How UMGC alumni are leveraging education, experience, and relationships to build thriving businesses and stronger communities
For some, entrepreneurship might seem like an alternative to higher education. For a growing number of University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) graduates, though, education and entrepreneurship go hand in hand.
UMGC entrepreneurs are spread across industries, from information technology and consulting to real estate, accounting, and nonprofits. Most stay in Maryland, where they create jobs, foster community, and drive change that reaches well beyond the state’s borders. Their stories share a common thread: education helped prepare them to succeed.
Heather Teed ‘97: Systems thinking meets strategic consulting
Heather Teed earned a Master of Science in Management of Technology from UMGC in 1997. Today she leads EOP Consulting, a 100 percent woman-owned small business with offices in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and McLean, Virginia.
EOP helps clients compete and win in high-dollar federal contracting through rigorous analysis and strategic planning. With clients regularly dealing in multi-million-dollar amounts, the stakes are high and expertise matters.
“Our goal is to help clients make the best decisions possible with the data and information available,” she said. “They are business owners with passion.”
Teed came to UMGC with a background in microbiology, drawn to the technology management graduate program by a love of systems theory and an appetite for understanding how things connect.
“UMGC expanded that systems thinking,” she said. “It reinforced the way I see the world. It helped me understand quality, leadership, and management.”
She had originally planned to launch her own company after graduating. Instead, a classmate offered her a position at a large government contractor. It was an unexpected detour, and she made the most of it, adapting, learning, and building expertise that prepared her to go out on her own.
“Relationships are very important,” said Teed. “My network from school and work has served me immensely. I still run into people from my classes in my career. UMGC taught the importance of these things.”
Lakia Elam ’19, ‘22: Building a business around giving back
Lakia Elam graduated in 2022 with a Master of Business Administration from UMGC, following a Bachelor of Science in Human Resources in 2019. She runs Magnificent Differences Consulting, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, and describes entrepreneurship in straightforwardly personal terms.
“It allows me to give back, and work toward what my passion is, which is genuinely helping people,” she said.
Elam is equally straightforward about the demands of running a business. Commitment and persistence, she says, are what separate those who start companies from those who sustain them.
“Anyone can start a business, but it takes a dedicated soul to operate a successful business,” said Elam.
Philip Callahan ‘66: Decades of experience, one piece of advice
Philip Callahan, a Vietnam-era veteran, graduated in 1966 from what is now UMGC in Europe. He later served as President of the UMGC Alumni Association from 2017-2019 and today directs The Vertrag Consultancy, a White Hall, Maryland-based group of small entrepreneurial companies.
His advice for anyone sitting on an idea?
“Just do it,” Callahan said. “If you have an idea or dream, you want to make sure you can follow through with that.”
Education and entrepreneurship: two sides of the same coin
While the paths these entrepreneurs followed are different, their journeys share a common theme: pursuing education and starting a business require many of the same core qualities—qualities like discipline, curiosity, a tolerance for uncertainty, and the resilience to keep going when results aren’t guaranteed.
For Teed, that connection isn’t incidental. It’s the point.
“Education and entrepreneurship are not opposite,” noted Teed. “They are interconnected.”