Robert Isaman '85, vice president, integration at UTC Fire & Security (UTCFS), a division of United Technologies Corporation, addressed a lively audience of Smith School graduates, family members, friends, and Smith faculty and administrators at the Smith School's winter commencement ceremony on Thursday, December 22. Nearly 350 candidates were eligible to attend the graduation ceremony, which was held at the Comcast Center: eight doctoral, 25 executive MBA, 100 MBA/MS, and 210 undergraduate business degrees were awarded.

The University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business is seeking nominations for the schools 2006 Smith Leadership and Excellence Awards. The annual awards, which pay tribute to business leaders and organizations that have made a significant and positive impact in the mid-Atlantic region, will be presented in four categories: Business Excellence, Leaders for the Digital Economy, Leadership Excellence, and Public Excellence.

The Smith School offers congratulations to the 770 undergraduate, 300 MBA/MS, 25 Executive MBA, and 10 PhD new degree holders who graduated on May 22, 2005.  Kevin Plank '96, founder and CEO of Under Armour Performance Apparel, delivered an inspiring keynote address to a packed Comcast Center. "I'm appreciative of the life and business skills that UM taught me," he began. Drawing on his experience as a football player at Maryland and his keen entrepreneurial instinct, Plank recounted his vision and roadmap to "creating the world's greatest football undershirt."

For the past two years eSmith has been evolving into a comprehensive gateway that allows students, faculty, and staff to navigate through a network of public and private information, services, and business functions of the Smith School and the University of Maryland. The internal portal provides a secure infrastructure to present Web-based applications and information to the Smith community, focusing on tools for collaboration, research, and personal productivity.

Business is now more global than ever, challenging us to expand our understanding of other cultures and develop deeper cultural knowledge. For Zeynep Ozenci, principal investment officer at International Finance Corporation (IFC), developing this sort of cultural consciousness is not a choice, it is needed to effectively do her job.

Tweaks to the Volcker Rule will help fix a regulation that is too vague, complex and burdensome, Maryland Smith finance professor Clifford Rossi says.

Surprises come with the territory when working in international development across India. As senior engagement manager at Sattva Consulting, Rahul Shah, PTMBA ’15, MFin ’15, must navigate uncertainty as he works across all domains with all types of stakeholders on a diverse subcontinent.

Finance students have a place to go to practice their skills and test ideas at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Study groups huddle in the faculty office of M. Cecilia Bustamante, winner of the 2018 Allen J. Krowe Award for Teaching Excellence. Some students sit on a sofa facing Bustamante’s desk, while others work on a large whiteboard filled with graphs and equations.

By Meredith Cobb Anthony “A.J.” Woodard Jr. ’20 loves music, leadership and math. He combines the first two passions in his side gig as a DJ. “In high school we really didn’t do anything on the weekends,” he says. “So I saw an opportunity to do something for my friends. I picked up DJ-ing, kept it up as a hobby and turned it into a side gig.” His other passion led him to a dual degree program at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, where he is pursuing a full-time MBA and Master of Finance.

Passion for math and science led Russell Wermers to a career in chemical engineering. His transition to finance came later, when he enrolled in an MBA program and discovered the need for quantitative rigor in a frontier industry with high potential for innovation.