995—seem to help firms improve

their bottom line, says Sunil Mithas, assis-

tant professor of decision, operations and

information technology.

But some kinds of IT projects will prove

more advantageous than others. IT can be

used to reduce costs by creating more effi-

cient operations, or it can be used to sup-

port sales growth through customer satis-

faction and customer retention strategies.

Cost reduction had a negligible effect on

the profitability of IT investments, Mithas

found. But IT had a marked positive effect

on revenue growth—especially for compa-

nies that are able to take advantage of the

power of IT to serve customers, such as

creating more customized, personalized

offerings to their customers, creating new

marketing channels to promote awareness

of the company’s product or service, and

improving the company’s ability to man-

age its customer life cycle, leading to

greater customer loyalty. The pathways

leading to profitability aren’t always com-

patible, so knowing the impact of an IT

investment can help managers make savvy

choices among discretionary expenditures.

Mithas also found something that man-

agers may find surprising: Investment in IT

has more of an impact on firm profitability

than either advertising or research and

development efforts.

“Most firms already know how to

manage R&D and advertising to their best

advantage,” says Mithas. “But there is varia-

tion in how firms are handling IT, and the

benefits they are able to reap from it.” –RW

Ever unload your shopping cart wonderinghow you ended up with so many extra itemswhen you intended just to grab the essen-tials? Those extras may have seemed like agood idea at the time, but might sting a bitwhen it comes time to pay.

Rosellina Ferraro, assistant professor ofmarketing, studied the habits of 2,300 gro-cery shoppers across 28 stores in 14 citiesand found there is an average 46 percentchance shoppers will make an unplannedpurchase. She and co-authors J. Jeffery Inmanof the University of Pittsburgh and Russell S.Winer of New York University used the datato pinpoint some causes of unplanned pur-chases and come up with some strategies forchanging habits.

The researchers found that product dis-plays have the greatest effect on likelihood ofunplanned purchases—an eye-catching dis-play can increase the chance a shopper willbuy an unintended item to 64 percent.Customer shopping habits can also increaseunplanned purchasing. Shopping all aisles ina store boosts the probability of leaving withunplanned purchases to 57 percent. Payingwith a credit card increased the probabilityof unplanned purchases by an additional 9percent for every item in the basket. Andconsumers who spent extra time shopping—in the study, an extra 18.6 minutes morethan the mean of 42.5 minutes—increasedpropensity for unplanned purchases to 52percent.

So what’s a budget-conscious shopper to do?Ferraro and her co-authors have some easy-to-

enact strategies for consumers who want to cur-tail unplanned purchases:1 Use a shopping list.

2 Make more frequent, fewer-item trips: Get in,

get the items you need, and get out!

3 Limit browsing because visiting all the aisles

increases the chances you’ll make unplanned

purchases.

4 Limit the time you spend in the store—it will

force you to focus on the task at hand: getting

what you came for!

5 Pay in cash. Make the decision to use cash

before you enter the store. Paying by credit or

check lessens the “pain of paying” and makes it

easier to pick up things you hadn’t planned on

buying.

On the flip side, retailers can use Ferraro’sresearch findings to encourage shoppers to buymore by making it more enticing to walk downas many aisles as possible to expose shoppers tomore product categories and in-store displays.The research suggests using innovative aisle lay-out and shelf design, or targeting specific shop-pers with frequent-shopper programs to increasestore familiarity. The more pleasant the shoppingexperience, the more time a shopper is likely tospend in store. And if manufactures and retailersmove beyond category management of productsto “aisle management,” they can be strategicabout increasing customers’ in-store decisions tobuy. –CH

Avoid Impulse Purchases

KnowledgeTRANSFER

14


Information Security BreachesDon’t Bother Us AnymoreOr at least not as much as they used to.

>>CYBERSECURITY

Investors and consumers may be desensi-tized to the dangers of information securitybreaches, according to a recent study byLawrence Gordon, Ernst & Young AlumniProfessor of Managerial Accounting, MartinLoeb, professor of accounting and informationassurance and Deloitte & Touche LLP FacultyFellow, and Lei Zhou, visiting assistant profes-sor of accounting and information assurance.

The study examined the stock prices ofcompanies that experienced information secu-rity breaches between 1995 and 2007, a hugedataset that encompassed the longest period

and the most companies ever studied. Before2001, an information security breach had anoticeable negative impact on stock prices.But post-9/11, the effects of a breach on afirm’s stock price was insignificant.

That may be because these events havebecome so common, says Gordon. A fewmonths ago his credit card company sentGordon a letter saying the firm’s system hadbeen breached and personal customer infor-mation had been compromised. Rather thangetting upset and canceling his account,Gordon just cut up his old card and activatedhis new one. Consumers don’t appear to bepenalizing companies for security breaches,which means investors aren’t raising the redflag either.

“That’s one of the dangers. You get lulledinto looking at the averages, but a few com-panies every year suffer disastrous conse-quences as a result of a significant securitybreach,” says Gordon. “I think it makes ittougher for firms to make the financial case

for investing in information security.”A lax attitude toward the effect of

breaches may lead to less vigilance, whichcould be problematic for national security,said Gordon. It is estimated that 85 percent ofcritical infrastructure in energy, health care,telecommunications, and similar industries arepart of the private sector. Loeb adds, “Abreach of a single firm’s data and IT systemcan spill over to other firms, with the poten-tial of causing severe harm to the nation.Thus, it’s not surprising to see HomelandSecurity and other government agencies

interested in boosting incentives for invest-ment in information security.”

The type of breach may also affect theimpact—in a way the authors found surpris-ing. Breaches of confidentiality, where cus-tomer information is compromised, actuallyhad less of an impact on stock prices thanbreaches of availability, where customers can’tget onto the company Web site.

One silver lining may be that con-sumers—and thus investors—display lessworry about breaches because companieshave been quicker to detect and address secu-rity breaches and more transparent with theirresponses, leading to greater trust that compa-nies will handle breaches effectively and safe-ly. Gordon and Loeb plan to investigate thispossibility in further research.

“The Impact of Information Security” isforthcoming from the Journal of ComputerSecurity. For more information about thisresearch, contact [email protected] [email protected].

MICHAEL BALLAPPOINTEDASSOCIATE DEANOF RESEARCH

Michael Ball, MES ’72, MSE

’77, PHD ’77, the Orkand

Corporation Professor of

Management Science for the Robert

H. Smith School of Business, has

just added a new title to his long list

of accolades.

Ball, who began his career at the

university in 1979, was recently

named the associate dean of

research for the Smith School. Ball

will work to enhance the Smith

School’s external research funding,

manage internally funded research

and organize an annual faculty and

staff workshop for the Centers of

Excellence to report on their annual

activities and present their plans for

the next five years.

Ball previously served as director

of research for the Smith School.

This busy professor, who was

born in Washington, D.C., and lives

in Silver Spring, Md., teaches at the

undergraduate and graduate levels.

He is the former chair of the deci-

sion, operations and information

technologies faculty department at

the Smith School and the former

chair of the executive committee of

the Institute for Systems Research in

the Clark School of Engineering.

Ball is co-director of NEXTOR,

the National Center of Excellence

for Aviation Operations Research.

He is widely published and serves as

an editor for Operations Research—

Technology and associate editor for

Transportation Science.

� �

16

CONNEGET

17

ECTED!

18


Our new alumni networking site,SmithConnector, combines the power ofonline social networking with the powerof your alumni connections. More than47,000 living Smith alumni will be part ofthe network.

Your paths may have started at Smith,but since then they have diverged in excit-ing ways. There are many more connectionsbeyond the University of Maryland thatyou may share with fellow alumni. Smith-Connector offers you the chance to discoverthem—to connect at a different level.

And it can help you forge business andpersonal connections—to seek out formerclassmates at companies you’re interested inworking for, or reconnect with an oldfriend, or find the perfect partner for yournew venture.

Activate your alumni network todecrease the degrees of separation betweenyou and the people you want to know, foryour mutual benefit.

Professional Connections

SmithConnector’s Webcard functions like anonline business card, letting others see basicinformation about your job—title, company,industry, job description. You’ll be able toview fellow alumni Webcards as well.Looking for an IT specialist, a marketingguru, a caterer? Browse Webcards first to finda Maryland alum who can meet your need.You can also import your entire resume intoSmithConnector. Turn it on when you’researching for a new position, or turn it offwhen you’ve found the perfect fit.

Social ConnectionsWondering where that old classmate got to?SmithConnector can help you find him orher—we’ll be sharing our complete alumnidatabase. Then add your old friend to yourfriends list.

It’s easy to find other people with whomyou share a common bond (beyond the factthat you’re both Terps). ThroughSmithConnector you can meet alumni whowere part of your club or fraternity, playedthe same sport, have the same hobbies or

GET CONNECTEDWITH SMITHCONNECTOR

There’s a theory that anyone on earth can be connected to anyone else in an average of six steps. The problem, ofcourse, is finding the right six connections to get you tothe person you want to meet.

