March 2010

Dean’s Message – Dr. Hugh Courtney, Associate Dean of Executive Programs

What's up? The inquiring minds of your fellow Smith alumni, current EMBA students, faculty and staff want to know!

I know that you all have many ways to stay connected to your Smith EMBA network. We hope that this newsletter might become one more vehicle for sharing your personal and professional stories with this network. So please send us your updates, and we'll publish them in the next newsletter. And if you are looking to reconnect in-person, check out the calendar of exciting upcoming events below, including our EMBA Alumni Reception on April 14. I am looking forward to reconnecting with you all soon!

Until then, let me fill you in on what's up on campus. Believe it or not, we were closed for eight straight days during Snowmageddon 2010, something this native Michigander can't quite fathom. As you might imagine, the storms wreaked havoc on our EMBA schedule, and both cohorts have been scrambling to make up for lost time. Our ninth cohort – the "Wolfpack" – is gearing up for the integrated business simulation exercise and commencement in May, and our 10^th cohort is juggling accounting, economics, strategy, ethics and marketing as they "ease" into the curriculum. As usual, never a dull moment in Van Munching Hall (although I suppose many of my students would beg to differ).

Warm regards,

Hugh

EMBA Alumni Reception, April 14

The Smith School EMBA Alumni Community is inviting all EMBA alumni and students to spend an evening with Dean Anand, classmates and professors. Dean Anand will give an update on the Smith School, and Dr. Jahangir Boroumand will present his "Current Economic Trends Update."

Wednesday, April 14, 6 - 8 p.m.
The University Club
1135 16^th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20016

Register here for the EMBA Alumni Reception.

Upcoming Events – The Smith School has a variety of events over the next few weeks.

• Women MBA Association Events
  • March 24: Women and Job Negotiations with Dr. Joyce Russell. For more information, contact midatlantic@mbawomen.org.
  • March 26: Women MBA Wine & Cheese Networking Event in Washington, D.C. For more information, contact Danielle.Lemieux@rhsmith.umd.edu.
  • April 16: Women MBA Executive Roundtable. For more information, contact Danielle.Lemieux@rhsmith.umd.edu.
• ThoughtLeadership@Smith
  • April 9: Robert M. Sheehan Jr., Designing Mission-Driven Organizations, Baltimore, Md.
  • April 30: Clifford Rossi, Risky Business: How Incentives, Governance and Management Impact your Firm's Risk Profile, Washington, D.C.
  • May 7: Joyce E.A. Russell: Build Bench Strength by Developing your Employees, Baltimore, Md.
• March 25: Social Enterprise Symposium. For more information, please visit www.rhsmith.umd.edu/ses, or contact jlloyd@rhsmith.umd.edu.
• April 7 - 9: The Directors' Institute. For more information, please visit www.rhsmith.umd.edu/directorsinstitute, or contact swallens@rhsmith.umd.edu.
• April 8: The Center for Social Value Creation presents The Ripple Effect of your Cup of Coffee. For more information, please visit www.rhsmith.umd.edu/svc/coffee or contact jlloyd@rhsmith.umd.edu.
• April 24: The Center for Complexity in Business will hold its Second Annual Conference, featuring a variety of distinguished speakers. The center's research focuses on practically all areas of modern management, including marketing, information systems, operations, logistics, finance and organization science. The theme of this year's conference is globalization and technology in a complex world. For more information, please contact carrie_baran@rhsmith.umd.edu.
• April 28: CEO@Smith presents Barbara Krumsiek, chair, CEO and president of Calvert Group, Ltd. For more information, please contact tdennis@rhsmith.umd.edu.
• May 7: UM Business Competitions Day, featuring Cupid's Cup with Kevin Plank '96, founder, CEO and chairman of the board of Under Armour. For more information, please visit www.gbsnonline.org/2010.
• June 10 - 11: Fifth Annual Global Business School Network Conference, Innovation for Impact: Business Schools at the Crossroads of Development, Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.rhsmith.umd.edu/emba.

What's Happening at Smith EMBA? – EMBA Lunch & Learn

By Shelbi Brookshire, Director, EMBA Recruiting

We value your perspective on Smith's EMBA program. You are one of our best advocates for the continual recruiting of bright, motivated business professionals to join the growing ranks of Smith EMBA alumni. Finally, we know you are constantly in the business community, meeting just such potential Smith EMBAs.

To that end, have you found yourself discussing the program with prospective students but wanting to do more? If so, the EMBA Lunch & Learn opportunity is just the thing to keep the momentum going with your colleague. The lunches are designed to bring you and your interested colleague together with a Smith representative in an informal manner to discuss the EMBA student experience, Smith's value proposition and the next steps - all at a time and location convenient for you.

It's simple - just contact me at either 301.405.2386 or sbrooksh@rhsmith.umd.edu. I'll work with both you and your colleague to arrange the time and place.

FYI - the first application deadline of April 30 is just around the corner. Formal information sessions will be held on Tuesday, April 6. Interested individuals can visit www.rhsmith.umd.edu/emba for dates and registration information.

Hope to see you soon,

Shelbi

Calling all Venture Capitalists!

Be a venture capitalist for the Business Simulation course, held May 17. Do you remember what it was like to beg, plead and borrow from the ruthless EMBA alumni as you and your team struggled to stay afloat? Well, how would you like to be on the other side of the table? We are in need of EMBA alumni to play the role of venture capitalist. The day begins at 9 a.m. and presentations run through the morning. We invite you to stay for lunch and hear the results in the afternoon. Space is limited, so please contact Dr. Joyce Russell at jrussell@rhsmith.umd.edu if you are interested.

Alumni News!

Dontá Wilson, EMBA '02, has been named to Birmingham Business Journal's "Top 40 Under 40." Read the write-up about Dontá in its entirety here..

Rosa Mariduena Sylvania (EMBA Cohort 2) and her husband Daniel Weissbein welcomed the birth of twin boys on Jan. 21, 2010. Eli Simon Weissbein was born at 2:34 a.m., weighing 4.5 lbs., and Leo Jacob Weissbein was born at 2:35 a.m., weighing 2.5 lbs.

Stay Connected

We have three areas where we ask you to make sure your e-mail and mailing addresses are up-to-date.

1. UMD – E-mail University Relations at bio_updates@ur.umd.edu. This is important if you want to keep getting Smith Business Magazine and other UMD publications.
2. Smith Alumni Portal - This service will soon convert to Smith Connector.
3. EMBA Office - Our office attempts to keep track of all e-mail address changes. Please e-mail us at emba_alumni@rhsmith.umd.edu.

Don’t forget to look for the Smith School on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Finally, we would like to request personal updates to share with all of our EMBA alumni. We would like to highlight your successes! Please send any updates you want to share, such as a new job or a new baby.

We are looking for a few of your classmates, as we do not have a good e-mail addresses for them. Please e-mail us if you have their contact information. Thank you for your help!

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