UB School of Management students win annual UB MBA Case Competition

By Kevin Manne

BUFFALO, N.Y.—Facing off against business students from around the country, a team of four University at Buffalo School of Management MBAs took first place at the second annual UB MBA Case Competition, held April 5-6 and hosted by the UB School of Management and sponsored by Citi.

Presenting teams were identified only by a number, so judges didn’t know which college or university each team was from until after their evaluations were complete. The winning team was made up of UB MBA students Valerie Cardillo of Penfield, Michael Kleinfelder of Lancaster, Orion LaMontagne of Alden and Jacob Walsh of Buffalo.

Ten teams of finalists were selected based on the quality of an initial written case analysis of a real-world business problem on how to best position a successful craft beer company for expansion, and in live competition rounds presented their solutions to a panel of executive judges.

The UB team received $5,000, Rutgers Business School took second and received $2,000, and the University of Illinois Gies College of Business took third place and received $1,000.

In addition, Bonnie Chen of Rutgers Business School received $500 as the top individual presenter.

“The competitors in this event were exceptional, and our UB team and the other finalists should be proud of their accomplishments,” said Paul Tesluk, dean of the UB School of Management. “I was particularly impressed by the innovative solutions proposed by the winning teams.”

The 10 teams that competed represented the following schools:

• Drexel University LeBow College of Business
• Fordham University Gabelli School of Business
• Iowa State University Ivy College of Business
• Pace University Lubin School of Business
• Rutgers Business School
• Syracuse University Whitman School of Business
• University at Buffalo School of Management (two teams)
• University of Illinois Gies College of Business
• University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business

Professionals and representatives from industry served as competition judges, including Ken Bennett, managing director, risk management at Citi; Tom Cogan, senior vice president at Citi; Frank Cravotta, executive vice president of creative services at Pegula Sports and Entertainment; Dottie Gallagher, president and chief executive officer at Buffalo Niagara Partnership; Sam Marrazzo, chief innovation officer at Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus; Michael Huefner, senior vice president at Citi; Mark Rizzo, group manager, commercial banking at M&T Bank; Lindsay Stencel, chief operating officer at Launch NY; and Parina Yadav, product control analyst at Citi.

Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. For more information about Citi, visit citigroup.com.