In the olden days this would have required good old-fashioned footwork—attending an event, working a room,collecting business cards to fill out your Rolodex. Thesedays, new technologies have made it easier, quicker andmore seamless to get to the people you want.

THINGS YOU CAN DO WITHSMITHCONNECTOR.COM

Social Networking• CONNECT to Facebook and

LinkedIn automatically• JOIN a program-based peer group• CREATE a “friends list” and build

your network• ADD photos, blogs, widgets,

and RSS feeds to customizeyour profile

Professional Networking• ACCESS a Web-based directory

of Smith alumni from around theworld

• SUBMIT a “class note” and shareyour news with the community

• CREATE your own industry-basedalumni group

• REGISTER for and attend alumnievents in your region

Alumni News & Information• CHAT with members of the

Alumni Chapter Board• READ what alumni are doing in

“Alumni Spotlight”• SHARE your point of view on a

particular topic in “AlumniPerspective”

Alumni Career Services• SEARCH career opportunities

around the world• POST your job and help recruit

Smith alumni• LEARN about alumni career

panels, workshops and careercoaching seminars

For more information or for helpgetting around in SmithConnector,call 301-405-4900 or [email protected] 48 hours for a response.


19

BILL GOSSMAN, MBA ‘91FAST FACTS: CEO of hi5, the third-largest social enter-tainment Web site in the world; a serial entrepreneurwho has a track record for monetizing online audiencesin the digital media space.

Bill Gossman knows how to network. “I can pretty much find myway to anyone in the digital industry anywhere in the world,”Gossman says cheerfully. He’s parlayed that skill into along, successful career of launching or turning aroundmore businesses than he can count. He uses online net-working to ease his path to the people who can makea difference to his business.

“Online networking is a friction-free environ-ment,” says Gossman. “It’s easier than picking up aphone and saying, “What’s new?” I recently sawthat a friend was in San Francisco on business so Iwas able to arrange to have lunch with him.”

Social networking sites can be a great place tostart making yourself known if you’re looking to changecareer paths as well, says Gossman. “If you want to builda network in the cloud computing business, start to frienda lot of people in the industry, and soon you’ll be poppingup on other people’s friend recommendations.”

Gossman acknowledges that face-to-face communication isimportant to relationship-building, but he appreciates the factthat he can easily and conveniently share a huge part of his lifethrough social networking, constantly telling people about him-self and learning things about others.

“Social networking sites are like a very persistent directory ofpeople I want to stay in contact with for personal or for profes-sional reasons. It’s a way I can store value—I can publish pictures,I can put my resume on LinkedIn, I can publish my scores for thegames I play on hi5. All these things build up affinity connec-tions,” says Gossman.

It’s often easier to do due diligence with social networking sitestoo. Gossman was recently at dinner with someone from New Yorkwho wanted to talk to him about starting a business. “This guy wasable to practically recite my résumé, which he’d gotten throughLinkedIn,” says Gossman. “He was able to use the social networkto do his homework so that when he met me, he could get themost out of it.”

Bill Gossman lives in Seattle with wife Cheryl, sons Hunter andConnor, daughter Elizabeth, and two dogs. He says it doesn’t rainthere nearly as much as you think it does. Connect with Bill onSmithConnector.

20

WAYNE KIMMEL (ARHU ‘92)

FAST FACTS: Managing partner of SeventySix Capital, the top-ranked venture capital firm in the United States that under

Kimmel’s direction has invested in several successful companiessuch as SeamlessWeb (acquired by ARAMARK; CEO Jason Finger,is a Maryland alum), Take Care Health Systems (acquired by

Walgreens), and NutriSystem (NTRI), ranked by Forbes as thebest small company in the United States.

Wayne Kimmel was a history major at Maryland, went on toWidener Law School, and then worked in his father’s law firmbefore starting SeventySix Capital in 1999 during theInternet boom. He’s also active politically and with philan-thropic causes in the mid-Atlantic region, and helped launch

the Center for Financial Policy as one of its first board mem-bers. So he knows the power of networking, and he’s been an

early adopter of technologies that allow him to network moreefficiently and effectively.

“Technology creates a frictionless environment,” says Kimmel.“It’s easier to connect and communicate. Building a relationship

goes beyond a simple contact, so it’s still important to invest inrelationships with people. But online networking tools can help you

make introductions. It makes it easier to stay in touch with people.”Kimmel is still very engaged with members of his Maryland fraternity,

Tau Epsilon Phi. “We stay in touch through phone calls, e-mail, Facebook,Twitter,” reports Kimmel. “Facebook and Twitter are both great ways to

keep tabs on each other.”Kimmel says that social networks also allow him to be “more personal

with more people.” Kimmel checks the Facebook pages of business associ-ates to see when to send a birthday card or congratulations if someone’schild is getting married or bar mitzvahed or has hit a home run in LittleLeague. “Business is global, but I can’t be everywhere at the same time. Iwant to be with my wife and kids. This lets me stay in touch more efficiently,learn more, help more.”

Kimmel also values the opportunity to see exactly what kind of person heis doing business with. “I want to be known as a good businessman, a goodparent and a good philanthropist, and I also want to work with those kinds ofpeople,” says Kimmel. “I like to do business with friends and with like-minded, good people.”

Kimmel lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia, with his wife, Kimberly, andtheir two children. Kimmel is a Philly sports fan and a Maryland fan, with aparticular penchant for basketball. Connect with Kimmel on SmithConnector.



21

SmithConnector lets you get in touch witheach other. Here are some ways you canconnect with the Smith School:

BECOME A FAN of the Smith School on ourFacebook page.WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/SMITHBUSINESSSCHOOL

FOLLOW our Twitter site.HTTP://TWITTER.COM/SMITHSCHOOL

VIEW our videos on our YouTube channel.WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/USER/SMITHBUSINESSSCHOOL

DOWNLOAD video and audio podcasts onour Web site.WWW.RHSMITH.UMD.EDU/NEWS/PODCASTS/

Your SmithConnector ID number is locatedon the back cover of this magazine, aboveyour name. You’ll need to use yourSmithConnector ID when you log in for thefirst time—and when you do, it will auto-matically fill out some of your profile fieldsfor you, saving you some time! So pleasekeep this issue of the magazine handy soyou can get started with SmithConnector.

SMITHCONNECTOR.COM

interests, live in your region or work inyour industry.

SmithConnector lets you uploadphotos too. You can link to yourFacebook page from SmithConnector,so friends can find your personal andfamily news. Link to your LinkedInpage and your professional network cando the same. Plan to attend an alumnievent? SmithConnector can publishthat information directly to yourFacebook profile, so your friends cansee that you’re going.

Smith School NewsLearn about career services and educa-tional opportunities offered strictly toSmith alumni, as well as all the latestschool news and events.

GamesNeed a break? SmithConnector isn’t allabout work—it lets you play, too.

Security

SmithConnector is a safe space, pass-word-protected and open only tomembers of the Smith community.

The value of the network expandsin direct proportion to the informationit holds. A telephone is a powerful toolfor connecting—but only if the otherguy has a phone too! And once mostpeople have phones, the network ofphones gets truly powerful and useful.The larger a network, the faster itsvalue increases.

To get the most out ofSmithConnector, you’ll need to fill outyour profile with as much detail as pos-sible. That will allow you to find peoplewith whom you share a connection—and let them find you as well.

SmithConnector is going to be agreat tool to strengthen your network.But don’t take our word for it! Checkout SmithConnector for yourself. Fillout your profile, add friends to yournetwork and enjoy this sophisticated,easy-to-use tool. And play a game ortwo—we won’t tell.

SMITH BUSINESS O FALL 2009 [email protected]

22

A N I N T E L L E C T U A LSmith School Launches New Center for Financial Policy

FALL 2009 O SMITH [email protected]

23

Executive compensation practices

have generated a lot of heated con-

versations in the media and around

the water cooler. On Nov. 2, under

the lights of camera crews

from C-SPAN, CNBC, CNN, and Bloomberg, the

Smith School’s new Center for Financial Policy

shone a spotlight on this controversial issue at

its first roundtable discussion, “Executive

Compensation— Practices and Reform.” The

event featured keynote speaker Kenneth

Feinberg, the well-known lawyer and mediator

appointed to serve as the Obama administra-

tion’s special master for compensation.

