Smith School Administrators

Christine L. La Cola

Assistant Dean, Career Management, Recruitment, & Business Development; Acting Executive Director, Office of Professional Programs & Services

Christine La Cola is assistant dean for career management, recruitment and business development at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Focused on the undergraduate, graduate and executive education markets, she leads the school’s MBA/MS recruiting efforts, career services team and executive education business development. Her accomplishments include the largest financial executive-level leadership development contract in the school’s history. She also established and managed Smith’s Advisory and Collaborative Services unit, which includes the MBA Consulting Program and faculty consultative services arm of the business school.

In her role as acting executive director of the Office of Professional Programs & Services, she has responsibility for all degree, non-degree and executive education programming offered by the Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Prior to entering the higher education industry, La Cola spent over nine years at the IBM Corporation and PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. At PwC Consulting, she managed the national sales operations team and focused on strategic business development initiatives, such as improving the firm’s CRM tool usage and rebuilding the compensation/incentive programs for business development executives. Her focus at IBM was on operational excellence at the contract level. She was recognized by senior management during her tenure for her client service improvements and accounts receivable collection efforts.

La Cola earned an MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. She graduated, cum laude, with a bachelor's degree in economics and business administration from Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Michigan.