DIRECTOR’S REMARKS
Dear Friends, Partners, and Impact Driven Leaders,
Over the past year, our Center has experienced remarkable growth and transformation. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to our team, partners, students, and community for their invaluable support in achieving our mission. I am also deeply thankful for our committed faculty affiliates, CSVC Board, staff, and generous donors, whose contributions have empowered us to tackle the Grand Challenges of our time.
We ambitiously launched eight case competitions and provided over 220 students with hands-on experience through our Impact Consulting Fellowship. As we continue to expand our partnerships, I am confident that we will continue this trajectory of growth.
This year we hosted the 6th Global Conference on Creating Value, where 15 speakers from around the world gathered to discuss the problems, potential, and real-life uses of value creation. Additionally, we hosted a series of seven Lunch & Learns where our students met with industry innovators. Our events sparked meaningful dialogue surrounding impact, and we are continuously proud to create this inclusive space. I am also excited to share that we will be hosting our
Business Conference on October 11th in Washington, D.C.
4th annual Sustainability in
, and kindly ask that you save the date.
I am proud of the progress we have made. As the Center has expanded, the Robert H. Smith School of Business has also evolved alongside it, but we believe that this is just the beginning. With over 50% of Smith's faculty research focused on social impact, it is clear that the University of Maryland is a hub for innovative and progressive thought leadership. Looking ahead, we will continue to collaborate closely with the entire Smith School. Our partnerships will shape the curriculum, drive research, and enhance experiential learning, spreading a positive impact to our greater community.
At the Smith School, Social Impact is flourishing beyond our center's walls. Across departments, faculty and students are embracing innovative approaches to tackle global challenges while driving positive change in their communities. From integrating social value creation into the curriculum to launching impact-driven projects and partnerships, Smith is cultivating a new generation of business leaders ready to make a difference. Our community at the Smith will stand together to create a unified vision, centered around Social Impact in Sustainable Businesses. We cannot bring this vision to fruition on our own. Our office doors are always open, and we continue to welcome new collaboration opportunities.
Sincerely,
Nima Farshchi ‘14,
MBA ‘20, Center Director
ABOUT OUR CENTER
OurPurpose
Founded in 2009, the Center for Social Value Creation operates with a mission to educate, engage, and empower the Smith School community and the world to create a better world through business. We do this through thought-provoking dialogue, thought leadership, and experiential learning.
We operate with the goal of creating long-term value for both people and the planet and strive to engrain that passion into the lives of future business leaders. Within the business school, we serve as a tool for students who are interested in creating value by helping them learn how to put that drive into action and tackle the grand challenges of our time!
Pro-bono consulting hours accumulated within our
Impact Consulting Fellowship
15,000+
Individuals engaged through social media
8,000+
3,000+
1,000+
Weekly readers reached via Here&Now Newsletter
Event attendees across conferences + speakers
Student consultants in our Impact Consulting Fellowship 220+
Valuable, educational speaker events/discussions
10
Thought leadership conferences hosted on ESG, B-Corps, and Experiential Learning
2
Case competitions hosted
8
Impact-centered courses partnerships
6
5
Net Impact chapter achieving gold status for the fifth consecutive year
THOUGHT-PROVOKING DIALOGUE
SpeakerEvents
Lunch & Learns
This year, we hosted a series of seven Lunch & Learns an engaging way for students to gain insights from a diverse array of experts from leading universities and companies. By participating in these events, students have been able to ask questions, share ideas, and build lasting connections with experienced professionals, enhancing their college careers and expanding their professional networks.
Tata’s Fifth
Innovation Dialogue
Throughout the last five years, we have been proud to host the Tata Innovation Dialogues. This year our guests delivered an engaging talk about reimagining the future while providing a holistic view of converging forces and how they transform our world. They also shared Tata Global Internship opportunities with our students and inspired them to make an impact in business. This event was an outstanding success as students from specialty programs like BSE (Business, Society, and the Economy), IBH (Interdisciplinary Business Honors), and SBLF (Smith Business Leadership Fellows) participated in networking and building connections with impact-driven professionals.
Resident Director
Alexandra Whittington Futurist
Michael McCabe
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
CaseCompetitions
Smith Invitational Case Competition x Snider Consulting Group
On December 1st, CSVC hosted our 3rd annual Smith Invitational Case Competition in partnership with Snider Consulting Group! This year’s social responsibility case challenged 11 teams of undergraduate students to analyze and report on the social and financial impacts of investing in the wind energy industry through GE Verona.
Highlight from the Milgard Case Competition
Attending the Milgard Case Competition was an invaluable experience. Competing with schools globally, we tackled a pressing sustainability issue, challenged ourselves to think creatively, and connected with peers dedicated to positive impact. The insights and relationships gained were truly unique.