PAY PRACTICES—AND REFORMS—IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Two panel discussions allowed the almost 200 participants, mostlyhigh-level executives from the public and private sectors, to explorebest practices and engage with experts in the field through question-and-answer sessions. The discussions were wide-ranging, thought-provoking and occasionally controversial. One panelist argued thatcompanies which took TARP funds should be “wound down” and theirtop executives fired outright, in order to allow “more prudent organiza-tions” to expand and grow. But there was agreement among many ofthe day’s speakers as well. Compensation structure and transparencywere key issues, but the amount of total compensation seemed to beless at issue. Failures of corporate governance were also pointed out:Several panelists said that boards needed to be truly independent ofboth management and CEOs in order to perform properly and thatgreater expertise on compensation committees and directors with moreindustry-specific expertise would be better able to judge which incen-tives were embedded in pay practices and what would create most valuefor the company. Best practices were few, and many panelists thought itwas time to go back to the drawing board to create pay practices thatfoster long-term firm value yet still allow for safe risk-taking.

The roundtable was one of several events this fall that launched the

S T I M U L U S P L A N :

center, an important initiative of theSmith School designed to mobilizeSmith faculty to address critical issuesin the complex world of financial mar-kets. “The financial crisis highlightedthe need for a broader, interdiscipli-nary perspective to addressingfinancial policy and corporate gover-nance issues,” says Lemma Senbet,William E. Mayer Chair Professor ofFinance and director of the center.“Our hope is for government financialregulatory agencies, congressionalstaffers, industry associations, and cor-porations to look to the center as apartner and champion of best prac-tices in the financial arena.”

Bringing together stakeholdersfrom academia, industry and the pol-icy world is one of the center’s keygoals. Over the years Smith’s financedepartment faculty have forged rela-tionships with executive leadership atthe World Bank, the InternationalMonetary Fund, Fannie Mae andFreddie Mac, as well as staff inCongress, the Obama administrationand insurance and trade organizations.

The center will play a role in bring-ing state-of-the-art finance research intothe public domain by promotingresearch and education that informspolicy. In addition to events like theexecutive compensation roundtable,the center will issue white papers, workdirectly with students through a Fellowsprogram and work with executivesthrough the Director’s Institute, anintensive two-day program designedfor board chairs, corporate directorsand senior executive officers of publiclytraded companies to address the criticalissues facing corporate boards andengage with each other to develop bestboardroom practices.

BANKING ON

INDUSTRY EXPERTISE

The center is also drawing on theextensive industry experience andconnections of Smith alumni. Onesuch alumnus is William Longbrake,PhD ’72, who joined the center as anexecutive-in-residence. Longbrake hasextensive experience in finance,macroeconomics and monetary policy,


24

The issues facing the financial

world are big and complicated.

The Center for Financial Policy

brings Smith’s intellectual capital

to bear in areas where it can

make the most impact on federal

policy—and through policy, on

the day-to-day lives of people

doing business all over

the world.

The center will encompass the broad range

of research areas in which Smith faculty are

already world experts, focusing on corporate

governance, led by Senbet; financial institutions

and consumer finance, led by Haluk Unal, pro-

fessor of finance; emerging markets, led by

Vojislav Maksimovic, Dean’s Chair Professor of

Finance; asset management and market design,

led by Albert “Pete” Kyle, Smith Chair Professor

of Finance; and risk management, led by

Alexander Triantis, professor of finance and

finance department chair, and Cliff Rossi, the

center’s managing director.

Senbet is a world-renowned and widely

published researcher in the field of finance. He

has advised the World Bank, the IMF, the UN,

and other institutions on issues of financial sec-

tor reforms and capital market development,

and his recent research has taken him into the

heart of African economic development.

Senbet has been working with Franklin Allen,

a professor at Wharton; Robert Cull, an econo-

mist with the World Bank; Elena Carletti, a

professor at the European Union Institute; and

Qyan Zhie, a professor at Boston College; to

study African financial development, courtesy of

a grant from the National Bureau of

Economic Research. They looked at

key indicators of development, such

as liquidity and stock market develop-

ment, using an immense dataset from

the World Bank. When compared to

other developing economies, most

African nations ranked very low

on financial development

indicators.

But there was variation in the degree to

which each African nation lagged behind the

norm. Senbet found that there are factors that

matter for financial development in Africa that

don’t matter so much in other countries.

Population density turned out to be very impor-

tant, because banks need to be able to get to

their customers in order to offer financial services.

Access to technology can make a big difference

here. Mobile banking services based on cell

phones—letting people make purchases or pay

bills with their phones—have helped Kenya

bridge that development gap, says Senbet.

Few financial researchers are looking at

Africa, says Senbet, but studying African finan-

cial development is important for understanding

the impact of policy on an economy. He

believes it is important to bring this continent

and its billion inhabitants into the financial pol-

icy framework—not just to understand Africa,

but also to understand ourselves. “We worry

about market imperfections. We don’t have final

answers on issues like investor protection or

asymmetric information,” says Senbet. “Africa is

one of the best labs to study the impact of

these imperfections.”–RW

Big Ideas, Big Impact


25

risk management, housing, publicpolicy and academia, and govern-ment, serving both the public andprivate sectors. He is chairman emeritusof the Financial Services Roundtable’sHousing Policy Council. He served aschief financial officer of WashingtonMutual Inc. for most of the periodfrom 1982 to 2002, except for 1995-1996 when he was chief financialofficer of the FDIC.

The center’s managing director,Clifford Rossi, brings industry expertisein the area of risk management. Rossihas nearly 25 years of banking andgovernment experience, having heldsenior executive roles in risk manage-ment at several of the largest financialservices companies. His most recentposition was chief risk officer forconsumer Lending at Citigroup wherehe was intimately involved in TARPfunding and stress tests performed onCiti. Previous to Citi, Rossi held seniorpositions at other major financial insti-tutions and worked for a number ofyears at the Treasury Department andOffice of Thrift Supervision working onkey policy issues affecting depositories.

A CLEAR, UNBIASED VOICE

Washington, D.C., has no shortage ofthink tanks, but the Center forFinancial Policy offers somethinguniquely valuable to lawmakers: anunbiased source of expertise. This isimportant particularly for complexissues related to financial services mar-kets. “It is important to have deepthinkers involved in the developmentof policy, people who are not underpressure to further anyone’s politicalagenda or are affected by the politicalconsequences of the outcome,” saysSmith School Dean G. “Anand”Anandalingam. “The challenge for allof academia is to make its voice heardwithin the corridors of power, along-side the many other voices competingfor attention.”–RW

To read the center’s white papers,

learn more, or register for the

April 2010 session of the Director’s

Institute, visit the Web site at

www.rhsmith.umd.edu/cfp.

Timothy Geithner should be glad he is

not getting a letter grade for his eco-

nomic policy performance in both

the Obama and Bush administra-

tions. “I’d give him a ‘D’—and

that’s being generous,” says Albert

“Pete” Kyle, Smith Chair Professor

of Finance. Kyle has been

closely following the

economy, analyzing

how turmoil in the banking system will affect

economic recovery.

Kyle says Obama’s treasury secretary, Timothy

Geithner, following in the footsteps of his prede-

cessor Henry Paulson, has done a “spectacularly

bad job, letting the banking system bluff its way

through a recovery.” Kyle says the TARP program

has wasted tens of billions of taxpayer dollars by

overpaying for securities of dubious value at the

time they were purchased by the Treasury, all

with the effect of rewarding investors whose bad

decisions caused the financial crisis.

The Obama administration’s fiscal stimulus

gets slightly better marks from Kyle—a “C.”

Right now, the federal government can tax and

borrow more efficiently than the states, Kyle

says. But the states can make more efficient

decisions than the federal government concern-

ing how to spend money locally. By not

structuring the fiscal stimulus as fully unre-

stricted block grants to states, we see states

inefficiently insulating homes in poor neighbor-

hoods while funding for schools, police, and fire

protection is threatened.

Kyle says the class star has been Federal

Reserve Chairman Benjamin Bernanke—“Since

the crisis started under the Bush administration,

Bernanke has saved the day and well deserves

reappointment.” Kyle says that most of the

economic growth we are seeing today comes

from Bernanke’s aggressive monetary policy, not

from the Treasury’s TARP program and not from

the fiscal stimulus.

As the financial system was collapsing in fall

2008, the federal government swept in to clean

up the mess and prop up what was left. The

Fed, with Bernanke at the helm, did an out-

standing job of rapidly lowering interest rates

and expanding its balance sheet to stem the liq-

uidity crisis resulting from all of the bank

failures, says Kyle.

At the same time, the Treasury spearheaded

the $700 billion TARP bailout to inject more

capital into the banking system. But Kyle says

the cash was not enough to create healthy

banks. The problems stemmed from

banks being far too undercapitalized

to begin with—so when the finan-

cial crisis hit, the banks that had

not collapsed stopped lending

money. And now many of them

are so crippled they cannot con-

tribute adequately to

economic growth,

says Kyle. The Fed

has helped offset the loss of banking capacity

by expanding its own balance sheet dramati-

cally, says Kyle. Even so, with the expectation

of continued writedowns on credit card debt,

prime home mortgages and commercial real

estate, it is clear that the economy is nowhere

near out of the woods yet.

