Loyola’s Sellinger School graduates support Ukrainian refugee relief

Two graduates of Loyola University Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business and Management, Angela Knauer, MBA ’03, CPA, and Dale Maholage, ’17, CPA, visited Romania in May to support nonprofit organizations providing humanitarian relief to Ukrainian refugees.

“The wonderful thing about Loyola’s Jesuit education is that it gives students the technical skills to make a change in the world and the moral imperative to know when and where to use them,” said JP Krahel, Ph.D., CPA, associate professor of accounting and chair of the accounting department. “What Dale and Angela have done is use accounting, which is often seen as amoral, to make a positive difference in a distressed part of the world, and the whole department is proud of them.”

Knauer and Maholage used their accounting systems and financial controls acumen to help Catholic Relief Services (CRS) increase its emergency operations in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While the Loyola graduates do not travel for work typically or speak the native languages of Romania or Ukraine, they had three days to prepare for the two-week trip.

Upon arrival in Romania, they assisted CRS nonprofit partners and laid the groundwork for more permanent staff to follow. Their work supported relief efforts including providing medium- to long-term shelter, transportation, food and hygiene products, and counseling services to refugees.

“I never would have anticipated my accounting degree taking me to Satu Mare, Romania, at 27 years old,” Maholage said. “My Loyola education gave me the technical skills to consult with partners on their financial control environment and the soft skills to be able to land in a foreign country under extreme circumstances with the confidence to hit the ground running.”

Maholage graduated from Loyola in 2017 with a degree in accounting and information systems and has been a senior accountant of financial reporting and analysis with CRS for three years. He reports to Knauer, who has been director of financial reporting and analysis with CRS for almost 12 years. She earned an accounting degree from Loyola in 2002 and an MBA in 2003.

“Participating in Loyola’s study abroad program as an undergraduate and having the opportunity to live, study, and volunteer in Thailand helped me develop a world perspective, and that experience set me on a career path to work for mission-driven organizations,” she said.