The Master of Finance program at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business climbed to No. 2 in the United States in a Financial Times report published on June 18, 2018. The Smith School debuted in the ranking at No. 4 in 2017. Overall, the school improved from No. 38 to No. 30 in the Financial Times annual report, which assigns scores in 17 performance categories. Only MIT Sloan School of Management ranked higher among U.S. programs.

Leadership starts with understanding people, keynote speaker Dana Ritzcovan ’93 told graduates on May 19, 2018, at the undergraduate commencement celebration for the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “We hire employees at organizations, yet human beings show up instead,” said Ritzcovan, group managing director and head of human resources for Global Wealth Management at UBS, a global financial services company.

“What course of action would YOU recommend when confronted with a challenging and complicated business issue without clear-cut solutions?”

Many CEOs sleep with their smartphones on the nightstand next to their beds. Some even sleep with it in their beds. Deloitte CEO, Cathy Engelbert prefers to keep hers downstairs at night. "Disconnect yourself every once in a while," she told an overflow crowd on March 14, 2018, during the CEO@Smith speaker series at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “You work hard, but you need to find time to take care of yourself.”

To make it as a woman in the male-dominated finance industry, you have to be assertive. And key to that is having – or faking – confidence, says Marguerita M. Cheng, CEO of investment advisory firm Blue Ocean Wealth. "I learned to assert myself through the skills that I have," says Cheng, a 1993 graduate of the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. Cheng began her career on Wall Street as an analyst, but wanted to work more closely with clients. She became a Certified Financial Planner and transitioned into wealth management.

All faculty, program directors, deans, department chairs, alumni, and students of the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business are invited to nominate deserving Smith School faculty members (i.e., tenured, tenure-track, clinical, Professor of the Practice, lecturer, adjunct, or PhD student) for one of several teaching awards. Nominations are due by March 16, 2018, and awards will be presented in May.

CEO @ Smith Speaker Series presents Cathy Engelbert, Chief Executive Officer of Deloitte, on March 14, 2018, in Van Munching Hall, home of the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. As CEO of Deloitte, Engelbert leads one of the largest professional services organizations in the United States with more than 85,000 professionals, providing services to over 80 percent of the Fortune 500.

“I’m here because someone lifted me up,” said Donna Blackman, a 2010 graduate of the executive MBA program and senior vice president of business operations at BET Networks. “Once you get to where you are, reach back. Advocate and mentor other women. Make yourself available to talk to others.”

Sue Townsen, partner and chief diversity officer at KPMG, spoke about the importance of diversity, inclusion and a global mindset at the Global Diversity Fireside Chat on Feb. 21, 2018, at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Event Kicks Off Monthlong Celebration at UMD’s Smith School COLLEGE PARK, Md. (Feb. 5, 2018) — BET Networks executive Donna Blackman will discuss women in business and the #MeToo movement on March 1, 2018, as the honored guest at the seventh annual Women Leading Women. The free event will kick off a monthlong celebration of Women’s History Month at the University of Maryland’s Robert H.