Kyle says it is important to see how fast the

Fed creates inflation, which will help housing

prices recover. Bernanke needs to keep the

interest rates near zero, mortgage rates low and

the dollar weak until it jump-starts some infla-

tion, says Kyle. “Bernanke does not want the

U.S. to become another Japan.”

“There is a danger that he will overshoot

and create too much inflation eventually.

Whether it happens or not, it is something the

markets will worry about continuously as we go

forward,” explains Kyle.

The other big worry: rising unemployment.

Even when economic growth becomes positive

again, the unemployment rate does not come

down until positive economic growth is sustained,

and “it’s going to be awhile,” Kyle says. –CH

Report Card:

FED: ASince the crisis started, Bernankehas saved the day

TREASURY: D(And thatís being generous) Geithner and the Treasury havedone a “spectacularly bad job,letting the banking system bluffits way through a recovery”

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: CThe Obama administration’sfiscal stimulus has not actuallydone enough to stimulate theeconomy

Kyle’’s Economic Report Card


ConnectionsSMITH BUSINESSES

to Watch ForSPOTLIGHT: SOL SYSTEMSYou know the old adage “make hay whilethe sun shines?” George Ashton, MBA ’06,knows that you can make energy while thesun shines—and a tidy profit, too. Ashton is apioneer in the solar renewable energy creditmarket. Sol Systems, the business he co-founded with partner Yuri Horwitz, trades inmarket-based solar subsidies. By helpingpeople recoup the cost of installing a solarenergy system, Sol Systems is also helping tomake solar more affordable for businessesand homeowners.

Sol Systems sells and manages solar renew-able energy credits (SRECs), tradable creditsthat represent the clean energy benefits ofelectricity generated from a solar electric sys-tem. Each time a solar electric system installedin a home or business generates 1000kWh(1MWh) of electricity, an SREC, which canbe sold or traded, is issued. Power companiespurchase SRECs to meet their state's renew-able energy requirements. The values ofSRECs can vary dramatically from state tostate depending on the supply and demand of

the credits in that state and by how much thestate requires utility companies to pay whenthey do not use enough solar power. SolSystems helps businesses and homeownersregister their solar power systems and thenpurchases their SRECs, reselling them topower companies across the region.

Like the cap-and-trade system being pro-posed to control the emission of greenhousegases, SRECs are a market-based incentivethat can bring about a valuable societalchange in advance of government regulation.

“Sol Systems is creating a solar credit mar-ket in the city of Washington, D.C. We’re thebiggest player here and we’re helping to makerenewable energy more affordable for con-sumers,” says Ashton. “We’re involved in manyother states as well, from Michigan toMassachusetts to North Carolina.”

Ashton has always chosen careers thatincluded a component of social value creation.He worked for Fannie Mae in the sale andtrading of mortgage-backed securities earlierin his career because, he says, it “married capi-tal markets with social responsibility.” During

that time he pursued an MBA through theSmith School’s part-time program and startedseriously considering what it would take tostart his own business with good friendHorwitz, a renewable energy attorney.

Both men were driven; both had a hungerto contribute to the betterment of the world.

“Yuri and I would say we got that hungerfrom our mothers,” says Ashton. “My motherinstilled in me the desire to help other peopleand the planet. It’s a choice. Do you just wantto give $10 a year to charity? Or do you wantto have more of what you do and who youare involved in something that makes theworld a better place?”

The skills he learned in business schoolwere stepping stones to Ashton’s big dreams.He found the Smith School’s systemicapproach to teaching management particu-larly helpful.

“The best thing I learned at b-school wascombining corporate finance with accountingwith strategy. Wrapping all that together wasreally important, so that when you make adecision you can take into account all of theconsequences and benefits,” says Ashton.

Ashton found the Smith School to be agreat resource as well. Ashton was veryappreciative of the advice offered by BenHallen, assistant professor of managementand organization, and Asher Epstein, manag-ing director of the Dingman Center forEntrepreneurship, when Ashton wasapproaching venture capitalists and thinkingabout how to grow his business. Sol Systemsis applying those lessons to engage investorsand strategic partners.

Ashton sees plenty of room for growthbecause states will be stepping up to facilitatea good deal of solar development during thenext 10 to 15 years.

“We see ourselves as a financial intermedi-ary within the solar space. We’re not interestedin cashing out and going to sit on a beachsomewhere,” says Ashton. “We want to stayinvolved and help renewable energy succeedso that we can ultimately enable people toprotect the environment and our planet forfuture generations.” –RW

26

Connect with George Ashton on SmithConnector.

Eleanor Rutland ’79 did

not plan for a career in the

nonprofit sector but feels

“incredibly fortunate” to

have ended up in an organ-

ization where she can give

back in a very unique way.

Rutland majored in

accounting and went on

to a 20-year career in

finance with Riggs Bank,

an international financial

institution headquartered in

Washington, D.C. She was

a senior executive for the

bank when she learned

through a colleague of an

opportunity with another

regional institution, the

Morino Group, headed by

Mario Morino, co-founder

of the software firm Legent

Corporation and famous for his deep commitment to the

local community.

In June of 2000, when Rutland joined Morino, he was

in the process of creating Venture Philanthropy Partners

(VPP), an organization that blends some of the tech-

niques of private equity investing with the best practices

of the philanthropic sector all for the benefit of children

and youth of low-income families. Today Rutland serves

as the organization’s CFO, putting her business experi-

ence and financial acumen to use on behalf of nonprofits

in the National Capital Region.

Unlike foundations or many other grant-making

organizations, VPP doesn’t provide programmatic fund-

ing. Instead it invests to build institutional strength, pro-

viding large amounts of scarce growth capital. VPP does-

n’t accept applications. It identifies strong leaders of effec-

tive nonprofits—those who can transform their organiza-

tions to significantly scale their results. It sources its port-

folio investments by quietly talking to stakeholders in the

community. Often the organization doesn’t even know it

is being considered for a VPP investment until adequate

work has been done to determine if there is alignment

with the organization’s aspirations and VPP’s approach.

Rutland says, “VPP looks for organizations that already do

great work in the community but aspire to do more.”

“Like a venture firm, we bet on leadership,” says

Rutland. “We are always looking for the best leaders in the

community who have demonstrated

solid performance and who have

aspirations to reach more kids or

have greater impact through their

programs and services.”

But VPP’s high-engagement

model means that it doesn’t just

hand out “two-comma invest-

ments”—it also helps the nonprofit

clarify its goals, develop its business

plan and implement the strategic

initiatives it has defined for its

success. VPP takes a seat on the

organization’s board and provides

practical, hands-on strategic assis-

tance—board development, sourc-

ing consultants, identifying talent

and building internal systems. By

working shoulder-to-shoulder with

nonprofit leaders in this way, VPP is

providing not just funding but also

vital expertise.

VPP raised $32 million in its first funding cycle and dis-

bursed those funds to 12 portfolio organizations, all of

them working to improve the lives of low-income children

and families in the National Capital Region. VPP is now in

the midst of raising a second fund with a goal of $50 mil-

lion from individual investors, corporations and founda-

tions. VPP investors make significant financial commit-

ments and they rely on VPP to effectively steward and

invest their money for improved social returns.

“Our investors aren’t looking for a financial return,”

says Rutland. “They expect us to invest wisely in the non-

profits in our community to yield better impact for kids

and families of this region.”

Rutland finds deep personal fulfillment in knowing

that her years of financial expertise are being used to

bring much-needed funding and expertise to the organi-

zations that are making a difference in the lives of local

kids. “There’s a young woman on our video who is so

excited about going to college that she just lights up the

screen with a smile that warms your heart. We can’t take

credit for that student going to college, but we can take

credit for helping that organization help even more stu-

dents just like her build their futures,” says Rutland.

Rutland and her husband, Tim Lex, live in Rockville,

MD. She has two children, Ellie and Mazzie, and three

stepchildren, Charlie, James and Sophie.

View a video about VPP at our Web site. –RW

27


60 SECONDS WITH…Eleanor Rutland ’79

[email protected]

Connect with Eleanor Rutland on SmithConnector.


28

Connections

[email protected]

’60sDavid C. Cooke ’68 joined theboard of directors of LML PaymentSystems Inc. He works part-time asa consultant and teaches graduate-level finance.

Paul Emery, MBA ’64 was appoint-ed as partner in the San FranciscoBay Area office of TechCFO, leadingprovider of outsourced CFO-levelfinancial management services foremerging growth companies.

Jay H. Nussbaum ’66 is a memberof the board of directors ofTriplecrown Acquisition Corp.

