Features On the Board Meet the Smith School placemakers building their communities in the tradition of Robert H. Smith ’50. Take Stock Service Learning at Jug Bay Wetlands Business Honors Students Serve the Homeless

Leaders need strategy and vision. But they also need bricks and mortar — places where their teams can live, work and collaborate. The late Robert H. Smith ’50 understood the importance of great physical spaces. He studied accounting at the University of Maryland and then went to work in his family’s construction business, which he guided to become the largest property owner in Washington, D.C.

Women need to recognize their worth, stop apologizing and ask for what they deserve at work, a Smith School alumnae panel told participants Oct. 20-22, 2016, at the annual National Association of Women MBAs Conference and Career Fair in Stamford, Conn.

Is freedom of speech under attack at college campuses with designated safe spaces, free speech zones, trigger warnings and outrage culture? Attorney Greg Lukianoff, president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), explored the question on Sept. 27, 2016, at the BB&T Colloquium on Capitalism, Ethics and Leadership at the Smith School.

Financial planner Marguerita Cheng ’93 showed potential at the large firm where she started her career, but her sales manager had a concern. He pulled her aside and warned her about spending too much time listening to clients.

Kevin Good ’02 has used his Smith School finance degree to pursue an unusual career track for a business major: Indie filmmaking. “When people think about filmmaking, they think it’s about talent or being discovered in a laundromat,” he says. “But only 1 percent of it is talent. The other 99 percent is starting and managing a small business.”

How does a banker-turned-wedding photographer land a coveted brand management job at beverage behemoth PepsiCo? Mohamed Boraie, MBA ’17 and MFin ’17, happily shares his path. Born and raised in Egypt, Boraie studied economics and spent a year in commercial banking before moving on to the International Finance Corporation in Cairo, the investment arm of the World Bank.

’60s Bob Milloy ’67 was enshrined in the Washington DC Sports Hall of Fame following a career coaching high school football in Montgomery County, MD, including stints at Whitman, Springbrook, Sherwood and Good Counsel. ’70s Louis Pope ’74 was appointed to the University System of Maryland Board of Regents by Governor Larry Hogan. Gary Tabach ’77 was inducted into the Washington Business Hall of Fame.

Seven Wonders of the World was the theme for the Smith School’s Holiday Gala on Dec. 16, 2016, at Washington, D.C.’s Andrew Mellon Auditorium. Alumni, joined by faculty and staff members — about 900, collectively — experienced seven regionally distinctive activities: A caricature artist from Jordan, samba lessons from Brazil, henna tattoos from India, wine tasting from Italy, foosball from Mexico, coffee tasting from Peru, and an interactive mural from China. The Smith School also collected teddy bears to benefit the Prince George’s County Domestic Violence Unit.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood for the traveler in Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken.” Both paths promise adventure, but only one can be chosen. We call this “opportunity cost” in economics, although the concept sounds more romantic in rhyme.