MBA students take third at Pitt invitational competition

By Matthew Biddle

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A team of four University at Buffalo School of Management MBA students took third place and won a $3,000 prize at the Katz Invitational Case Competition, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business on Jan. 27-28.

Brandon Glasgow, MBA ’18, of Brooklyn; Apoorva Kapoor, MBA ’17, of New Delhi, India; Celine Keefe, MBA ’17, of Buffalo; and Matthew Reuscher, DDS/MBA ’20, of Rochester made up the winning team.

“We’ve been mastering the art of effective communication since day one of the MBA program, and at case competitions, we get to show off those skills and network with sponsors, companies and students from other schools,” Glasgow says. “We had a great team. We practiced relentlessly, celebrated each practice run and were unstoppable when the judges fired off questions because of our knowledge of the material.”

In addition, Keefe was honored with an additional $250 prize and the Murthy Award for Excellence in Presentation.

During the competition, students analyzed the energy industry and the challenges facing a major North American energy company. Each team proposed a new sales channel that would help the firm attract small- to medium-sized business clients, while keeping acquisition costs low and anticipating the response from competitors.

“Without an extensive background in energy, we faced teams with members who had worked in the industry for several years,” Keefe says. “I learned the critical importance of teamwork and used every piece of my MBA education so far to understand the deliverables requested, research the industry and deliver a quality presentation for the judges.”

Teams from the University of Florida and Penn State captured first and second place, respectively. The top three teams bested squads from business schools around North America, including the University of Alberta, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, the University of Maryland, Notre Dame and the University of Pennsylvania.

Registration and travel expenses were provided through a donation from School of Management alumnus Steven C. Verney, BS ’80, MBA ’81, an independent consultant and former executive vice president and chief risk officer at Allstate Insurance Co., along with a matching grant from Allstate.