Winners Named in Verney Case Competition

By Jacqueline Molik Ghosen

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A team of four MBA students from the University at Buffalo School of Management will share a $2,000 prize as winner of the school’s sixth annual Steven C. Verney MBA Case Competition.

Placing first in the event were Ian Bader of Brooklyn, Todd Carter of Troy, Ohio, Teihui Chen of Changsha, China, and Sarah Tanbakuchi of Grand Island.

All first-year MBAs in the school’s full-time program took part in the competition. Eighteen teams made presentations to six panels of judges over the course of four days in April, and the award winners were announced on April 30.

Each team was assigned a separate case focusing on a distressed company facing serious operational and financial issues. Participants had to formulate a plan to turn around the troubled company and improve its long-term prospects for survival.

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 from UB in 1980 and his MBA in 1981.

Judges for the competition included Aimee Gomlak, vice president,Women's Service Line, Catholic Health; William Grieshober, deputy general counsel and vice president, Rich Products; Tom McManus, CEO, KegWorks/Line Logic; Tim Minneci, executive vice president, Paramax Corp.; Gerry Murak, founder, turnaround performance specialist, Murak & Associates LLC; Christopher Robinson, manager, marketing operations, Unifrax I LLC; David Wagner, vice president, Roosevelt & Cross Inc.; and Larry Zielinski, partner, turnaround performance specialist, Murak & Associates LLC.

Several judges from the University at Buffalo also participated: Muriel Anderson, assistant professor of organization and human resources, School of Management; Arjang Assad, dean, School of Management; Saira Hasnain, director, enterprise infrastructure services; John Ho, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor of physics, vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School; Susan Krzystofiak, assistant vice president, human resources; Michael LeVine, associate vice president and controller; Amy Monin, research administrator, Electrical Engineering Department; and John Wood, associate vice president for international education.

The second-place team received a prize of $1,000.

The UB School of Management is recognized for its emphasis on real-world learning, community and economic impact, and the global perspective of its faculty, students and alumni. The school has been ranked by Bloomberg Businessweek, the Financial Times, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report and The Wall Street Journal for the quality of its programs and the return on investment it provides its 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 and 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.