They have the ability to move mountains (of paperwork), thread (legal) needles, and ease the pain (points) of complying with international operation requirements.
Photo: (Back row, left to right): Dan Fabbro, David Ng’onamo, Danielle Hill, and Aisha Rashid. (Front row, left to right): Atiq Abbas, Herty Cortez Diaz, Isabel Nshimbi, Anna Schowengerdt, Chris Nyirongo, Richard Nzinyangwa Tassani, and Ken Nisbet. Not pictured: Hamed Cisse.
As one of Administration and Finance’s seven divisions, International Operations was created two years ago as part of the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) global engagement strategy. The 12-person division is one part of the Global Hub, collaborating with the Center for Global Engagement to provide a one-stop shop for international support. But what exactly do they do, why might you engage them, and how can they help you, your school, or your project succeed?
We spoke with Anna Schowengerdt, MA, assistant vice president, International Operations (IO), to discuss IO and discover how they can help students, staff, and faculty navigate the challenges that come with international operations.
Thank you for taking the time to chat. So, let's start with the basics: What does International Operations do?
Schowengerdt: In UMB speak, International Operations is a cross-functional team that supports UMB’s international activities by helping the UMB community acquire and pay for goods and services, support institutional partnerships, obtain local expertise, comply with legal and regulatory requirements, and travel safely outside the United States.
So, what does that mean?
UMB’s global footprint is a diverse mix of activities, from short educational trips to longer-term research and service projects in foreign locations. It can also run the gamut from one-off transactions with foreign vendors to substantial institutional collaborations. To get those activities done safely and effectively requires behind-the-scenes tasks and contextual knowledge that don’t get a lot of attention — until something goes wrong.
For example, there can be complicated banking routes to get local currency payments to certain countries. Or a country’s business customs may not align to the state of Maryland’s requirements. Or UMB may want to hire staff in-country for a specific project, but the hiring manager isn’t familiar with the local labor laws and taxation rules. Or someone is planning a potentially high-risk trip to attend an academic conference.
Understanding the rules and customs, figuring out solutions to complicated situations, and supporting improvements to University policies and procedures to make international work easier — or at least less confusing — are what the IO division strives to offer.
Whether it’s advice, insight, or direct support, our goal is to help navigate and demystify international operations. And we work to support good stewardship of UMB resources, equitable partnerships with international collaborators, awareness and management of risks, and a positive impact from UMB’s presence in the world.
Before we go any further, this sounds like this is some pretty complex advice. What sort of budget should potential users plan for?
Schowengerdt: We are a fully funded part of A&F and there’s no charge for our time. The costs of working outside the U.S., however, can be higher than you would expect, and may contain fees, duties, currency gains and losses, and other budget impacts. We can help UMB personnel project some of these expenses, or at least prepare for them.
Interesting! Many people consider themselves accomplished world travelers. If someone knows UMB policy inside and out, they already have a passport and lodging plan, and they have a solid itinerary, what else would they need?
Schowengerdt: One of the critical services we provide is safety and security assistance. We monitor security issues all over the world every day through a number of professional channels, and we keep track 24/7 of who is in what country for UMB business (including academic travel).
When a security incident occurs — for example, the recent terrorist attack in Mali, the earthquake in Taiwan, or the Marburg outbreak in Rwanda — we immediately check the University’s travel data, reach out proactively to check on folks who may be located in, or planning travel to, the affected area, and notify UMB leadership of the situation and status of personnel.
We also provide pre-departure safety and security briefings to UMB travelers when requested, and we push guidance, advice, and resources through our Global Hub website and various venues on campus.
Another related service we provide, but which we hope is never needed, is our management of UMB’s international insurance coverages and UMB’s international emergency assistance provider, International SOS.
Our team has deep experience managing medical and security evacuations (and some of us have direct, lived experience being evacuated from crisis situations as well). But “routine” travel safety — like hotel and lodging standards, road safety considerations, and awareness of local norms — are just as important, and we take this part of our team’s scope very seriously.
You’ve mentioned hiring staff overseas. Can you expand on that?
Schowengerdt: There are real challenges when it comes to UMB hiring people based outside the U.S. And by “hiring,” I mean through an actual employment contract — not short-term consultants. This kind of a relationship will cross into income and corporate tax laws, employment and labor laws in the countries where staff are assigned, and the legal and insurance liabilities that tie to UMB. These are all quite serious.
If a school or department wants to hire an individual or team to work in a certain country, regardless of the prospective employee’s nationality or citizenship, we can help identify and understand the applicable policies, laws, costs, statutory benefits, and options for engaging personnel in the country of assignment.
We understand foreign labor laws in many countries, we do the research if we don’t already know it, and we provide our best advice to the requesting school and to UMB’s leadership on legal and compliance matters. And we can also use this mechanism called MGIC in certain cases to actually hire the employees on behalf of UMB.
What is MGIC?
Schowengerdt: MGIC stands for the Maryland Global Initiatives Corporation. It was created by the Maryland Board of Regents in 2009 as an independent legal entity to enable UMB to do business in foreign countries.
