MBA Scholarships Awarded in UB Case Competition

By Jacqueline Molik Ghosen

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A $500 scholarship was awarded to each member of the winning team in the University at Buffalo School of Management’s third annual Steven C. Verney MBA Case Competition.

The winners were Alex Banfia of Niagara Falls, Canada; Christopher Bodkin of Amherst; David Gordon of Amherst; Alina Cofas of Bucharest, Romania; and Samantha Roth of Amherst.

All first-year MBAs at UB took part in the competition, which required them to read and analyze a Harvard business case and write a report recommending solutions for the company in the study.

The top four teams then presented their findings to a panel of judges in the event’s final round on March 27 in the Jacobs Executive Development Center, 672 Delaware Ave., Buffalo.

The competition was created exclusively for first-year MBA students at the UB School of Management through a donation from Steven C. Verney, a vice president of Allstate Insurance Company in Chicago, who received his bachelor’s degree in 1980 and his MBA in 1981 from UB.

Members of the second-place team each received $250 scholarships.

The judges for the final round of the competition were Arjang A. Assad, dean of the School of Management; John Dunbar, MBA ’81, principal of Strategic Investments & Holdings in Buffalo; Kenneth Fick ’98, director of forensic and litigation consulting at FTI Consulting in Washington, D.C.; and Stephen Kneeland, retired vice president for service marketing at Xerox Corporation in Rochester. 

The Wall Street Journal has ranked the UB School of Management No. 9 in the nation among schools with strong regional recruiting bases. In addition, BusinessWeek has ranked the school as one of the country's top 5 business schools for the fastest return on MBA investment, and Forbes cited it as one of the best business schools in the U.S. for the return on investment it provides MBA graduates. For more information about the UB School of Management, visit mgt.buffalo.edu.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system that is its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.