Smith School Hosts Inaugural Business Summit in Baltimore

Baltimore’s Biopark was abuzz on Friday, May 4, 2012, at the Inaugural Smith School Business Summit. Hosted by the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, the event brought together more than 250 people, including Smith School students, faculty, staff, alumni, and Baltimore-area business leaders for an exciting night of networking and collaborative thought leadership.

Created and organized by MBA students and the Office of Career Services (OCS) at Smith, the summit was designed to “celebrate the professional experiences and synergy that can be achieved by connecting our campuses, clubs, faculty, staff and companies in our own backyard,” said Jeff Kudisch, managing director of OCS.

The summit began with an informal networking reception, at which 17 companies in the Baltimore area, including BB&T, CareFirst, Constellation Energy, Force 3, Howard Bank, M&T Bank, Merkle, McCormick, USAID, and Wells Fargo, were represented.

After networking, Dr. Oliver Schlake, Smith School Tyser Teaching Fellow and senior business consultant and entrepreneur, formally kicked off the event with his keynote speech “Why are We Obsessed with Creativity When Things are Going the Wrong Way?”

Schlake explained to an enthusiastic audience that creativity emerges in bad times because in good times “answer A works. There is no need to question the status quo as there is nothing to gain from breaking the rules. There is no immediate payback.” Schlake argued that in bad times, although companies are searching for creativity, they can actually hinder creativity through time pressures, talent loss, short-term survival fixes and an enormous fear of failure. “Our true challenge is to be creative and recognize creativity in good times,” he said.

Following Schlake’s keynote, attendees participated in five expert panels, which explored current trends and issues in healthcare, finance, organizational culture, product life cycle, and sustainability. The panels were moderated by Smith School faculty, including Lisa Harrington, Michael Faulkender, Cynthia Stevens, David Godes, and Melissa Carrier.

The Baltimore Business Summit was a big hit with attendees: “It engaged all aspects of business networks and helped build relationships within complementary parts of business,” said Alex Matov ’07, a BGE employee and part-time Smith MBA student.

Another attendee and one of the night’s panel speakers, Mike Longacre of BD Diagnostics, said the summit helped build the Baltimore community by providing cutting-edge, first-hand knowledge of the current issues in the marketplace. The first-of-its-kind event ended with a formal networking reception.

Rachel Hester, Marketing Communications Coordinator, Office of Marketing Communications

About the Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.