Alumna Says Smith MBA Was “Transformational” in Career Development

Rose Cohen, MBA ’03, says her Smith MBA experience “was transformational for me and, as my husband always reminds me – our best investment ever!” That’s why she and her husband, Robert, endowed an MBA scholarship – to give others a chance to see the impact a graduate degree can have on a career.

Cohen credits Smith’s MBA program for her leadership and teambuilding skills, calling her degree a “tremendous” opportunity that was pivotal in her career development.

She was 14 years into a banking career when entered Smith’s full-time MBA program, planning to make a career pivot. Instead, she used the degree to launch ahead in the banking industry.

Cohen’s next chapter saw her transition to private banking, advising ultra high-net-worth clients first at J.P. Morgan for a decade, then at Citibank for the past nine years where she led Citi’s mid-Atlantic region private bank division.

“I’m very proud of the team and the culture I created within my team at Citi,” she says. “There was a lot of trust among the team members and significant focus on leveraging different people’s strengths to benefit our clients.”

Cohen recently stepped back from her day-to-day role at Citi to spend more time with her family and explore additional board opportunities. She previously served on the Smith Advisory Board and currently serves as a trustee and executive committee member of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation.