Smith Profiles
Alumni Profile
Navigating Finance Through Resiliency - Jeron Davis Forbes 30 Under 30 Profile
Jeron Davis BS ’15
From selling crayons for change in elementary school to investing in the stock market in the 9th grade, Forbes 30 under 30 recipient Jeron Davis BS ‘15 has always had a passion for business.
Alumni Profile
Taking A Passion for Research Outside Academia
Debdatta Sinha Roy, PhD ‘19
When we imagine researchers, we often think about the world of academia in which professors conduct research while taking on a teaching schedule. However, outside of academia, there are a variety of professional research scientists, like Maryland Smith alum Debdatta Sinha Roy, PhD ‘19, who use data to help companies find patterns in customer behavior and optimize future decisions.
Alumni Profile
Changing Lives, Through Social Entrepreneurship
L. Audrey Awasom ’18
L. Audrey Awasom, ’18, is leading an uprising. Her goal? To see a society where every woman has access to good healthcare, affordable housing and sustainable employment.
Alumni Profile
A ‘30 Under 30’ Recipient, on Embracing Challenges
Ali Salhi, MS ’18
For Loop CTO Ali Salhi, MS in Business Analytics ’18, Maryland Smith was a place to learn about the importance of learning through challenges.
Alumni Profile
On Seeing the Bigger Picture, Not the Puzzle Pieces
Kent Baker, MBA ’69, DBA ’72, MEd ’74
He has invested almost 45 years teaching, earning eight academic degrees, including three doctorates, and publishing 35 books and more than 300 academic and practitioner-oriented articles. Yet, H. Kent Baker, MBA ’69, DBA ’72, MEd ’74, says it isn’t yet time for retirement – not, he says, until he can no longer take the stairs to his office at American University.
Alumni Profile
Qualcomm CFO, on Finding a Passion
Akash Palkhiwala, MBA ’99
For Qualcomm CFO Akash Palkhiwala, Maryland Smith was a place to find his passion and adapt to life in a new country.
Student Profile
Fusion100 Clothing Brand: From A Dorm Room to SportsCenter
Ilan Orgel
Ilan Orgel has always had an entrepreneurial drive – and a sense of style. Before coming to the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School and beginning his finance degree, Orgel lived in New York, where he’d often wait in long, early morning lines to buy sneakers he would later resell at a profit.
Student Profile
From High School Onward, Driven Toward Social Entrepreneurship
Michael Zhao
He’s just a semester into his college career at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, but freshman Michael Zhao already knows exactly what he wants to do for the rest of his life – use a finance and computer science education to make the world a better place.
Alumni Profile
For 5 Siblings, Baking and Making a Family Company
Ronnie ’09 and Johnny ’14 Dubbaneh
There are secrets to baking that also apply to being an entrepreneur. And five Maryland siblings are putting those secrets to work in their latest venture. The Dubbaneh brothers and sisters – Ronnie, Danny, Ronia, Johnny and Deanna – know that to be successful in baking, you have to take care in every step of the process, be patient, give it your time and attention, and love what you’re doing. It’s the same for starting a business.
Alumni Profile
As CEO, Leading by Helping Others Grow
Jennifer Felix ’92
Jennifer Felix ’92 has one goal in mind when it comes to leadership – helping everyone maximize their potential. As president and CEO of ASRC Federal – a Maryland-based government services subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, an Alaska Native Corporation owned by 13,000 Iñupiat shareholders – Felix has learned firsthand what it means to lead. It starts with empowering others and finding inspiration in every journey, she says.