Finance Grand Challenges Speaker Series
Finance Grand Challenges is a new speaker series that brings heavy hitters in the world of finance to Smith. Our extraordinary lineup of speakers includes White House appointees, Treasury Department officials and others who hold impressive positions in government and private industry, including a number of respected and widely published scholars.
Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Join us on May 7 for a candid, nonpartisan discussion on entrepreneurship and small business. Guest speakers U.S. Senator Ben Cardin and Linda McMahon will examine the challenges confronting small businesses and startups and discuss what policymakers and universities can do to increase dynamism for both.
Tuesday, May 7, 2024 | 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Virtual
In order to provide access to the Smith School's worldwide community of learners, we will be hosting our final event in the spring 2024 series online. Smith students, faculty and staff who would like to screen the event on campus may join us in Frank Auditorium. Refreshments will be provided.
Register
Guest Speakers
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin
Senior member, Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee
Senator Ben Cardin currently serves as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and previously served as chair of the Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee, where he was responsible for many of the programs that helped save small businesses in Maryland and nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. He continues to prioritize increasing access to credit for small businesses and entrepreneurs and using federal policies and congressional action to achieve equity for underserved communities.
Linda McMahon
Former Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
Former Chief Executive Officer, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
Linda McMahon served as the 25th administrator of the SBA, where she advocated on behalf of the 30 million small businesses in the United States and ensured that entrepreneurs had the support and tools they needed to start, grow, and succeed in business. An entrepreneur and business executive herself, McMahon is the co-founder and former CEO of WWE, a company she helped grow from a 13-person regional operation to a publicly traded global enterprise with more than 800 employees worldwide.
Host and Moderator
Michael Faulkender
Dean's Professor of Finance
Former Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy, Treasury Department
A prolific researcher, professor and former associate dean, Michael Faulkender is the Dean’s Professor of Finance at the Smith School. During his tenure as assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department, he was instrumental in the development and implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program.
This free virtual event is the final installment in the Finance Grand Challenges Speaker Series for the spring semester. It is presented by the Office of Executive Education.
Past Events
The Unsustainable U.S. Federal Budget | February 12
Tyler Goodspeed, Chief Economist for ExxonMobile Corporation, Former Acting Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors
Phillip Swagel, Director of the Congressional Budget Office, Former Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the U.S. Treasury Department
Digital Assets and Fintech | March 6
Brian Morgenstern, Head of Public Policy, Riot Platforms, Former White House Deputy Communications Director and Deputy Press Secretary, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department
Heath Tarbert, Chief Legal Officer and Head of Corporate Affairs at Circle, Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets & Development, Former Chief Executive of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Student Loan Forgiveness | April 2
Sandy Baum, Nonresident Senior Fellow, the Urban Institute and Professor Emerita of Economics, Skidmore College
Diane Jones, Former Acting Undersecretary, Department of Education for Postsecondary Education
In this inaugural Finance Grand Challenges Speaker Series, our distinguished guests explained and shared perspectives on national debt, evaluated policy effects on our current state, and gave insights into the possibilities for the future.
Finance is going through a once-in-a-generation technology revolution. Everything from retail banking to wealth management has moved online, and the sector’s rapid growth has fueled innovation, created new opportunities for value creation and generated a host of new challenges. At the heart of it all is this question: How will people pay for things in the future?
Expert guests participated in a candid discussion of the $1.65 trillion financial aid debt puzzle, the rising cost of education, and the pros and cons of student loan forgiveness.