MBA Student Prepares Tomorrow’s Military Leaders While Building His Own Future

By Kenzie Nguyen 

For Peter Yamasaki, Online MBA ’28, being part of the University of Maryland community means not only furthering his education, but also helping to prepare the next generation of Navy and Marine Corps leaders. 

Yamasaki is a Marine Corps Officer Instructor at both the University of Maryland-College Park and Baltimore County’s Navy ROTC Consortium. In this role, he helps train students in the program to become well-rounded leaders, while simultaneously pursuing his MBA at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. 

His long history of service began in high school, where he started basketball camps for local middle and elementary schools. 

“Coaching has been a super big passion in my life,” Yamasaki said. “I volunteer-coached all throughout high school. This ROTC program is just an awesome opportunity to be able to coach and develop people who show great potential to lead and be great future officers.” 

Throughout his professional career, Yamasaki chased this passion for leadership and camaraderie. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy, where the environment’s unique challenges and opportunities foster strong friendships. Upon graduation, Yamasaki was commissioned into the Marine Corps, spending most of his career as a platoon commander and financial management officer. 

“I realized my personal achievements are not actually what brings me happiness or where I draw my energy from,” Yamasaki said. “It's from being able to work with other people, being able to learn from great leaders, and then me in turn hopefully helping develop others.” 

This leadership-rooted desire to give back led him to the University of Maryland and helped him earn the Robert L. Edwards ’39 Military Veteran Leadership Award as its inaugural recipient. 

Established in 2026, the grant is awarded to two veterans enrolled in the Smith School, and is intended to support service members in their pursuit of higher education degrees. It continues Edwards’ philanthropy to the university, which he began in 2004 with the Gertrude and Robert L. Edwards ’39 Scholarship. 

The award commemorates Edwards’ service and path through higher education. He studied business at Smith and then law until he was drafted into the military. Upon his return, he became a successful real estate lawyer. 

“When I found out that I had won the award, the service that the Edwards’ scholarship represents and the sacrifice from it is something that I try to emulate,” Yamasaki said. “It was super inspirational and an honor to win it.” 

With the scholarship, Yamasaki is able to work towards another degree while simultaneously growing his leadership experience, which is the main factor that drew him to the Robert H. Smith School of Business. 

“Being able to say that I’m a faculty member and studying here at the same time is a pretty awesome and unique opportunity,” Yamasaki said. “I don’t know too many other MBAs who can also say that they’re simultaneously working as an assistant professor.” 

Yamasaki is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Naval Sciences. Alongside his educational journey, Yamasaki will continue his work as an ROTC instructor, where he aims to give students the learning opportunities and experiences that will make them fit leaders for the Marine Corps.