Robert S. Roath ’66 has beenelected to serve as non-executivechairman of the Board of Directorsat Standard Parking Corp., one ofthe nation's leading providers ofparking management, groundtransportation and other ancillaryservices.

Sheldon B. Saidman ’64 is directorof ShengdaTech Inc. He has hisown business management con-sulting practice and serves onanother board of directors at RoscoeInc., a medical equipment andsupplies company owned by aprivate equity group.

’70sDrew Bernstein ’78 was recentlyappointed as director of OrientPaper Inc. Bernstein is co-founderand managing partner of Bernstein& Pinchuk LLP, an accounting firmheadquartered in New York, a posi-tion he has held since 1983. He is amember of the American Instituteof Certified Public Accounts, TheNew York State Society of CertifiedPublic Accounts and The NationalSociety of Accountants. Bernsteinalso serves as a director of ChinaWind Systems Inc.

Dominic Bruno, MA ’75, serves assenior vice president of MD SassInvestor Services. Prior to joiningMD Sass, Bruno was a futures andoptions analyst for Merrill Lynch.

John Colin ’78 has joined theboard of directors of BeaconEnergy Holdings Inc., a producerof biodiesel from animal fats andsecondary oils. Colin is president

and chief executive officer ofLifeStar Response Inc., a health-caretransportation and logistics compa-ny. He is also a member of theboards of directors of Perma-FixEnvironmental Services Inc., apublicly traded company, andEnvironmental Quality ManagementInc., a private equity-backed com-pany.

George D’Angelo Jr. ’78 marriedLaura St. Clair, a senior consultanton community development andinvestments for Colliers Arnold, acommercial real estate firm inClearwater, Fla. D’Angelo is anadjunct professor of advancedinvestments at the St. Petersburgcampus of the University of SouthFlorida.

Robert Levin ’70 is the presidentof Statewide Remodeling, whichwas founded in February 1994 byLevin and Frank Manzare.

Wayne Lowell ’77 was appointedto TriNet’s five-member board ofdirectors. TriNet is a leadingprovider of payroll, benefits andhuman resources outsourcing serv-ices to small businesses.

Joel Mostrom ’78 is a senior direc-tor in New York at Alvarez &Marsal Private Equity PerformanceImprovement. Prior to joining thefirm, he was executive vice presi-dent and chief financial officer atChesapeake Corporation.

Jim Oles ’72 is senior projectleader at Darden Restaurants Inc.

Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr. ’77and his wife, both 62, were amongthe nine people killed in theWashington Metro rail collision nearFort Totten Station in June 2009that sent more than 70 other peo-ple to the hospital. Wherley wasawarded more than a dozen majormedals and honors during hiscareer, including a legion of meritand national defense service medal.He retired from his post at theDistrict of Columbia National Guardin June 2008.

’80sReena Aggarwal, PhD ’85,was announced as Georgetown’sMcDonough School of Business’sRobert E. McDonough Professors.Aggarwal previously served asthe Stallkamp Fellow in Finance

at the business school and is oneof the first two to receive thisprofessorship.

Phyllis Caldwell, MBA ’87, left theWashington Area Women’sFoundation to join the TreasuryDepartment as the chief of home-ownership preservation. Prior tojoining the Washington AreaWomen's Foundation in 2007,Caldwell headed community devel-opment banking for Bank ofAmerica.

Fari Ebrahimi, MS ’86, is seniorvice president and chief informa-tion officer at Verizon ServicesOperations. Previously, Ebrahimiled the information technology forretail customer management andbilling systems organization.

Beverly Eichel ’80 serves asexecutive vice president—financeand administration, chief financialofficer and secretary at HirschInternational Corp.

Cindy Henning ’88 was namedHonors Program director atColumbia State University.

Timothy B. Knepp ’81 serves asportfolio manager for GenworthFinancial Asset Management.Knepp is chief investment officer ofthe advisor and leads a team ofinvestment analysts.

Christopher E. Kubasik ’83 wasrecently appointed to serve as presi-dent and chief operating officer ofLockheed Martin Corp..

Christian E. Langenstein ’87 is asenior financial advisor and assistantvice president at the Palm Beachoffice of the financial services firmMerrill Lynch. Prior to joining MerrillLynch, he worked with the high networth group at Lehman Brothers inPalm Beach, Fla.

Mike Lanman ’80 is president,enterprise and government markets,for Verizon Wireless. Prior to assum-ing his position in October 2009,he was vice president and chiefmarketing officer for VerizonWireless.

Phillip Reyes ’86 has joined theWhitlock Group as director ofgovernment sales.

Patrick Richitt, MBA ’84, is theowner of the music entertainmentagency and artist development

company Entertainment ExchangeInc., which serves the Washington,Maryland and Virginia areas. Healso is also a professional singer andperformer.

Craig Rosato ’86 is consumer creditrisk executive at Bank of America.Prior to his current role, Rosato wasthe controller for Bank of America’sGlobal Consumer and SmallBusiness Banking Group.

Pamela Schumann ’88 is presidentof consumer services division atIntegraMed America, Inc. Prior tothat, she served as vice president ofconsumer services at the company.

Martin T. Stanislav ’86 has beennamed vice president, finance andbusiness operations for InformationSystems & Global Services BusinessArea at Lockheed Martin.

A.J. Verdecchia ’89 is resigningfrom his positions as vice president,chief financial officer and treasurerof Union Drilling Inc. to pursue anopportunity outside the industry.

’90sYun Callahan ’97 is controller andinterim chief financial officer atSteben & Company Inc.

Martin Friedman ’92 was appoint-ed to the board of directors atAccess National Corporation, hold-ing company for Access NationalBank. Friedman was also appointedto the board of Access NationalBank and will serve on the Bank’sLoan Committee. Friedman is co-founder and CEO of FJ CapitalManagement.

John P. Giere, MBA ’98, serves assenior vice president, products andmarketing since July 2009 atOpenwave Systems Inc. Previously,Giere served as the president ofG4G Advisory Services, a privateadvisory services company. He alsoserves as a member of the board ofdirectors and the executive com-mittee of the TelecommunicationsIndustry Association.

Stephanie R. Irish ’92 has servedas Vanda’s acting chief financialofficer and treasurer since January2009 and Vanda’s controller sinceFebruary of 2005. Prior to joiningVanda, Irish was controller atAvalon Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Andrew Jose ’92 is co-founder and

Alumni Notes


29

[email protected]

COO at FJ Capital Management, aninvestment fund firm based inArlington, Va.

Brian King ’99 is managing direc-tor of Cobiana Records, and is driv-ing label specializing for Bissau-Guinean music to make an impactin Guinea-Bissau, Africa, for a newpolitical environment.

Matt Leech, MBA ’94, wasappointed as senior vice presidentand managing director for DPWorld’s Americas Region, a globalmarine terminal operator.

Steven H. Rosen ’92 is the manag-ing partner and co-founder ofResilience Capital Partners, a privateequity firm.

Marc Russo, MBA ’96, is vice presi-dent of Blue Shield of California'sIndividual, Small Group, andGovernment Business Unit (ISGBU).

Koichi Takahara, MBA ’94, wasappointed as non-executive directorof Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra).

Joseph Valeri, MBA ’99, the origi-nal co-founder, is president andmember of the board of directorsat Lucernex Technologies, an inno-vative developer of business intelli-

gence software for real estate man-agement and development.

Matthew Wolkofsky ’92 is nationalaccount executive at Careerbuilder.Matthew is also the president ofMyClothingCalendar, an onlineclothing journal, and currently sitson the board of directors for theEmbrace Kids Foundation, a non-profit organization that supportschildren with cancer, sickle cell dis-ease and other blood disorders.

’00sAmanda Buchanan, MBA ’08, waspromoted to UK market manager atMercer Limited Inc. in London.

Christian Dawson, MBA ’05, waspromoted as chief operating officerat ServInt, a pioneering provider ofhigh-reliability, managed Web host-ing for businesses worldwide.

Katherine DeCelles, PhD ’07, is anassistant professor of organizationalbehavior and human resources man-agement at University of Toronto'sRotman School of Management.

Rob Franson, MBA ’00, has joinedEnergy Investors Funds as a vicepresident in its Needham, Mass.,office, where he is responsible for

the management of portfolioinvestments.

Joshua Louis Levine, MBA ’04, is avice president in bond sales at theMinneapolis investment bank PiperJaffray.

Brynne Hayes Moore ’03 is seniordirector of development and mar-keting for the Life Crisis Center, thelead agency on domestic emer-gency assistance on the easternshore of Maryland.

Nicole Newman, MBA ’00, is oper-ations manager at Premiere BrandMarketing LLC. She created process-es and systems to drive PremiereBrand from a small business to a bigbusiness. Nicole is also owner, CEOand president of NewmanNetworks, whose mission is to bringeconomic empowerment in theminority community.

