SMITH BRAIN TRUST – The massive Equifax data breach has pulled the lid off the credit repository industry and now is drawing fresh scrutiny on the scarcely regulated firms that hold sway over the financial lives of millions of people. "It has opened up a Pandora's Box, for sure," says Clifford Rossi, professor of the practice in the finance department at the University of Maryland's Robert H.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Markets will respond when President Trump nominates a new Federal Reserve chairperson in January 2018. But Wall Street legend and financial historian Henry Kaufman said the reason the decision matters so much has more to do with the Fed’s recent failures than its successes. “The Federal Reserve has vaulted itself into a position of high prominence not because of its achievements, but because of its shortcomings,” Kaufman writes in his latest book, which he discussed on Sept.

Martin Dresner, professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, delivered the keynote speech at the Conference on Air Transport, Regional Development and Policy. The conference took place in February 2017 at the University of Bergamo in Italy. Dresner presented “Gains (And Losses) Through Connectivity,” which explored how market entry is affecting the U.S. airline industry.

Professor Evan Starr at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business was awarded the 2017 Research Communicator Impact Award from the University of Maryland. The award recognizes faculty members who take a proactive approach to sharing their research with the public.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – You can recognize that iconic, bright yellow Cheerios box in an instant. But a U.S. trademark court says that's not reason enough to grant the cereal maker exclusive claims to the color.

Finance professor Alberto Rossi at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith school of Business received the Crowell Prize from PanAgora Asset Management. The Crowell prize recognizes academic research that furthers the field of quantitative management.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Glance down to send a text and you could miss one: Fox Sports is rolling out new 6-second television commercials for the start of the NFL season. The move to exceptionally short ad spots comes after the network saw a dip in viewership last season, to 16.5 million, from 17.9 million the season before. But the move is likely about much more than ratings, says Michel Wedel, the PepsiCo Chair in Consum

Professor M. Cecilia Bustamante at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business was an invited speaker at the first conference organized by the Association of Female Academics in Finance, a subsidiary of the American Finance Association.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – As our social lives increasingly flow from the real world to the online world, does it logically follow that, eventually, our shopping habits will flow that way as well? Or are our online social pursuits likely to make us too busy to spend time on shopping?

Preparedness Lessons from Walmart, FedEx and Procter & Gamble SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Among the lasting effects of a catastrophic natural disaster like Hurricane Harvey is one that is undeniably positive: Knowledge. It's an understanding of what is needed in the wake of a disaster, which efforts worked and which failed, and how to be better prepared.