The annual Grossman Dean’s Cup case competition took place last Saturday and a team of sophomore Grossman School of Business students took home the gold. The Dean’s Cup Case Competition was designed in 2019 specifically to prepare students to compete and excel in case competitions around the world. The goal of the event is to provide students with a holistic and fun professional development experience, that allows them to apply their skills both from inside and outside of the classroom to a real-world business situation, no matter if they are a seasoned competitor or a case competitions novice. Organized and run by the Grossman Student Advisory Committee (GSAC), this hands-on business case competition is open to all UVM undergraduate students and is typically held in person and in one-day.
This year while navigating an ongoing global pandemic the GSAC pivoted early and adjusted to a virtual format. The competition started in February when eight teams registered with competitors ranging from first-year to senior students. The entire competition consisted of two rounds, an asynchronous round where teams submitted a pre-recorded presentation via screencast technology. Judges evaluated the round one submission and four teams moved on to round two, the finals! This live synchronous round two took place virtually on the morning of March 13th, when student teams presented their findings in real-time to the judging panel who evaluated their various, innovative case solutions.
The judging panel was made up of business experts, owners, faculty members and UVM alumni Amy Tomas, Dave Mount, John Wilking, Arran Joyce, Robyn Worrall, Sarah Perda, and William Nedds. The panel provided insightful feedback to the competitors and highlighted opportunities for improvement and growth in future case competitions.
“The 2021 Grossman Dean’s Cup competitors faced the dual challenges of a complex and challenging sustainable business case with the realities of competing in a virtual format. Our teams met and surpassed these challenges! Team solutions were creative and well developed. Students combined industry research with the tools and frameworks they are learning in the classroom to develop clear, engaging visually impressive presentations,” said Lead Judge, GSAC Faculty Advisor, and Director of Undergraduate Programs Dr. Amy Tomas.
After an asynchronous preliminary, and synchronous finals round, a Grossman team comprised of Meredith Gove, Anne Skudera, Emma Fox and Mackenzie Lawrence took home the gold. Congratulations!
When asked about her experience and recent involvement Anne Skudera ‘23 said “I am grateful to have collaborated with my peers virtually to generate solutions to relevant issues the business community is facing. By participating in the Grossman Dean’s Cup and other case competitions, I have had the chance to approach open-ended challenges with creativity and build the analytical skills that will apply to my future career path.”
Congratulations and thank you to all the GSAC members, student competitors, coaches, and judges!
We hope to resume in-person competition in 2022.
Final results were as follows:
1st Place - Meredith Gove, Anne Skudera, Emma Fox, Mackenzie Lawrence
2nd Place - Ailey Bosworth & Lily Goodspeed
Best Presenter – Jen O’Donnell