Going for the win

7/13/2012 - The practical experience gained through facing one’s peers in business competitions is something MBA students learn to value early in their Kellogg education. Presenting a business plan or competing in a challenge helps students hone their skills in situations that reflect the realities of the business world.

This past academic year, Kellogg students took part in a number of competitions across the country, often triumphing over students from equally prestigious schools. Here’s a look at a few of the many ways students have represented Kellogg and made their school proud. 

2012 JP Morgan M&A Challenge

With an impressive showing against the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Kellogg took three of the four top positions in the 2012 JP Morgan M&A Challenge. Kellogg now claims a cumulative seven of the top eight places in the finance case competition for the past two years.

The event, held each January, pits eight teams from each school against each other in two brackets. Kellogg took first and second place in one division and second place in the other. The first-place teams received $1,000 prizes, and the second-place team received $500. This year’s winning teams:

• Da Bears: A Dimon is Forever (1st Place): Ananya Das ’13,
Jacqueline Tan ’13, Gabriel Marcus ’13, Michael Tobias ’13, Nikolay Poturnak ’13, Anthony Lee ’13 
  
  
• Wall Street Wildcats (2nd Place): Fearon Melton ’13, Shelby Washington ’13, Jed JohnHope ’13,
Emrah Koktekin ’13, Corbin Butcher ’13, Alex Kubicka ’13 
  
  
• Cosmic Gate (2nd Place): Gary Khoeng ’13, Kanako Inoue ’13, Yue Jin ’13, 
Muneyoshi Fujita ’13, Hirotaka Son ’13, Brett Miller ’13

National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition 

Northwestern University’s NuMat Technologies, which included Kellogg JD-MBA students Ben Hernandez ’13 and Tabrez Ebrahim ’13, won the first-ever U.S. Department of Energy’s National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition. The team bested five other clean energy technology teams from universities across the country at the June 13 national competition in Washington, D.C.

The title included a $100,000 cash prize and $80,000 in in-kind services, including technical, design and legal assistance. It was the fifth business plan competition the start-up company, which designs high-performance materials that store gases, had won since March. 

Traders@MIT

Two business-savvy students in Kellogg’s Certificate Program for Undergraduates earned first place at a trading competition in November at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Working as a team at the Traders@MIT competition, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences seniors Steven Chen and Joon Yoon put their classroom understanding of economics, markets, statistics, business, probability and mathematics to the test, developing models and devising profitable trading strategies in six different trade scenarios.


Fuld & Co War Game

Kellogg took the top spot at this public war-game competition, during which students work through analytical exercises to offer companies strategies for achieving competitive advantage in the marketplace. The competition is sponsored and facilitated by Fuld & Co., a research and consulting firm specializing in business and competitive intelligence.

This year’s topic focused on the use of wireless technologies in the healthcare industry. The Kellogg team included Matthew Havey, Aaron Newman, Amyn Andharia ’13, Becky Trevino ’12, Kaushik Seethapathy ’12 and Saurabh Shah ’13.

Kellogg students also made impressive showings in a number of other competitions this year, including:

• 2012 Kellogg Biotech and Healthcare Case Competition: Kellogg’s “Transformers” team — Sean Mathewson ’13, Ken Cheung ’13, Kristen Kerns ’13 and Benjamin Sacchetti ’13 — earned an honorable mention and $500 for tackling the challenges of testing infants for HIV in Africa.
  
  
• Wharton LBO Competition: The Kellogg team of Danielle Qi ’12, Connor Wilson ’13, Sidharth Sridhar ’12, Andrew Leed ’12 and Mark Pomeroy ’13 placed third at the Wharton School of Business’s annual leveraged buyout case competition. 
  
  
• Wharton Latin America Private Equity Competition: Ignacio San Martin ’13, Fernando Rodrigo ’13 and Francisco Bravo took second place at this new event, judged by PE fund managers. 
  
  
• Deloitte National Case Competition: Taking fourth place and $3,000, the Kellogg student team of Michal Laube ’12, Tatyana Poturnak ’13, Karam Malhotra ’12 and Val Misra ’13 marked the first time Kellogg placed in this second annual competition.