Andrew Kodsi ‘24
Case Competitions with Specialty Programs
CSVC partnered with Smith's specialty student programs, including QUEST, the Interdisciplinary Business Honors Program (IBH), and the Smith Business Leadership Fellows Program (SBLF), to foster collaboration and innovation. One example was a case competition designed exclusively for SBLF with Hungry Harvest, a farm-to-doorstep produce delivery service on a mission to end food waste and hunger. The case centered on strategies to educate and market Hungry Harvest's HarvestRX program to potential clients!
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
CaseCompetitions
Smith Interfraternity Case Competition x SECU
On April 5th, CSVC hosted our inaugural Interfraternity Case Competition in partnership with SECU! We had over 100 undergraduate students from Smith’s four professional business fraternities compete to develop innovative and engaging financial literacy-based solutions to related community issues. Congratulations to our winners from Phi Chi Theta’s Alpha Mu Chapter!
M&T Bank Case Competition for Graduate Students
On April 12th, we proudly hosted our second annual case competition in partnership with M&T Bank! In this social impact case, 8 teams of Smith Graduate students assessed the U.S. financial landscape and explored various methods to enhance banking engagement among members of low and middleincome households. In their final presentations, teams delivered insights on M&T Bank's approach to community investment and banking.
Networking with them provided invaluable insights and connections, further fueling our passion for innovation in banking. I’m excited to continue championing innovation and social impact in the banking sector.
Harshil Patel, M.S. ’24
ImpactConsultingFellowship
Wins
Projects achieved a 95% client satisfaction rating with strong implementation of recommendations
Broadened reach with increased student participation as class size grew by 50%
Students contributed to global social value creation through diverse projects across four countries
Working on the Community Forklift project through the ICF was eye-opening. It showed me how to apply classroom learning to real challenges, helping a local non-profit improve operations and make a tangible impact in reducing waste and supporting the community.
Dimitri Sfakiyanudis ’25
Our Impact Consulting Fellowship (ICF) is one of our most esteemed and long-running programs. This unique program gives students across our campuses the opportunity to provide hands-on, pro-bono consulting services within a diverse team of MBA, Masters, and Undergraduate students for impact-driven organizations.
Throughout ICF, student consultants attend professional development sessions to assist in their learning of critical consulting skills. Students showcase their learnings in a final huddle presentation that concludes the program. All participants leave this program having gained hands-on experiences in consulting and developing beneficial connections with other impact leaders. This year, 226 students participated in and engaged over 22 organizations. Students provided creative marketing solutions, frameworks for new product launches, in-depth research results to solve complex business issues, etc.
ICF Fellows accepting the PALS Distinguished Student Award
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
On October 19-21, we hosted the 6th annual Global Conference on Creating Value at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. Participants came together to exchange views and learn from each other regarding the problems, potential
and real-life uses of value creation. We are proud to be an organization that inspires thoughtful and intentional conversation among business leaders and practitioners. Thank you so much to all of our speakers, partners, and attendees for making this event such a success and collaborating on tackling these grand challenges!
TO LEARN MORE CHECK OUT: GO.UMD.EDU/VALUE23
KeynoteSpeakers
Roland Rust
Kotler
Distinguished University Professor, David Bruce Smith Chair in Marketing, and Executive Director, Center for Excellence in Service University of Maryland, USA
Topic: The Feeling Economy: Managing in the Next Generation of AI
Renowned Marketing Guru, USA
Topic: Value Creation in Business
V. Kumar
Former Editor, Journal of Marketing & Goodman AcademicIndustry Partnership Professor Brock University, Canada
Topic: Value Dominant Logic: Organizational Principles
Philip
BreakoutSession&PanelSpeakers
Daniel Aronson
Valutus, USA
Topic: The Value of Values: How Acting on Values Makes Businesses and Leaders More Successful.
Amrita Dass
Founder Director, Institute for Career Studies, India
Topic: Reimagining Education Centered in Value Creation in an AI Driven Globalized World
Moshe Davidow
University of Haifa & Associate Editor, Journal of Creating Value, Israel
Topic: Value Creation Made Easy: Five Steps Towards Implementing a Powerful Organizational Culture
Susan Dennett
Director, Florida Atlantic University, USA
Topic: Value Creation Education Platform
Dharna Dhamija
Senior Director, Tata Sons, USA
Topic: Creating Value for the Long Term: The Tata Way
John Goodman
Vice Chair, Customer Care Measurement and Consulting, USA
Panel Session: Creating Value in Business
Bill Price
Former Global VP for Customer Value, Amazon & President, Driva Systems, USA
Topic: How Frictionless Organizations Drive Sustained Customer Value
Holger Schmidt
Professor, Koblenz University, Germany
Topic: Can Brands Save the World? The Destructive and Healing Power of Attraction.