Andrew Pilsco ’04 is a CFA charter-holder with Morgan Joseph & Co.

Ira Rothberg ’02 serves as co-port-folio manager of the FBR Focus Fundfor FBR Fund Advisers Inc., mutualfunds division at FBR Capital MarketsCorp..

Jason T. Sanford ’02 is senior vice

president and chief financial officerat Elmira Savings Bank.

Drew Schiff, MBA ’08, is a new vicepresident of business developmentand operations at Zadby Inc., anonline marketplace that connectsbrand marketers with top onlinevideo producers for brand integra-tion.

Jaimin Shah, MBA ’08, is an associ-ate attorney at RatnerPrestia P.C.where he previously served as sum-mer associate. He focuses his prac-tice on patent procurement, IP strat-egy and risk management, and IPtransactions.

Cheryl Staab ’02 is the founderof DogCentric Inc., which providesa dedicated dog walker and per-sonalized service for clients inMontgomery County and north-west Washington.

Nathan Douglas Tibbits, MBA ’01,accepted a position with theCenter's Presidential Personnel asthe special assistant to the president.He previously was chief operatingofficer at the Center for a NewAmerican Security.

Joshua W. Welle, MBA ’08, is aNavy surface warfare officer.

Joe Berry ’69Joe Berry recently retired from his demanding

job as owner of Pop's Seafood restaurant in

Landover Hills, Md., where the teenage help

affectionately referred to him as “Crabby Joe.”

Berry credits his success in part to a single lesson

he learned during business school—the impor-

tance of running an ethically sound business.

“Professor Cook instilled values like fair pric-

ing and the importance of treating customers

and employees with respect,” says Berry. Berry’s life has been about

much more than serving quality seafood. He is also a living example

of community service. A man of great faith, he wakes up each morn-

ing with the personal mantra, “The more you give away, the more

He gives you back.” His weekly volunteer activities read like a full-

time job: Three days a week he delivers food to Food Link, an

Annapolis-based non-profit responsible for delivering more than 1.7

million pounds of food in 2008 to people in need. He offers counsel-

ing to newly engaged couples with his wife, Fran, with whom he

shares landscaping and gardening duties around his church. He

enjoys any downtime by doting on his grandchildren with Fran,

enjoying sunsets over the Chesapeake Bay and living the belief that

“a rich man is one who doesn’t want anything.”

Lacey Brauer ’09Lacey Brauer caught a lucky break on popu-

lar game show “Wheel of Fortune.” Brauer

made it to the final round and ended up

solving the puzzle, which read “Lucky

Break.” She won $46,390 in cash and prizes,

including an $8,000 trip to Grenada, during

her appearance on the Oct. 26, 2009,

episode. Brauer gave a shout-out to the

University of Maryland while she was on the

show. “As soon as the letters I’d guessed came up, I knew what

the answer was,” says Brauer. “I was so excited, because so often

you see the contestant get unlucky with the final puzzle. I hugged

Pat Sajak! My dad and my friend ran onto the stage to help me

celebrate. Sometimes I still can’t believe it!”

Brauer currently works in the ticket office for the Baltimore

Ravens in the processing department. She says her main responsi-

bilities include maintaining accounts, processing season ticket and

event payments and distributing tickets. She bought her parents a

new flat-screen HDTV with some of her winnings and says she

plans on putting a down payment on her first house, which will be

somewhere in Baltimore, sometime this spring.

Alumni Spotlight

Connections

30


Interview-landing Résumé RulesThere is a major misconception about résumés: Yourrésumé does not get you a job. Your résumé gets you aninterview. It is a teaser to entice people to call you for aninterview. The interview is your opportunity to land thejob. Consider this: You will not get an interview with alousy résumé, and you will not get the job with a lousyinterview. So how do you create a résumé that landsinterviews? Here is a countdown of the four rules youshould always follow:

RULE NO. 4) Stay positive and realisticIn 2008, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics found that it took candidates

in management and professional occupations an average of five months

to find a new position after becoming unemployed. In addition, the

outplacement firm First Transitions approximates that a job hunt takes

about one month for every $20,000 in earned annual income (in a pre-

vious position). So, remember to set realistic expectations and to give

yourself a break if you have been job hunting for a while.

RULE NO. 3) Everyone has an opinionIf you ask 10 people about your résumé, you will get 10 different opin-

ions. Learn from good sources, but remember you need to create a

document that reflects you and of which you are proud. Only you can

make the final decision about the content and look of your résumé.

RULE NO. 2) Remember your limits: space and timeYou have limited time (how long someone will spend on your

résumé) and limited space (how much you can fit on a page). When

adding anything to the page, first consider your limits. Ask yourself:

Does this new information tell the reader something different and

important about me? What do I have to leave out to include this?

Learn to ruthlessly edit.

RULE NO. 1) Think from the employer’s perspectiveIf you follow only one rule, let this be the one. Think about every

word on your résumé from the perspective of the employer. The

employer has a problem: his open position. Your goal is to be the

solution. And you only can do this if you accurately represent your

expertise in relation to the employer’s needs, rather than your wants.

On average, recruiters spend less than a minute on an initial scan

of a résumé. Make every word count. If you have a difficult time

editing, remember that your résumé does not represent who you

are as a person. It is a snapshot of your career. It is a tool to get you

an interview.

What now?For tips on how to apply the four resume rules, visit the new

SmithConnector at www.smithconnector.com.

Alumni Career Services provides full-spectrum career coaching,

workshops and career panels for Smith School alumni. For more

information, contact Alumni Career Services at 301-405-1418 or

[email protected].

You have a great résumé, what’s next?To turn your interview into a job offer, check out the tips on inter-

view skills on SmithConnector at www.smithconnector.com

John (Jack) Michael Ivancevich(1936-2009), one of Smith’s firsttwo doctoral students, had a storiedacademic career, from star faculty tochaired professor to dean to provosta various institutions around thecountry. But it all started at theUniversity of Maryland.

Ivancevich was born onChicago’s South Side, in a neighbor-hood teeming with immigrants andthe children of immigrants, and hisvast extended clan placed a highvalue on education. Ivancevichreceived his BA from PurdueUniversity, and after a stint in theArmy (first lieutenant, 1961 to 1963)he came to Maryland to pursue adoctorate in business administration.Actually, his original intent was toget his MBA and then head out intothe real world to earn a living for hisyoung family. But then-departmenthead Charles Taff convincedIvancevich that teaching was his real

strength, and Ivancevich neverlooked back.

Rudolph Lamone, professoremeritus of management scienceand former dean of the SmithSchool, was one of the young profes-sors instrumental in getting the doc-toral program started. He remem-bers Ivancevich as a focused, intense,dedicated student, often laboringaway in his office on the fifth floor ofTydings Hall from early in the morn-ing till late in the evening.

“Jack had a real love and respectfor the academic life,” says Lamone.“He was a prolific writer and he hadan extraordinary career.”

James Bedingfield, professoremeritus of accounting, and BurtLeete, professor emeritus of legalstudies, who were contemporaries ofIvancevich in the doctoral program,remember how subsequent doctoralstudents benefited from Ivancevich’sdedication. To prepare for their

comprehensive exams, the first evergiven to doctoral students at theSmith School, Ivancevich and fellowSmith doctoral student JamesDonnelly (now Thomas C. SimonsProfessor of Business, University ofKentucky) prepared obsessively.Eventually they created a collectionof study notes that, typewritten,stood in a pile some two feet high.This treasure trove of informationwas passed on to subsequent doc-toral students, who used them toprepare for their own exams. Later,those notes were turned into themanuscript for a textbook—“Fund-amentals of Management,” co-authored with Donnelly—that wenton to sell more than a million copiesand is now in its ninth printing.

Ivancevich was one of thenation’s most recognized scholars inthe field of organizational behavior.He was a faculty member at theUniversity of Kentucky from 1970 to1974. Ivancevich then went to theUniversity of Houston as a faculty

member, served as associate deanfor research from 1976 to 1979, thedean of the College of BusinessAdministration from 1988 to 1995,and executive vice president for aca-demic affairs and provost from 1995to 1997.

But he is remembered at theSmith School for being a wonderfulasset to the Smith community—forhis genuine likeability, his passion forhis work and his commitment topassing on knowledge to the nextgeneration.

Ivancevich passed away inOctober 2009. He is survived by hiswife of 37 years, Margaret (Pegi)Karsner Ivancevich; son DanielMichael and wife Susan; daughter JillMarie and husband David Zacha Jr.;grandchildren Kathryn Diane andAmanda Dana Ivancevich andHunter David Michael, Hailey Danaand Hannah Marie Zacha; sistersGeorgene McLaughlin and DonnaMiles, brother Steven Ivancevich andtheir families.

