Students and faculty in Marshall University’s Lewis College of Business claimed second place in the fifth annual Peoples Bank Undergraduate Business Case Competition on Feb. 11.
Dr. Marc Sollosy, assistant professor of management, served as the faculty advisor for five undergraduate students: Justin Hurt, Amanda Nelson, Eli Tilley, Ellen Castro and Jordan Fanelli. The team earned $1,000 for their second place finish.
Sollosy said competitions like these are important because they serve two purposes.
“They give the student experience addressing real world problems, as presented by the bank, and it’s a recruiting opportunity. The bank has a very robust professional development program and they use the competition as an opportunity to scout for the ‘best and the brightest’ available in our field,” Sollosy said.
Sixteen college teams competed, including Capital University, Clarion University, Cleveland State University, The College of Wooster, Heidelberg University (two teams), Marietta College, Marshall University, Oberlin College, Ohio Valley College, The Ohio State University, Tiffin University, University of Akron, University of Charleston, University of Mount Union and West Virginia University.
The University of Akron won first place. Third place was awarded to Oberlin College and fourth place to West Virginia University.
Teams were given two months to prepare their presentations before presenting them to Peoples Bank executives. The case covered a range of geographical regions and multiple functional areas—human resources, finance, strategic planning and marketing. Presentations were 25 minutes long followed by a 10-minute question-and-answer session with the judges.
This is the fourth year Marshall has participated in the competition. For more information, contact Sollosy at sollosy@marshall.edu or visit www.marshall.edu/cob.