Hisashi Tamaki
Department of Information Science, Kobe University, Japan
Topic: Value Creation: Systemics Viewpoint
Salim Uddin
Assistant Vice President, Hughes Systique Corporation, USA
Panel Session: Creating Value in Business
Victor Venancio
Director of Digital Solutions Latin America – Samson Group, Brazil
Topic: Digital Transformation Strategies Creating Value for Industrial Organizations
Karin Hurt
CEO, Let’s Grow Leaders, USA
Topic: Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem-Solvers and Customer Advocates
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN
Courses
BMGT468V/W: Business Models & Methods to Affect Social Change
This course was previously known as the Social Innovation Fellows, but is still offered concurrently in the Fall and Spring Semesters. BMGT468V and BMGT468W help students both discover themselves and how businesses can create a positive social impact and enact lasting change. Through the teachings of Professor David Kirsch, students learn about the role of social entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship in driving positive social and environmental change in our communities while tackling the grand challenges of our time.
BMGT468G: The Value Creation Challenge
Founded as a partnership with Sigma Chi Fraternity’s Gamma Chi Chapter, this course enables students to collaborate with peers across campus on consulting projects for purpose-minded organizations. In this class, thirty students learned from Professor Oliver Schlake about developing business models that tackle relevant social and environmental issues.
ENES401: Entreperneurial Design Realization
In this first-of-its-kind, cross-campus course, students have the rare opportunity to interact with business and engineering students to bring sustainability projects to the public domain. This course creates a platform for innovation and teaches students the full life-cycle of product development and implementation.
AcademicPartners
We are thrilled to have worked with four diverse thought leadership partners throughout this year, each of which support and drive our mission forward.
THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS
2023-2024Donors
Our donors make our programs, pro-bono consulting, case competitions, speaker events, and more possible for our students and the greater community. This year, with the help of our donors, we were able to raise a record-high amount for our center by the second highest amount of donors at Smith on Giving Day 2024. We thank each of our donors for their generosity and commitment to making the world a better place through business.
Five-Year Consecutive Donors
Marni Aronson
Stephanie Cantor
Melissa Carrier
John Chickering
Matthew Chin
Lisa Dunn
Hassan Farshchi
Nima Farshchi
Steven Freishtat
Dillon Hagius
Shirley Han
Shelby Kemp
Firouzeh Khaje Nouri
Peggah Khorrami
Kara Lawson
Matthew Leib
Aarushi Puri
Isabella Roccograndi
Jospeh Rotter
Victoria Shi
Kevin Takiar
Annual Report Level Donors
Ashlee Albertson
Katie An
Terry Antony
Alexia Ayuk
Heather Bacon
Dr. Nicole Coomber
Claudia Donnelly
Bernadette Dunn
Steven Finkelstein
Scott Goodwin
Joanna Ihm
Dhivyan Karunakaran
Omer Kaufman
Farzan Khajehnoori
Yvette King
Manas Kulkarni
Dr. Roxanne Lefkoff
Rachel Loock
Fabiola Manzanarez
Gianna N. Mariani
Sam Mirzai
Sareet Nayak
Peterson Njamunge
Sankya Parvatrao
Dr. Paulo Prochno
Roya Rashtchian
Megan Sanquist
W. Gregory Schaub
Kushaan Shah
Rahul Shah
Andres Suarez
Mariescha Tatum
Omobolaji Vincent
Newman Wanyagah
Rebecca Winner
OUR TEAM
AdvisoryBoard
John Chickering, MBA ‘85
John Chickering advises boards and senior executives on strategy, technology, and operations. He is a member of advisory boards at the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, as well as other post-secondary institutions. His career at Fidelity Investments spanned over two decades deploying high-ROl solutions which created a long-lasting financial and social impact. He is a published author and industry speaker. His extensive volunteer engagement includes post-hurricane restoration and engagement with local community service
organizations.
Kristin Fallon, MBA ‘11
Kristin Fallon is Chief Marketing Officer at Bentley Systems (BSY), the world's leading software company for infrastructure digital twins. Prior to Bentley, she led GE HealthCare’s historic rebrand during its spin-off from GE. She is an International Advertising Association Board Member and a Founding Member of the Washington, D.C. chapter of Chief. Kristin began her career as a volunteer in the Peace Corps.
Kapil Sharma
Kapil Sharma is the founder and principle of Kapstone Strategies, a consulting firm offering integrated problem-solving for corporate executives. He is a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council. He brings public policy foresight and expertise built over thirty years of working with organizations and leaders at the state, national, and international levels.
Steve Freishtat ‘81
Steve Freishtat is the former CEO and Founder of the Next Day Blinds Corporation, gaining immeasurable experience growing a business from the ground up which he now shares as a small business advisor. He is committed to the progression of business toward cultural stakeholder primacy through conscious workplace leadership.
