Last modified: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Kelley School of Business wins KeyBank Minority MBA Case Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A team of first-year Master of Business Administration students at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business won first place team honors in the 2008 Key Foundation Minority MBA Case Competition IV recently at KeyBank headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio.
In between KeyBank representatives Chuck Sulerzyski, Great Lakes regional president, and Margot Copeland, executive vice president of corporate diversity and philanthropy, are (left to right) Kern Woods, Tania Sanchez, Monica Oliva and Tatiana Quaife.
Kelley students Monica Oliva, Tatiana Quaife, Tania Sanchez and Kern Woods won for excellence in their overall development and presentation of a competitive market strategy for KeyBank.
Sixteen teams from prestigious schools nationwide, including the University of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon, competed on March 1 for the top prize of $6,000. Four-person teams were evaluated on quality of presentation, creativity of strategy recommendation, and effectiveness of a Q&A session. The one-day, two-round competition was judged by executives from KeyBank.
In addition to the first place trophy, the judges awarded Kelley MBA student and Sao Paulo native Tatiana Quaife with the "Best Presenter" award. Kern Woods, a 2009 MBA candidate, received top honors for "Best Q&A."
Woods said the judges explained that the Kelley team won because of its ability to change the way KeyBank leadership thinks about business. He attributed the team's success to their thorough preparation. "After winning, I realized that Kelley has truly prepared me to handle real business situations, and that I can compete with any business school student in the country," he said.
Hosted for the last several years by the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University, the case competition is designed to give MBA students an opportunity to develop important professional skills such as analyzing and responding quickly to complex business issues, while learning from the expertise of business executive judges and moderators.
"This is a great opportunity for students to hone their communication skills by presenting to senior executives," said Great Lakes Regional President Chuck Sulerzyski, executive sponsor of the event. "It's also a way to reach out to some of our nation's brightest students to find solutions and strategies to current business issues."
Cleveland-based KeyCorp is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $100 billion. Key companies provide investment management, retail and commercial banking, consumer finance, and investment banking products and services to individuals and companies throughout the United States and, for certain businesses, internationally. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/.