Remembering Jack Ivancevich, MBA ’65, DBA ’68

YOUR CAREER

SPRING 2010 O SMITH [email protected]

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Campaign Profile

Ernst & Young FoundationYour first weekend in college is important.The Smith School set the tone for the nextfour years with two days of team-building,top-rate keynote speakers and seminars andreal-life ethics training for the 350 freshmenin attendance at the Ernst & YoungFreshman Fellows Orientation program. Theprogram was funded with a $250,000endowment from Ernst & Young, and wasone of just five grants awarded in a highlycompetitive 2009 grant-making cycle.

The endowment is part of a larger pro-gram at Ernst & Young, which has a strongcorporate focus on philanthropy, particularlyin the area of education. The gift was part ofits university fund initiative, designed to giveErnst & Young the opportunity to considerlarger gifts to academic institutions, especiallywith schools like Maryland that are consid-ered a recruiting priority.

Ernst & Young employs nearly 200 alum-ni in 25 offices across the region, and severalof those alumni were part of the program.From performing in skits to putting on a“Dress for Success” fashion show, Ernst &Young’s Smith alumni created an engagingand enthusiastic learning experience.

While Ernst & Young appreciated theopportunity to interact with students at thebeginning of their careers and build brandrecognition among possible future recruits,Patricia Cleveland, associate dean of under-graduate programs, appreciated the high-leveleducational content of the weekend.“Because of this partnership with Ernst &Young, we were able to create a rich learningenvironment while really building communi-ty among this large group,” says Cleveland.“The young alumni were such fabulous rolemodels. Undergraduates find it hard to imag-ine what they’ll actually do in their profes-sions, so it is encouraging for them to seewhere they might be in four years’ time.”

Cleveland also appreciated the energetic,enthusiastic participation of Ernst & Young

staff, particularly Robert Myers, senior man-ager of the McLean, Va., assurance practice,and Anthony Calderazzi ’92, assurance part-ner. Both were involved in planning theweekend’s events and bringing in top speak-ers, such as Jeff Hoops, senior complianceofficer, whose powerful and candid discussionof workplace ethics resonated with studentslong after the event was over.

Calderazzi, who majored in accounting atSmith, was excited about the practical natureof the program. “We brought our resourcesand talent together to support the school’sgoal for orientation—to help students startpreparing themselves to be business profes-sionals,” says Calderazzi. “When I was inschool no one talked about that till you wereready to go out the door and graduate.”

Myers recruits at Maryland for Ernst &Young. “We had a lot of fun planning thiswith the school, working with Dean

Cleveland and her team and spending timewith the students over the course of theweekend,” he says. “The entire program wasterrific. It focused on a lot of the things wethink students need in order to become suc-cessful—in order to become the kind of peo-ple Ernst & Young wants to hire in fouryears.”

Ernst & Young has been a key resourceand partner with the Smith School over thecourse of a 30-year relationship. Their sup-port of the school totals more than $1 mil-lion, including construction of an Ernst &Young classroom and the establishment ofstudent scholarships.

The endowment for the FreshmanFellows Orientation program is a gift thatwill keep on giving many years into thefuture, creating a great first memory forSmith students and setting them on the roadtoward collegiate and career success. –RW


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Last Word

Here at the Smith School, we who worked on a fre-quent basis with Bob Smith are affected deeply by thenews of his unexpected death on Dec. 29, 2009.

His passing is such a loss to us—not just because ofhis tireless advocacy on our behalf or his incredibly gen-erous financial support. More than all those things, I willmiss the way Bob challenged us to pursue ever greater,higher and better dreams.

The greatest of the gifts he gave us was his unwaver-ing commitment to excellence. Bob was never contentwith the status quo; he was never satisfied with ‘goodenough.’ Whenever new rankings were published, hewould call me—eager to discuss our current standingsand the standards by which we were judged. He alwaysasked penetrating questions. And he always ended theconversation by saying, “I know that with you at thehelm we are going to do even better.” Bob’s confidencein me was almost scary. I always felt like I had no choicebut to succeed!

I believe the best way to honor the life and memory ofthis remarkable man is to become what he hoped for: atop-ranked school delivering excellent programs that havegreat impact on our students and the world around us.

Greater engagement is going to be one of our keys togreater impact. We are working on getting our thoughtleadership out where it can make an impact on businesspractices and government policy. Our new, practitioner-

oriented centers will help us develop strong ties withleaders in the corporate community and in governmentaland nonprofit agencies, solving problems and addressingurgent challenges in a relationship that is mutuallybeneficial to both the school and the organization.

We are also committed to lifelong learning forexecutives and our alumni. Our series ofThoughtLeadership@Smith breakfasts in theWashington-Baltimore metropolitan area give practition-ers and policy makers a chance to hear top faculty deliv-er short presentations on their latest research. We plan toroll out new open enrollment programs through ourexecutive education department. Our centers will beginoffering more programs for executives through confer-ences and forums.

We’ve already made some progress as we movetoward greater engagement and influence, but as WillRogers said, “Even if you are on the right track, you’llget run over if you just sit there.” So we’ve got to keepmoving!

And for that I’ll need your help. Please take advan-tage of these new opportunities to engage with our fac-ulty and our Centers of Excellence, and help us makeconnections with your organizations as well.

I also hope you’ll take the time to be engaged witheach other, and with us. The Smith School’s influence isjudged in part by the reach of our alumni, and yourreach is multiplied a hundredfold when you work withother alumni—helping each other, hiring each otherand widening your reach together. Visit SmithConnectortoday—right now!—and log in. Join your fellow alumniin creating greater opportunities for yourselves, for eachother and for the Smith School.

There is still much to do in our pursuit of excel-lence, and we are committed to the task of sustainingBob Smith’s vision and becoming one of the best busi-ness schools in the world. We are honored to be part ofhis legacy—a legacy that is reflected in each and everyalumnus. He had an unwavering belief in the potentialof his fellow alumni to do what he himself had done:pursue their careers with integrity; succeed beyond theirwildest dreams; and go on to give back in ways thatwould make the world a better place forever.

[email protected]

G. ANANDALINGAM, DEAN

ROBERT H. SMITH ’50

The Washington Post described himas a “visionary builder-developer” who“transformed more than just the locallandscape.” Mr. Smith gave away hun-dreds of millions of dollars to supporteducation, health care and the arts;beautify and preserve important his-toric sites; and assure the continuity ofJudaism. He is also the University ofMaryland’s single greatest benefactor.“Bob Smith is the greatest philan-thropic supporter of public educationin the history of the state of Maryland,”University of Maryland President C.D.Mote, Jr. has said.

Mr. Smith is survived by Clarice, his wife of 57 years; two children,Michelle and David; four grandchil-dren, and sister Arlene Kogod.

MEET BOB SMITHRobert Hilton Smith was born July 21,1928, in Brooklyn, N.Y. His familymoved to Washington in 1942, andhe graduated from Anacostia HighSchool in 1946, the same year his fa-ther formed the Charles E. Smith Con-struction Co. He joined the firm aftergraduating from the University ofMaryland in 1950.

As the child of hardworking Russ-ian immigrants, Mr. Smith grew upwith big dreams. Mr. Smith took overhis father’s business in 1967 and ran

the company for more than threedecades with his brother-in-law,Robert P. Kogod. They transformedthe family-owned construction firminto a multifaceted real estate empire,building office complexes and apart-ment houses and eventually becom-ing Washington’s largest commercialreal estate landlords.

Among his successful ventures as abuilder-developer is the vast andsprawling Crystal City complex in

Arlington, Va. When Mr. Smith firstsurveyed the area in 1961, it was

a dilapidated, somewhat deso-late neighborhood far re-moved from the District’scorridors of power. But Mr.Smith had the gift: Hecould see great potentialwhere others saw only abare piece of ground. Itwas a gift that would serve

him well in both his career and hisphilanthropic pursuits.

SETTING A COURSE FOR THE FUTUREHe also had a knack for making smartchoices. By the time he was 15 or 16years old, Mr. Smith knew he wantedto be a builder-developer. So he enrolled in the university’s School of Engineering, thinking that would bethe best preparation for his future career. A mechanical drawing coursesoon proved that his gifts and talents

lay elsewhere. He did have an aptitudefor accounting and finance, though,so he transferred to the businessschool. “I figured a background inbusiness would serve me well, and Icould always hire engineers,” he said.

