Each year, the Robert H. Smith School of Business welcomes teams of advisors made up of industry professionals and alumni to offer insight about the skills employers are looking for in future candidates. It's a showcase of the Smith School Advisory Councils, which support students in the school's undergraduate and eight graduate programs.
The fourth annual Advisory Council Day took place Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, in Van Munching Hall. “Our experiential learning would not be as strong without your partnership. Also our hiring of our students, getting them great jobs and setting them up for a successful life also wouldn’t be possible without your partnership,” said Nicole M. Coomber, assistant dean of experiential learning, in a welcome address to the over 100 participants who were in attendance for the event.
The initiative was a priority for Dean Prabhudev Konana when he came to the Smith School in 2021. “Thank you for spending your time and bringing your knowledge back to our students,” Konana said to kick off the day. He then introduced Steve Schanwald ’77 for a fireside chat with the attendees. Schanwald shared how his career began while a sophomore at Maryland working with Russ Potts, the sports marketing director for Maryland Athletics at the time. Schanwald went on to spend nearly 30 years with the Chicago Bulls as a marketing executive during the Michael Jordan era and beyond. In December 2024, he committed $18 million to his alma mater, the University of Maryland, to support athletics programs, including $8 million for the Stephen M. Schanwald Sports Management Program Endowment for Business.
He took questions from the Advisory Council members about his thoughts on the state of sports marketing at the professional and collegiate level, the impact of college sports on a university’s overall brand image and leadership philosophy.
“I think there are a lot of great management techniques one can learn from coaches,” Schanwald said, highlighting his experience working with coaches like former Bull’s coach Phil Jackson. “There were other coaches throughout the history of sports who recognize that everybody is different. You have to recognize that and treat people according to their individual personalities. I thought that was a great management technique.”
“Phil had a great asset in Michael Jordan, not just as a player but as a leader,” he said, adding that Jordan set an example for others in terms of always giving his best effort in games and during practices.
After the morning session, council members attended break-out sessions with their programs to discuss curriculum, hear from students and share ideas for the future.
“I always like to think about how the programs are evolving, like the sports management program is super exciting,” said Richard Leggett, partner at Jeffrey Pine Consulting. Leggett has been working with Smith for a number of years, and Coomber recognized him during the welcome session for his dedication as a volunteer to the school this past academic year. Leggett serves on the M&A Advisory Council and said he enjoys the time to build community among other colleagues.
Alumna Chelsea Riedel ’12 said she feels a deep connection and sense of pride serving on the undergraduate advisory council. “I am where I am today because of the opportunities that I had at Smith,” she said. Riedel, a managing director with KPMG’s national tax practice office, has served on the undergraduate council for four years and is “blown away” by how the undergraduate program has grown and changed since she was a student.
Alumnus Matt Dorin, MBA ’11, has spent two years serving on the MS in Supply Chain Program Advisory Council. “I had two very memorable years here. I met a lot of people. I have a lot of fondness for the faculty in the supply chain space and the logistics department," he said. “I got a lot of good experience out of it. So it’s an opportunity as well for me to kind of give back as much as I can.” Dorin now works in risk management.
The connections and counsel the advisory members provide is appreciated by student Shikha Rani, MSBA ’26. Rani helped to organize the sessions for the MSBA and MSIS programs at the event, working with the academic directors of the programs as a graduate assistant this semester. “I think this opens doors that otherwise would be hard to open,” she said, noting that she and her cohort get a lot of exposure to the members of the advisory council. “Students today, thanks to the Smith School and thanks to UMD, have access to these industry leaders and they can use that experience and knowledge transfer to navigate their careers.”
Smith’s Advisory Council program is over 350 members strong across nine program councils.
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About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.