Smith Business Leadership Fellows (SBLF) Program

CALLING ALL COHORTS! Do you want to pie SBLF Staff members in the face? Or win a cohort-catered Ledo’s Party? Today, UMD Giving Day, is your chance to win both! Donate at https://lnkd.in/gibGUA_S and in the comments put your name and cohort. The top 3 individuals with the most comment mentions will get to pie staff and the cohort with the most comment mentions will get a Ledo’s Party! Go to the link to donate and send it to friends and family to increase your odds!

Cohort 2 Fellow Donovan Wayman talks about his experience in SBLF in the latest edition of the University of Maryland - Robert H. Smith School of Business' Smith Business Magazine. You can find Cohort 1 Fellow Eileen Chen and Cohort 2 Fellow Kathlene Flebbe in photos from the Dean's Circle event held in November on page 13. On page 26 a few of our incredible SBLF professors, Jacqueline Manger, MBA, Rellie Rozin, and our Co-Director Rajshree Agarwal, are featured for their work on the school's new Fact Based Discourse Initiative with the Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets. Amazing things are always happening in SBLF! Read the more in the Smith Business Magazine below: https://lnkd.in/enSyZMnf #umdSmith #SBLF #ExceptionalLearnersFearlessLeaders

We are so proud of our IBH colleagues and especially Cohort 1 Fellow Anjali Sharma for finishing in fourth place at the annual National Diversity Case Competition at Indiana University - Kelley School of Business!

On Monday we concluded our SBLF Abroad trip with a Farewell dinner in the Agafay desert in Morocco. Our students had an incredible time learning about the business ventures in Marrakech, immersing themselves in Moroccan culture, and, of course, eating as much tagine as possible! Thank you to UM6P - University Mohammed VI Polytechnic, 1337 Coding School, STARTGATE, Emerging Business Factory, Imperium Packaging, IMPERIUM HOLDING, Sinensis, Amal women's training center, and Intrepid Travel for helping us learn more about your businesses and the incredible work you are doing. We are so grateful for your kindness and hospitality. A very special thank you to everyone at UM6P, Yasmine MRABTI, Taoufik Aboudia, everyone at IMPEPACK and Sinensis, Nora Fitzgerald Belahcen, Hala BENKHALDOUN, and our incredible guide Abdel for an unforgettable experience! (Check out the last picture to see one of the many cats of Marrakech that were befriended on this trip). #umdSmith #TerpsAbroad #experientiallearning #studyabroad #Marrakech #SBLF

SBLF Abroad! Several of our Fellows are joining us on our first study-abroad trip. Yesterday we wrapped up our final site visit in Portugal and are travelling to Morocco to complete the program. A very special thank you to Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics Center for Responsible Business and Leadership @ CATÓLICA-LISBON, Yunus Social Innovation Center, Católica-Lisbon Entrepreneurship Center (CLEC), Casa do Impacto, Here Partners, RedBridge Lisbon, Lisbon Cruise Port Lda, and Starkdata for meeting with us. Thank you especially to Paulo Figueiredo, Filipa Pires de Almeida, Frederico Fezas-Vital, Pierre Gein, Joao Cotter Salvado, Carla Contreiras, Bruno Miguel Pires, Duarte Morais Cabral, and Marcos Alejandro Farias for being such wonderful hosts, sharing your leadership journies with us, and helping us understand how business is conducted in Portugal. We are so grateful to you! #umdSmith #ExperientialLearning #StudyAbroad #TerpsGoGlobal #SBLF

Our SBLF Cohort 3 students completed their Consulting Project Poster Presentations last Tuesday evening! Students were assigned one of four Centers of Excellence: the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, the Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets, the Center for Global Business | Robert H. Smith School of Business, or the Center for Social Value Creation which are all housed within the University of Maryland - Robert H. Smith School of Business. The student teams competed against one another to create the best consulting project solution for their assigned Center. We are so proud of each and every one of our Cohort 3 students for your hard work and dedication this semester, and a special congratulations to our winning teams! Thank you to our Center partners Michael Hoffmeyer, Jacqueline Manger, MBA, Rebecca L. Bellinger, Nima Farshchi, Tsega Tadesse and Sadia Alao. We could not do this project without you and are so grateful for the time you dedicate every year to helping our students learn. We'd also like to extend a big thank you to our judges Bill Longbrake, Brian Horick, Rachel DiDonna, Rellie Rozin, Protiti Dastidar, Jon Crocker, Neta Moye, and Larry Robertson for helping to choose our winning teams. Finally, we have to thank our incredible Mentors! Our Mentors this year are members SBLF Cohort 1; these students dedicated their time and knowledge to helping our Cohort 3 students succeed throughout the semester and provided extra guidance and support for this consulting project. We are so thankful for your continued involvement and are extremely proud to have exceptional students like you in the SBLF Program. Thank you, Caroline Sabo, Jimmy Miller, Elizabeth Runsdorf, Joan Morningstar, Scarlette Rengifo, Sydney Reeves, Keola Evans, Andrew Shapiro, and Richard Lee! #sblf #experientiallearning #consultingproject #posterpresentation #umdsmith #umd

Last Saturday, 38 Fellows had the opportunity to attend a Washington Capitals game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Capital One Arena in DC! Extending a huge thank you to the staff for taking time to meet with us beforehand to talk to us about game-day operations and what it's like to work for the Capitals! Go Caps! #umd #sblf #smithschoolofbusiness #capitals #washingtoncapitals #capitalone #capitalonearena #caps

On November 1, SBLF students had the incredible opportunity to visit the Gallup headquarters in Washington, D.C.! They were able to tour the building, learn more about the organization’s impactful work, and gain significant insights on recruitment and career opportunities. Thank you so much to Gallup for hosting us and inspiring the next generation of business leaders! #sblf #smithschoolofbusiness #gallupdc

Cohort 2 Fellow Margarita Salazar Giron shares her experience as a First Gen Terp and as the secretary of the First Generation Student Association in the latest University of Maryland Maryland Today article, "A New First Step for First-Generation Terps." Read about Margarita, the First Generation Student Association, and the sense of belonging and connection they are creating on campus: https://lnkd.in/epXM8ZVS We are so proud of you, Margarita! #sblf #fearlesslyforward #firstgenTerps

Extending a huge congrats to Cohort 2 Fellows Hunter Pearlstein, Cooper Dorf, Akash Verma, Benjamin Resnick, and William Walton for their placement at the Cornhusker Case Competition in at the University of Nebraska this past week! They competed against 14 other teams for the best solution to revitalize a struggling zoo. Thank you to Avery Plessel, Sophie Thomas, Braden Starck, Kaylee Campbell, Erin Burnette, and Becka Neary-DeLaPorte for organizing and planning the the event! Great job representing the University of Maryland - Robert H. Smith School of Business and SBLF!