Mr. Smith’s stratospheric successgave him the wherewithal to hire manyengineers. That success also allowedhim to make significant investmentsin art and music, education, healthcare, Jewish cultural organizations andimportant monuments of our nation’shistory. Mr. Smith took his philan-thropy seriously, concentrating ongiving the transformational gift—theone that would enable the recipientorganization to move to the nextlevel, achieve the next big goal, createthe next big idea. He was an impor-tant supporter of institutions such asGeorge Washington’s Mount VernonEstate and Gardens; Hebrew University

OBERT H. SMITH walked through the corridors of Van Munching Hall more often than most students

realized. Trim and silver-haired, the man who named the Smith School was unassuming, genial and genuinely

interested in everyone he met. His enormous natural talents took him to the top of his profession. His passionate

beliefs in the goodness of our country, the potential of every person and the importance of investing in excellence

made him one of the most influential philanthropists the Washington, D.C., region has ever known.

IN 2009, SMITH RECEIVED THE NATIONAL HUMANITIESMEDAL FROM PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH IN RECOGNI-TION OF HIS PHILANTHROPIC EFFORTS IN THE WASHING-TON, D.C., REGION AND AROUND THE WORLD.

of Jerusalem, Robert H. Smith Schoolof Agriculture; the Mayo Clinic; theNational Gallery of Art; the Newseum;the University of Maryland’s ClariceSmith Performing Arts Center; theWIlmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins;Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello; theNew York Historical Society; andmany more.

And at the Smith School, his naminggift in 1997—and his continued influ-ence and involvement—helped set ourcourse for years to come. Mr. Smithinvested in the school in ways thathelped build our capacity to deliverexcellent programs, and he alwayschallenged us to consider how thoseprograms supported the school’smission and aspirations. He served as aspringboard for new projects andhelped inspire his fellow alumni andfriends to draw alongside him insupport of the school’s mission.

When Mr. Smith committed to aproject he was keenly interested inevery detail—particularly ones thatwould enhance the student experi-ence. He wanted to know about thefinishes for the interiors, the kinds oftrees in the landscape, the particularsof the coursework. Nothing but the

best would do. He wanted everythinghe was involved in to be the highestquality possible—as excellent as itwas possible to be.

This wasn’t a self-centered or self-aggrandizing interest. Mr. Smith wasconvinced that his funds, investedwisely, could make the world a betterplace. He wanted to invest in waysthat would challenge and inspire theinstitutions he partnered with to bethe best they could be.

“I am a firm believer that life is atwo-way street,” he told Smith Businessmagazine in 2004. “Giving back toinstitutions you believe in is part ofthat philosophy. You don’t have togive millions of dollars. The importantpoint is to participate at the level youare comfortable with. Financial suc-cess is not a destination; it is only partof the journey, enabling you to reachyour ultimate fulfillment, and that isto give something back to help makea difference.”

PURSUING THE DREAM“It isn’t a calamity to die with dreamsunfulfilled, but it is a calamity notto dream. When you cease todream, you cease to live.”

That was one of Mr. Smith’s favoritequotes; anyone who spent time withhim heard it. If Bob Smith died with adream unfulfilled, it might have beenthis one: to see the school that bearshis name, the school in which he hadinvested so much hope for the future,achieve global recognition in thehighest ranks of business schools.

The Smith School has enjoyed enor-mous momentum over the past fewyears. Mr. Smith’s support of facultyappointments allowed us to bring inthe some of the best scholars in theworld in every academic area. Hissupport of scholarships allowed usto attract and keep high-potentialstudents regardless of their financialsituation. His support for our facilitiesallows us to provide our students withthe most beautiful, up-to-date learn-ing environment on campus. Hissupport of our programs allows us tochallenge students with a rigorous,relevant education.

There is still much to do in ourpursuit of excellence, and we are

HOWARD FRANK, PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENTSCIENCE AND FORMER DEAN OF THE SMITHSCHOOL, WITH ROBERT H. SMITH ’50.

“We had such a close partnership that went back years and years. Bob was fun to

be with; he took such great pleasure in everything he did. He wanted to make a

difference and he never stopped pushing. He would come to me and say, “What can

I do that would really make a difference?” He wasn’t someone who just gave money.

He was here every two or three months, meeting with faculty, staff and students.

When he met students he always asked, ‘Why did you come here, what made the

difference, what can we do better?’”

“The greatest of the gifts Bob Smith gave us was his unwavering commitment

to excellence,” says Dean Anand. “Bob was never content with the status

quo; he was never satisfied with ‘good enough.’ Whenever new rankings

were published, he would call me—eager to discuss our current stand-

ings and the standards by which we were judged. He always asked pen-

etrating questions—sometimes very penetrating. And he always ended

the conversation by saying, ‘I know that with you at the helm we are

going to do even better.’ Because of Bob’s confidence in me, I feel like I

have no choice but to succeed.”DEAN G. “ANAND”ANANDALINGAMWITH BOB SMITH.

committed to the task of sustaininghis vision and becoming one of thebest business schools in the world. Weare honored to be part of his legacy—a legacy that is reflected in each andevery student. He had an unwaveringbelief in the potential of Smith Schoolstudents to do what he himself haddone: pursue their careers with in-tegrity; succeed beyond their wildestdreams; and go on to give back inways that would make the world abetter place forever.

You may have never met BobSmith, but he also had a dream and acharge for you, his fellow alumni. Inhis commencement address to thegraduating class of 2008, Mr. Smithsaid, “It is everyone’s duty to be usefuland fulfilled. It is your privilege as ahuman being to identify with causesbeyond yourself, to contribute to yourcommunity and make a difference tothe world around you. The worldtoday is very different from the day I

graduated from this school, and it ischanging almost too swiftly to com-prehend. It is vital that you becomeinvolved, that you take an active partin shaping the world which you aregoing to inherit from my generation.”

“I’ve taken the opportunity to beinvolved with this school because it ismy dream that each student whograduates from it will be an ambitious

dreamer, a courageous risk-taker, anda principled, ethical leader, who willwork to make this world a betterplace,” Mr. Smith said to the graduatesof 2008. “It is a great honor and aprivilege for me to have my nameassociated with yours, as you go outinto the world to pursue your dreams.”

It is a great honor for us, the SmithSchool, to carry his name into the future.

Smith delivered the keynote address at the May 2008 commencement cere-

mony. He told the graduates: Overcoming the fear of failure is vital for your

future success. Fear will keep you from achieving the greatest measure of success

for yourself and the organizations you will one day lead. …The person who is

afraid to take risks and make mistakes will never achieve everything of which he

or she is capable. That is because failure is the marker that tells us when we have

reached our limits. One of the greatest mistakes you can make in life is to be con-

tinually afraid you will make one. If you don’t take risks, then you are short-

changing yourself. Because you will never know how much you are capable of

achieving until you come to the place where you can’t achieve any more.

§§

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FROM ROBERT H. SMITH

Bob Smith loved wise words and proverbs of every kind, and heloved to pass them on. Here are a few of his favorites—ones weheard him quote often.

You may be disappointed if you try something and it doesn’t

succeed. But you are doomed if you don’t try.

One of the greatest mistakes you can make in life is to be

continually afraid you will make one.

Success isn’t permanent, and failure isn’t fatal.

The measure of success is not whether you have a tough

problem to deal with, but whether it’s the same problem you

had last year.

The tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal.

The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.

High expectations are the key to everything.

Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is

what makes it permanent.

God gave us the gift of life. Our gift to God is how we live it.

AT THE LAUNCH OF THE SCHOOL’S “GREAT EX-PECTATIONS” CAPITAL CAMPAIGN, SMITH JOINEDGARY WILLIAMS ’63, HEAD COACH OF THE MARY-LAND MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM; DEAN FRANK;AND UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT C.D. MOTE, JR. TOENCOURAGE FELLOW ALUMNI TO GET INVOLVED.

CONSIDER MAKING A GIFT TO THE ROBERT H. SMITH SCHOOL OF BUSINESSTHAT HELPS THE SCHOOL, YOU AND YOUR HEIRS. HERE ARE SOME OPTIONS.

LIVING TRUSTName the Smith School of Business as a beneficiaryof assets in a living trustYour Benefit: Control of trust for lifetime; possibleestate tax savings

BEQUESTName the Smith School of Business in your willYour Benefit: A donation exempt from federalestate tax

RETIREMENT PLAN GIFTName the Smith School of Business as beneficiary ofthe remainder of the assets after your lifetimeYour Benefit: Avoidance of heavily taxed gift to heirs, al-lowing less costly gifts

CHARITABLE LEAD TRUSTCreate a trust that pays a fixed or variable income to usfor a set term, and then passes to heirsYour Benefit: Reduced size of taxable estate; keepsproperty in family, often with reduced gift taxes

PLANNINGYOUR ESTATE?

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THEVARIOUS WAYS TO MAKE A GIFT TOTHE SMITH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS,GO TO WWW.RHSMITH.UMD.EDU/GIVE

OR CONTACT:

Kelly BrownAssistant Dean for External Relations301-405-1786

Elizabeth MitchellDirector of Development301-405-8141

3570 Van Munching HallUniversity of MarylandCollege Park, MD 20742-1815

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

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