New Dean Envisions UMD as World Leader in Business Education

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Aug. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Maryland has appointed Alexander J. Triantis as dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. Triantis has been with the Smith School for 17 years and is currently a professor of finance. He succeeds G. "Anand" Anandalingam and assumes his new role Sept. 1, 2013.

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The announcement, by Mary Ann Rankin, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, concludes a national search.

"As a current member of the Smith School community, Alex is perfectly positioned to build on the school's remarkable achievements and capitalize on its unique strengths," says Rankin. "Alex has been an extraordinary asset to the university and will be an exciting, visionary leader for the Smith School."

Dean Triantis will build on the Smith School's advances in student experience, alumni engagement, and connections with business leaders, policymakers and the media. The Smith School's MBA program is currently recognized as No. 24 among business schools nationwide in the most recent Bloomberg BusinessWeek rankings — which also rated the school No. 2 in student satisfaction, career services and teaching. New regional alumni clubs in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Beijing, China, reflect revitalized alumni engagement.

"I am very honored to be appointed to this role," says Triantis. "The Smith School already has strong momentum with exceptional faculty intellectual capital, leading centers of excellence, and diverse, creative and entrepreneurial students. I'm excited to have the opportunity to work in a new way with Smith's outstanding community of faculty, students, alumni and staff to help the school reach its full potential as a world leader in business education."

Triantis joined the Smith School faculty in 1996 and served as chair of the department of finance from 2006-2011. Under his leadership, the Smith School launched a master's degree program in finance, innovative undergraduate fellows programs, and the groundbreaking Center for Financial Policy, which connects faculty with Washington policymakers to leverage the impact of faculty research on important financial policy issues. He has built strong connections between the Smith School and the corporate community, and has been actively engaged in executive programs. He is consistently recognized for his outstanding teaching, twice with the Krowe Award, the Smith School's top honor.

Triantis's research analyzes corporate financial strategies related to investment, financing, and risk management, as well as the valuation of strategic investments. His articles have been published in numerous leading academic and practitioner journals. He has served on the editorial boards of several major academic publications.

He earned a bachelor's degree in engineering science and master's degree in industrial engineering from the University of Toronto, and master's and doctoral degrees in industrial engineering with a specialization in finance from Stanford University. Prior to joining the Smith School, he was an assistant and associate professor at the University of Wisconsin and a visiting scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Outside academia, he has consulted and provided executive training in the areas of corporate finance and valuation, including issues related to capital investment decision making, financing strategies, risk management, real options analysis, derivatives pricing, and project finance. Clients have included multinational corporations and organizations such as Airbus Industrie, BHP Billiton, CSX, Dupont, Ernst & Young, Hyatt, Jefferies and Company, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International, Morgan Stanley, Northrop Grumman, PricewaterhouseCoopers, U.S. Dept. of Energy, and the World Bank. He is a frequent speaker at domestic and international conferences and executive forums.

About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

SOURCE University of Maryland