Information Technology Leader, Professor and Entrepreneur Named Dean of University of Maryland Business School

Triple-Threat Abilities Position Howard Frank to Lead One of Nation's Top Business Schools

COLLEGE PARK- June 19, 1997 -The University of Maryland at College Park has appointed Howard Frank, an internationally acclaimed information technology expert, as dean of the Maryland Business School (as of March 30, 1998, the Robert H. Smith School of Business). With the appointment, the university has affirmed the revolutionary impact that information technology is having on business, and has demonstrated its commitment to enhancing the school's stature through leadership in technology.

Frank, who is currently Director of the Information Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will join the university in September. The appointment was announced by Gregory L. Geoffroy, the university's vice president for academic affairs and provost.

Frank also has served as senior fellow and adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. He earlier was on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, in electrical engineering and computer sciences.

An accomplished entrepreneur and business executive, Frank created and managed three companies, and was the chief executive officer of a major subsidiary of a Forbes 500 company. He also has been active in the venture capital field, raising debt and equity financing, and leading the acquisition and divestiture of a number of companies.

In commenting on the appointment, Geoffroy said, "Dr. Frank's experience and strengths make him ideally suited to lead the School into the 21st century. He brings the vision, creativity, entrepreneurial and business leadership necessary to build a major technologically-oriented business school. I am sure that he will continue the momentum behind the School's recent impressive rankings and growing reputation among major schools of business."

While a faculty member of the Wharton School, Frank was loaned to the U.S. government for a four-year period beginning in 1993. Joining DARPA, the agency that developed the Internet in the 1980s, Frank was named director of the Information Technology Office in 1995 where he has administered over $1 billion in contracts with universities and industry. He also has chaired the Technology Policy Working Group of Vice President Gore's Information Infrastructure Task Force, charged with advancing the creation of an advanced information infrastructure for the nation.

In the 1980s Frank served as president and CEO of Contel Information Systems, a Contel Corporation subsidiary, and later was a member of the Contel Corporation board of directors. Contel was a diversified telecommunications company with over $5 billion in assets and $3 billion in annual sales, prior to its merger with GTE in 1991. He earlier founded and led Network Analysis Corporation, a large telecommunications design and consulting firm that was sold to Contel in 1980.

Commenting on his appointment, Frank said, "Preparing managers for the information technology-centered 21st century will require intergrating an understanding of the technology into all facets of business education. Maryland has the traditional strengths of a fine business school, technological leadership in its MBA, engineering and computing programs, and the depth and quality of business faculty and students that have already established it as a national leader. I am thrilled to have been selected to lead the School toward this great opportunity."

Frank received both his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University, and holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Miami. He is the author of nearly 100 articles in scholarly journals and conference publications, and has written 85 additional articles appearing in magazines and trade publications.

Frank replaces William E. Mayer, former CEO of the investment firm of First Boston, who was named dean of the College in 1992. At that time, Mayer committed to spend no more than five years in an intensive effort to move the Maryland Business School to prominence among the nation's top business schools. Since Mayer's resignation last summer, Judy Olian, professor of management in the School, has served as acting dean.

About the Robert H. Smith School of Business

The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research for the digital economy. The school offers cross-functional study options in its six academic departments, which include accounting and information assurance; decision and information technologies; finance; logistics, business, and public policy; management and organization; and marketing. More information about the Robert H. Smith School of Business can be found at http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu.