CESR's sixth annual case competition winners
On Friday, March 9 six dedicated teams of Leeds undergraduates presented their solution to an ethics case for the chance to win a portion of $15,000 in CESR’s sixth annual case competition.
The winner of this year’s competition was Formation Consulting, which was made up of senior Meredith Maney, juniors Hayley Porter and Bella Kiflom, sophomore Makda Fitsum and freshman Katie Torres. All of the talented women are members of Leeds’s Diverse Scholars Program.
The competition consists of two rounds. This year, the first round gave eight teams three days to prepare and present a case on religion in the workplace. Six teams advanced to the final round. The second case focused on passenger weight in the airline industry.
Each team had fifteen minutes to present to a panel of judges. Beth Cross, a CESR instructor at the Leeds School of Business, Brian Lichtenheld, an associate advisor and impact specialist at BSW Wealth Partners and Bernee Strom, a senior advisor at Cascadia Capital and a CESR board member, judged the competition this year.
The competition focused on giving students the opportunity to apply their values and skills to real-world cases. Every case is unique and challenging to help students explore topics from product to supply chain while considering a wide range of stakeholders.
Maney says “it was a really supportive, challenging environment. I loved this team where one person stopped, another started. We really built upon each other’s skills and abilities.”
The winning team walked away with $7,000 to split between the five members. They send their thanks to the competition’s generous sponsor, Tim Borden. He is a pioneer in the development of ethical issues in corporate governance.