MBA Pro Called Up to the Big Leagues

Some people claw their way into the sports industry. Ted Towne, PTMBA ’08, received an invitation to work in Major League Baseball while studying at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “My evening classes gave me an edge,” says Towne, assistant general manager and vice president of finance for the Washington Nationals.

After working as a controller and assurance professional for nearly 10 years, Towne moved to Lerner Enterprises in 2006. Six months later, the real estate development firm bought the Nationals, a league-owned franchise looking for stability in Washington, D.C., after a rough exit from Montreal.

During the next season, while the team played at RFK Stadium, Towne applied the business skills he was learning at Smith to impress his new employer. “They asked if I would like to come over to the baseball side of the business,” he says.

The thrill of working in sports hit Towne on March 30, 2008, while he was still a part-time MBA student at Maryland Smith’s Shady Grove campus in Rockville, Md. That was the night the Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves in the first game at the new Nationals Park.

When the lights went on, Towne says he looked around at the ESPN cameras and the 40,000 cheering fans and thought: “Wow! I had something to do with this. I’m a part of this.”

Between games, Towne draws upon his experience at Smith to help manage a global operation that includes talent scouts all over the world, an academy in the Dominican Republic, spring training facilities in Florida, and a minor league system that stretches from New York to Maryland.

“I use my MBA education every day,” Towne says. “So much of what I apply is what I’ve learned about leadership, finance, marketing and strategy — and all those core courses and electives that I had the opportunity to take.”