EdD, 2011 Christine (LaCola) Thompson currently works as a Senior Principal at Korn Ferry Consulting. Previously, she returned to the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland in January 2018 as the executive director of executive development programs. Between 2003 and 2008, she served as assistant dean of professional programs and services at the Smith and as the director of business development. Her accomplishments include obtaining the largest financial executive-level leadership development contract in the Smith School's history, establishing and managing Smith's Advisory and Collaborative Services unit (including the MBA Consulting Program and faculty consultative services arm), and leading all degree, nondegree, and executive education programming. Christine served as the director of the McNair Center for Entrepreneurism & Executive and director of the Institute for Leadership & Professional Excellence at Columbia College in South Carolina from 2015-2017 and the executive director of the Institute for Leadership & Professional Excellence (2013-2017). Previously she served as assistant dean and director, Graduate Division, at the University of South Carolina's Darla Moore School of Business. Prior to entering higher education, she spent over nine years at the IBM Corporation and PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. At PwC Consulting, she managed the national sales operations team and focused on strategic business development initiatives, such as improving the firm's CRM tool usage and rebuilding the compensation/incentive programs for business development executives. Her IBM tenure focused on the management of federal contracts, client service improvements and sales support initiatives. In 2012, Ms. Christine became a partner at Consultative Education Partners, LLC.
