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An enthusiastic crowd gathered in Comcast Center on Dec. 20,
2007, to cheer on a brand-new crop of proud Smith School
alumni. Allan Edelson ’81, director with Deutsche Bank
Berkshire Mortgage, Inc., joined in the congratulations and
gave his fellow alumni advice on selecting a career and
specific steps they could take to be successful in their
first job.
In particular, he urged graduates to be successful in
their positions before they tried to reinvent their jobs.
“Most companies have processes that to the new employee seem
redundant, unnecessary, and highly inefficient. While in
some cases, it may actually be true, you should not revise
the process until you have mastered the process,” advised
Edelson. “Few employers like to listen to someone new, who
has never closed business with the company, tell them how
their systems are wrong. However, a young bright employee
who learns the process fast and succeeds is another story.
If that employee has suggestions, because of his or her
success, people in the company are now ready to listen.”
Edelson has enjoyed a remarkable career, becoming one of
the top volume loan originators in the country and now
running the Chicago office of Deutsche Bank Berkshire
Mortgage, Inc. He has originated more than 435 multifamily
loans resulting in about $6.3 billion in loan value in 34
states—an astonishing achievement. He is a member of the
school’s Board of Visitors and recently endowed a
scholarship to honor his father, Charles Edelson, a longtime
member of the Smith School’s accounting faculty.
Undergraduate speaker Max Bergen ’07 noted that he and
his classmates gained “experience, proficience and prestige”
through their Smith School experience, and urged his fellow
alumni to regard their Smith School degree with pride.
MBA speaker Amanda Buchanan ’07 reflected on her
experiences with the part-time MBA program at the Baltimore
campus. She talked about the global learning opportunities
she pursued in China and India as well as the many bonding
experiences with her part-time MBA classmates, including the
many experiences sponsored by the Part-Time MBA Association,
from social events of all types to numerous charitable
fundraising events.
During the commencement ceremony degrees were awarded to
170 undergraduates, 146 MBA and executive MBA students, and
eight doctoral candidates. PhDs were awarded to Tuck-Siong
Chung, Sherae Daniel, Katherine DeCelles, Scott Nestler,
Michael Pfarrer, Chih-Yang Tseng, Jing-Wen Yang, and Airu
Yen. Melissa Ryan ’07 sang the national anthem. |
