Careers Crossing Borders

Smith School alum, Michael Barnett graduated in 2016 and has experience in the Consumer Goods Industry working for companies such as Unilever and Stanley Black & Decker. Throughout his career, Michael held various sales + marketing roles ranging from business development to shopper marketing to brand management on $100+ million brands. Currently, he serves as a global senior product manager for consumer cleaning goods, overseeing all facets of new product development and category management for a cordless cleaning portfolio, which has doubled since he joined the team in 2020. Michael has extensive experience creating + launching new products to market, inclusive of 4 new cleaning platforms for the Black&Decker brand.

Jasmine Brown is a University of Maryland (UMD), College Park graduate working in international development at the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX). Jasmine graduated from UMD in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in international business and a minor in international development and conflict management (MIDCM). While pursuing her Master of Arts of international relations at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, Jasmine worked at the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County as a Bilingual Intake Specialist and as a Bilingual Mediator.

In her career, Jasmine has worked in the United States House of Representatives in the office of Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, and has consulted for the Canadian Department of National Defense. Ms. Brown also enjoyed her time working for the Center for Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth during her time in Argentina, and is very proud to have supported the Venezuelan refugee population during her time at Mercy Corps. Jasmine has worked on projects in Colombia, Argentina, Tanzania, Canada, Honduras, and in many other countries in her professional career; she prefers to work in Latin America and the Caribbean, leveraging her competencies in Portuguese and Spanish and her Caribbean heritage. As a Baltimore native, Ms. Brown loves to give back to her local community by volunteering with youth groups, tutoring, and acting as a youth mentor.

Ja’Nel Edens has 14 years of experience in international business development, U.S. trade policy, and commercial diplomacy. She is a Commercial Service Officer with the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service where she recently completed her first diplomatic tour in Kazakhstan. Previously, Ja’Nel served as an International Trade Specialist at the International Trade Administration where she helped U.S. companies overcome market access challenges in nine export markets across West Africa. In this role, she engaged with African countries to benefit U.S. firms and advance U.S.-Africa trade policy. She also developed digital marketing solutions for U.S. companies seeking access to early-stage business opportunities across the Middle East and Africa. Ja'Nel is a skilled negotiator, communicator, and manager in diverse intercultural settings with experience advocating for U.S. companies at the highest levels of foreign governments. Prior to joining the U.S. Commercial Service, Ja’Nel worked in business development at an international development consulting firm. She also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar. Ja’Nel received her bachelor’s degree at Virginia Commonwealth University and her Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business. Born in New York and raised in Virginia, Ja’Nel has Belizean heritage and speaks Spanish, French, Russian, and Malagasy.

Leveraging almost two decades of experience in the spice and flavors industry, Dave Hosford is driving supply chain transformation on a global scale from right here in Maryland. An 18-year veteran of McCormick & Company, Inc., Dave is currently leading the standardization of processes and tools in planning, scheduling, and inventory optimization in conjunction with the implementation of SAP S/4HANA for McCormick's network across 6 continents. Through this multi-year endeavor, Dave has gained considerable insights on international team management, change management, and business strategy that he looks forward to sharing with the Smith community.

William Chernicoff, PhD, MBA ’21
Senior Manager, Global Research and Innovation
Toyota North America