Ro Parra, Dell's senior vice president of Americas operations and a Smith School alumnus '82, accepted the 2005 "Person of the Year Award" from the Smith School's Logistics, Transportation and Supply Chain Management Society (LTSCM Society) and the Supply Chain Club (SCC) on October 27 on behalf of Dell in a ceremony at Van Munching Hall. The LTSCM Society and SCC traditionally present the annual award to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the logistics, transportation and supply chain management industry.

Montezuma's Marauders, represented by five Smith MBA students, won the top prize in the 2005 Smith MBA Case Competition this week. The team, also voted the audience favorite, received $1,500 and included Subho Goswami, Carolina Puerto, Bankole Osimokun, Aviral Singh, and Amy Williams. The 22nd annual event brought students, alumni, faculty, administrators, and friends together for an evening of intense competition followed by an evening of networking and celebration. The event was held on October 19 at the Smith School's home, Van Munching Hall.

Kevin Setzer, a junior at the Smith School, was presented with this year's GEICO Achievement Award on Monday, September 26, in a surprise ceremony by none other than the GEICO Gecko! Each year GEICO selects a student leader at the University of Maryland to receive a scholarship for $1,000 in a college recruiting program that has been rewarding students for about 20 years. GEICO also provided students in the class with pizza, soda and some giveaways.

Finance guru Warren Buffett, the worlds second wealthiest man, met with Smith students on May 22 as part of a trip organized by the school's Finance, Banking and Investment Society, an undergraduate student group. Buffett answered questions from 48 students for several hours at his office in Nebraska. "I've been planning the specific logistics and details of the trip since November 2004," said Shai Dardashti, a senior finance major. "More importantly, however, I've been reading about Warren Buffett since I was 13 and started writing letters to him in 2000."

College Park June 1, 2005 The University of Marylands Robert H. Smith School of Business and TiE-DC, one of Washington's largest business networking organizations, today announced the launch of the TiE-Smith Fellows Program, a 14-week program that will provide area entrepreneurs with mentorship and support. The announcement was made at MAVAs Capital Connection, an annual mid-Atlantic venture association and the regions top venue for bringing entrepreneurs and venture investors together to discover emerging leaders and start-up companies.

A team of four Smith MBAs -- Casey Rentch, Matt Adinolfi, Kamran Shahid, and Mohammed Alam -- took home first place and $4,000 at the Second Annual Inter-MBA Asset Management Competition, held at the the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College. Six student teams from area graduate schools participated in the seven-month competition by managing investment portfolios and issuing final reports on strategy and performance.

Ten members of the Smith chapter of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) will be going to SIFEs national championship after winning in the Washington, D.C., area regional competition. The competition was held in Crystal City, Va., on April 13, 2005.

The University of Maryland chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) used to have just 15 members. Today, thanks to the efforts of Professors Mary Harms and Steve Vargo, and the 15 carryover members from last year, that number has multiplied 10 fold, and the chapter now boasts 150 active, national members! This dramatic increase, along with an overnight trip to New York City and increased philanthropic efforts, was enough to catch the attention of the national AMA.

Avaya Inc (NYSE:AV) a leading global provider of business communications software, systems and services, and the University of Marylands Robert H. Smith School of Business today announced an expansion of their research and development relationship with a new virtual community project and the extension of existing work in communications-enabling supply chains and executive mobility into new scenarios and applications.

The second annual Joseph M. Wikler Finance Case Competition was held on Friday, April 29, 2005, at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. Six teams of four to five undergraduate students participated in this years competition, chosen from 2004-5 BMGT 440 class teams. This year's winners are Hallie Aaron, Megan Cantor, Emilie Hendershot, Alisa Michnik, and Jack Seng (pictured, left).