OUR TEAM
FacultyandStaff
Nima Farshchi ’14, MBA ‘20
Executive Director
Strategic Consultant
Collin Marcian
Operations Lead
M.S. - Information Systems, ‘24
Maura Friddle
Operations Lead Information Systems ‘24
Sarah Taylor*
Marketing Strategy Lead
Marketing & Supply Chain Management ‘24
Keola Evans
Case Competitions Lead International Business & Marketing ‘26
Eileen Chen
Project Management Lead
Finance & Information Systems ‘26
Romir Chandra
Impact Consulting Fellowship Lead Economics & Finance ‘25
Faculty Director
Derek Tokaz General Assistant
Luca Mancino*
Digital Media & Marketing Lead
Marketing & Supply Chain Management ‘25
Brina Cheung*
Digital Media & Marketing Lead
M.S. - Marketing Analytics, ‘24
Rohan Hill*
Digital Media & Marketing Intern Communication & Marketing, ‘26
Ayman Bootwala
Events Lead Economics & Applied Mathematics ‘24
Christopher Yeh
Curricular Research Lead
Information Systems & Supply Chain Management ‘26
* - Denotes responsibility for compiling Annual Report
Stephanie Cantor ‘12
David Kirsch
THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS
FacultyforSocialImpact
Management & Organization
Nicole Coomber | Clinical Professor, Assistant Dean of Experiential Learning
Protiti Dastidar | Clinical Professor, Associate Area Chair
Rellie Derfler-Rozin | Associate Professor
Waverly Ding | Associate Professor
Gosia Langa-Basit | Senior Lecturer
Hui Liao | Long Jiang Endowed Chair in Business
Paulo Prochno | Clinical Professor
James Sanders | Lecturer
Oliver Schlake | Clinical Professor
Debra L. Shapiro | Dean’s Chair in Organizational Behavior
Robert M. Sheehan, Jr. | Senior Lecturer
Subra Tangirala | Area Chair
Roy Thomason | Lecturer
David Waguespack | Associate Professor
Marketing
Rosellina Ferraro | Associate Professor, Associate Dean of MBA Programs
Judy Frels | Clinical Professor, Academic Director of MS Marketing Analytics
Mary Beth Furst | Clinical Professor, Associate Area Chair
Amna Kirmani | Dean’s Chair of Marketing, Ralph J. Tyser Professor of Marketing, Area Chair
Roxanne Lefkoff | Clinical Professor
Rebecca Ratner | Dean's Professor of Marketing
Roland Rust | Distinguished University Professor, David Bruce Smith Marketing Chair
Jie Zhang | Dean’s Professor of Marketing, Harvey Sanders Fellow of Retail Management
Logistics, Business & Public Policy
T. Leigh Anenson | Professor, Associate Director for C-BERC
Sandor Boyson | Research Professor Emeritus
Jon Crocker | Clinical Professor
Martin Dresner | Professor
Justin Marcos Reyna | Associate Clinical Professor, Associate Department Chair
Rachelle Sampson | Associate Professor
Niratcha “Grace” Tungtisanont | Lecturer
Bennet Zelner | Associate Professor
Finance
Cecilia Bustamante | Associate Professor
Sean Cao | Director and Co-founder of the AI Initiative for Capital Market Research
Kenneth Fuller | Lecturer
Clifford Rossi | Professor of the Practice, Director Smith Enterprise Risk Consortium
Russell Wermers | Area Chair, Paul J. Cinquegrana Endowed Chair in Finance
Liu Yang | Associate Professor
FacultyforSocialImpact
Accounting & Information Assurance
Samuel Handwerger | Lecturer
Rebecca Hann | Dean's Professor of Accounting, Assistant Dean of Doctoral Programs
Michael Kimbrough | Area Chair, Professor
James McKinney | Associate Area Chair, Clinical Professor
Michael McMillan | Associate Clinical Professor
Patrick McNamee | Lecturer
Nick Seybert | Associate Professor
Emanuel Zur | Associate Dean of MS Programs, Associate Professor
Decision, Operations & Information Technology
Suresh Acharya | Professor of Practice Academic Director, MS in Business Analytics
Anand Anandalingam | Ralph J. Tyser Professor of Management Science
Michael O. Ball | Professor Emeritus
M. Gisela Bardossy | Associate Clinical Professor
Margret Bjarnadottir | Associate Professor
John Bono | Associate Clinical Professor
Jessica M. Clark | Assistant Professor
Wedad Elmaghraby | Senior Associate Dean for Faculty, Dean's Chair of Operations Management
Zeinab Karake | Associate Dean for Culture & Community, Clinical Professor
Lauren Rhue | Assistant Professor
The Here & Now Newsletter
Here & Now is CSVC’s biweekly listserv that keeps you connected to opportunities in social impact and sustainability at UMD and beyond. We compile the newest articles, webinars, and job postings so you don’t have to. The place is here. The time is now.