Originally, MGIC was used primarily by UMB’s Institute of Human Virology, IHV, to implement care and treatment projects that required a physical presence in specific countries — including large teams of employees, offices, lab facilities, capital equipment, bank accounts, and the legal structure to register as a business in these countries.
That’s the backstory in a nutshell.
It turned out MGIC was a creative and elegant solution to many of the challenges that affect UMB’s work outside the U.S. even when “boots on the ground” weren’t required. So, over the past few years, we have evolved UMB’s use of the MGIC mechanism so that it is more widely available to the UMB community and more useful for discrete, transactional needs. MGIC also still allows UMB to legally open offices and register as a legal business in other countries, which is a tremendous asset if UMB needs it.
Is MGIC a department within IO?
Schowengerdt: No. It’s a legally separate nonprofit entity. We refer to it as a business affiliate here at UMB. But it’s not a department, division, or office. It doesn’t have any traditional employees who “work for MGIC.” You should think of it as a legal mechanism, not a self-directed organization.
My team is using it for procuring goods and services (like issuing consultancies and other service contracts, and purchase orders when there are benefits to UMB of using MGIC rather than doing direct procurement); paying for things like conference fees, honorariums, and fellowship stipends that need to be sent by international wire transfer; and hiring employees in foreign countries who are seconded to UMB through Employer of Record firms.
We also administer the corporate registrations held by MGIC in some countries and would be responsible for any new registrations UMB might need for large-scale presence in the future.
Well, it’s not a department. Is it more like an adapter? Like an interface that goes between two entities allowing them to work together?
Schowengerdt: That’s pretty close. It’s a critically useful mechanism for when the schools need to legally interface with foreign entities.
We frequently hear of schools or projects getting hung up in the state treasury and regulatory processes that don’t nicely align with the realities of international work. These holdups can stall projects for weeks or months — even for something as apparently simple as paying conference registration fees or research application fees.
Sometimes the MGIC mechanism provides a viable solution that can reduce the processing time to just a few days or even hours. But more important than being a potentially faster option, using MGIC can often result in better risk management and more effective outcomes for UMB, its personnel, and its international partners.
I read recently that there are 150 to 200 major languages spoken throughout the world. How do you handle language barriers?
Schowengerdt: Well, we've got a lot of languages represented on our team. IO staff are native speakers of Bemba, Chichewa, French, Italian, Pashto, Spanish, Swahili, and other languages of Central and South Asia, Europe, and Africa. If we don’t already speak it, we’ll find someone who does.
What’s the one takeaway you’d like people to have when they think IO?
Schowengerdt: If you're planning to study, work, or transact business for UMB outside of the U.S., please come to us! We’re eager to partner with you to find solutions to your operational challenges!
You can reach Anna Schowengerdt at aschowengerdt@umaryland.edu and find International Operations online at https://www.umaryland.edu/international-ops/.
International Operations In Action
Here’s how the IO team has helped some of your colleagues.
Dave Ingle, MBA, academic administration director, School of Medicine:
The Challenge:
We had a department that wanted to hire a faculty member to work primarily in Africa. We needed help understanding the nuances of having a faculty member work outside the country.
The IO Solution(s):
The International Operations team (Schowengerdt and Rashid) clarified guidelines, policies, and legal constraints around hiring and offered alternative solutions where we had roadblocks. They provided details that helped the department decide as to how to proceed. The international hiring environment is always changing, and IO is up on all the factors to consider. They work with you on the specific issue and listen carefully before responding comprehensively. Anna and her staff have been very helpful when navigating international employment issues.
Emily Heil, PharmD, MS, FIDP, BCIDP, AAHIVP, professor, School of Pharmacy:
The Challenge:
The President’s Global Impact Fund is currently supporting a rotational exchange program between the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and the University of Zambia School of Health Sciences (UNZA). This summer we sent two UMB School of Pharmacy students to Lusaka, Zambia, for a four-week, acute-care rotation at the University Teaching Hospital, and we hosted two UNZA students and one UNZA faculty member at UMB/UMMC for a four-week rotation.
As part of our budget, we provided a stipend to the UNZA visitors to support their cost-of-living expenses while rotating in Baltimore. Determining the best way to get this funding to them prior to their travel to ensure a smooth trip was the problem we were addressing.
The IO Solution(s):
IO helped us to set up a grant fund with UNZA to provide the stipends to our visitors prior to their arrival in the U.S. and provided advice on pre-paid cards for them to load their funds on. They also provided advice on visas and other pre-travel needs such as getting cellphone coverage in the U.S.
IO BY THE NUMBERS
100+ For UMB’s fiscal year 2024, IO successfully responded to Global Hub service requests from 100 different customers from all UMB schools and several central administration departments, requesting operational guidance and assistance with their international education and research activities.
55/68 In Fiscal Year 2024, IO provided pre-departure security briefings to 55 travelers (students and faculty), and we approved travel attestation forms for 68 trips to high-risk destinations.
$1.2M In FY24, IO used MGIC to make nearly $1.2 million in payments to vendors and partners outside the United States on behalf of all UMB schools and several administration departments.