Students in Marshall University’s Lewis College of Business competed and won 2nd place during the 7th annual Peoples Bank Undergraduate Business Case Competition last month.
Dr. Marc Sollosy, associate professor of management at Marshall, served as the faculty advisor alongside a team of three undergraduate students: Alex Lathwell, senior marketing major; Boram Kim, a junior finance major; and Lauren Corbett, a senior management major.
The team earned $1,000 for their 2nd place recognition.
Sollosy said competitions like these are important because they serve two purposes.
“It gives 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.
Fifteen teams representing 14 colleges and universities competed. In addition to Marshall, the following institutions were represented: Northern Kentucky University, Tiffin University, the College of Wooster, Ohio Valley University, West Virginia University, University of Charleston. the Ohio State University, Oberlin College, the University of Akron, University of Mount Union, Cleveland State University, Ohio University and Marietta College.
First place went to Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio ($1,500), third place to University of Akron in Akron, Ohio ($750) and fourth place to the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio ($500).
Teams were given two months to prepare their presentations and presented them to Peoples Bank executives. The case covered a range of geographical regions along with multiple functional areas (human resources, finance, strategic planning and marketing). Presentations were 25 minutes in length, followed by a 10-minute question-and-answer session with the judges. Participants also met with representatives of the financial services industry, according to a release by Peoples Bank.
This is the sixth year Marshall has participated in the competition with plans to compete again next year. To learn more about how you can get involved in activities sponsored by the Lewis College of Business, contact Sollosy at sollosy@marshall.edu or visit www.marshall.edu/cob online.
