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Effective June 1, Scott Koerwer became acting
executive director and Asher Epstein became
managing director of the school’s Dingman
Center for Entrepreneurship. The appointments follow
the retirement of Don Spero, the center's director
since 2000.
Koerwer has been with the Smith School since
2001 and will continue to serve as associate dean for
executive education and marketing communications.
Epstein is a 2004 MBA graduate of the Smith School,
where he was an MBA Scholar with the Dingman
Center, president of the Graduate Entrepreneurship
Club, and an associate with the New Markets
Growth Fund, a $20-million venture capital fund
that was initiated through the Dingman Center.
Charlie Heller, chairman of the Dingman Center’s
advisory board and former director of the center,
and John LaPides, president of Snow Valley Inc.,
have been named Dingman Center entrepreneursin-
residence. Mark Grovic, formerly deputy director
of the Dingman Center, became the Smith School’s
first venture capitalist-in-residence and maintains
his positions as an adjunct faculty member and managing
director of the New Markets Growth Fund.
Rudy Lamone, founder of the Dingman Center and
former Smith School dean, will continue to represent
the center and play an active role as an entrepreneurship
mentor. 
 The Smith School welcomed Gary
Williams ’68, head coach of the
University of Maryland men’s basketball team, as the keynote speaker
for its 2004 commencement ceremony. Williams, who proved one of
Smith’s most popular speakers at a graduation ceremony, spoke to a
packed Comcast Center on May 21, 2004.
Williams was a marketing major at Smith and a basketball player
for the University of Maryland, and upon graduation had to decide
which to pursue as a career. Williams spoke of taking advantage of
opportunities, trusting your instincts, and having a vision. He remembered
those individuals who gave him his first opportunity at coaching
and assured graduates that “if you can find that one person to give you
an opportunity, then it’s up to you to make it happen.” In his address,
Williams also applauded Smith faculty, comparing them to coaches,
who also need an ability to teach.
Coach Williams said that Smith and the University of Maryland
have proven that “we can compete with anyone in the country academically.”
He left graduates with the confidence that they have been “part
of a great school and a great university.”
 Donald E. Powell, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC), delivered an address to Smith students on April 28, 2004
titled
“Leadership, Ethics and the Free Market.” “Leadership also means developing good
relationships and getting along with people,” Powell said. “It’s critical to
learn how to
give and take. You may have an impressive academic background and great
professional
credentials, but if you can’t get along with your fellow man, you won’t get
hired.”
Powell also challenged students to develop strong moral principles and
conduct their
business activities in accordance with the dictates of their consciences.
“What’s important
to you? What do you want to be remembered by? Money is not more important than
your principles, so be clear about them and know your values,” said Powell.
 Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-Maryland) spoke about business
ethics, corporate governance and the progress
made since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in an
address to second-year MBA students on May 7, 2004.
Sarbanes commended the efforts of the Smith
School to provide its students with the study of ethics
beyond the classroom. “Enron was the canary in the
mine shaft,” said Sarbanes. The ramifications of the Enron scandal opened
the door to serious scrutiny of business processes, checks and balances.
Sarbanes viewed Enron as an indicator of a more widespread breakdown
in corporate governance. He named
inadequate disclosure provisions, lack
of effective auditing and inadequate
funding of the Securities Exchange
Commission (SEC) as reasons for the
breakdown. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act,
written by Sarbanes and Michael G.
Oxley (R-Ohio), addressed these and
other issues that contributed to the
blurring line between tactical business
maneuvers and ethical decisionmaking.
The goal, Sarbanes said, is
to create and bolster “a system that
ensures that honest, transparent and
ethical practices will take place in
U.S. capital markets.”
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