Capital Access Ventures, comprised of first-year Smith MBAs Mark Slusser, Anne Engebretsen, Avi Lerner, Susannah Campbell, and Karl Olson, won the Entrepreneur's Choice Award at the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) Regionals on March 2-4, 2006 in Atlanta. Earlier, the team was selected to represent the Smith School after winning an internal competition held on February 24. The internal round was sponsored by the Dingman Center of Entrepreneurship, Office of Career Management and venture capital firm Opus 8.

College Park, Md. February 7, 2006 - The Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland today announced that S. Tien Wong, chief executive officer of Opus8, Inc., a Md.-based private investment firm, will join the schools Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. As an entrepreneur-in-residence, Wong will leverage his substantial experience in identifying and developing new business ventures to assist student and local entrepreneurs at the leading entrepreneurial center in creating and managing their businesses.

The Smith Schools Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship recently hosted two MBA interns from the University of Groningen, Netherlands an experience that helped the Dutch students gain U.S. insight, as well as further promote international understanding for the U.S. students at the center.

Asher Epstein, managing director of the Smith Schools Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, recently led a delegation of students and entrepreneurs on week-long trip to Beijing, China from September 19 - 23, 2005. The purpose of the trip was to give delegation members first-hand insight into Chinas business climate, learn from and meet with local Chinese entrepreneurs, and to participate in the final round of the Smith School China Business Plan competition.

College Park, Md. October 5, 2005 The University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business today announced that the schools Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship has expanded its Capital Access Network (CAN), a program that facilitates funding relationships between angel investors and regional start-ups. The Dingman Center has formed a number of key partnerships and has planned new activities which will provide entrepreneurs with greater resources and opportunities to secure funding. New developments include:

Beijing, China - September 14, 2005 Today the University of Marylands Robert H. Smith School of Business, a leading provider of Executive MBA (EMBA) programs in China, named 10 finalists in the Robert H. Smith School of Business China Business Plan Competition. The finalists will have the rare opportunity to present their business ideas before a panel of international venture capitalist (VC) judges and compete for a total of US$45,000.

College Park, Md. July 25, 2005   The Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland today announced that Dan Goodman, CEO of Zernike USA, has been appointed technology commercialization fellow at the schools Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. The Dingman Center is a nationally-recognized, leading entrepreneurial center that assists students and regional entrepreneurs with expertise, resources and funding. In his new role, Goodman will work with Dingman Center scholars and local companies to commercialize technologies from within the university community.

College Park, Md. July 18, 2005   The Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland today announced that Adam Lehman, president of Rock Ridge Ventures, will join the schools Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, a nationally-recognized, leading entrepreneurial center that assists students and regional entrepreneurs with expertise, resources and funding, as an entrepreneur-in-residence.

Twenty aspiring Chinese entrepreneurs are one step closer to building the businesses of their dreams. The Robert H. Smith School of Business announced the semi-finalists of the Robert H. Smith School of Business China Business Plan Competition at the Zero2IPO semi-annual Venture Capital Conference in Beijing on July 14, 2005. The entrants were judged on criteria that included their business plan feasibility, clarity, conciseness, value proposition and competitive positioning.

College Park April 4, 2005 Shoppers visiting Washington DC now have a great, new resource for upscale shopping, dining and activities. SHOPDC, a magazine owned and managed by Rawlins Media. The publications launch this month follows a $7,000 investment from the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, to second-year MBA student and SHOPDC founder, Zoey Rawlins.