A five-member team from DU’s Daniels College of Business edged out competitors from some of the nation’s leading business schools to take top honors in the sixth annual Race & Case competition.
The event combines a business ethics case competition and NASTAR ski/snowboard challenge at Vail Mountain Resort. This year’s DU team beat out squads from Brigham Young, George Washington, Colorado-Boulder, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Rice, Southern Methodist University, Wake Forest, South Carolina and Boston University.
The competition was launched in 2004 by members of the Graduate Business Student Association (GBSA) to complement the Daniels commitment to the teaching and practice of business ethics.
“GBSA wanted to host a case competition to bring more exposure to the school and give students an opportunity to compete and network,” says Erin Nichols, Race and Case chair. “The ski component was a way to leverage our beautiful setting near the mountains—it’s what makes this event unique because no other schools do this.”
Each team was given three weeks to prepare a presentation about a case focusing on managerial ethics in a corporate environment. The teams gathered in Denver on Feb. 27 to present their recommendations on the case to a panel of 13 volunteer judges, including executives from Janus Capital Corp., Time Warner Telecom, Re/Max International and Grant Thornton LLP.
Following the case, the teams traveled to Vail, where they competed in a ski and snowboard competition designed to test the members’ athletic prowess.
The University of Pittsburgh team won the case competition and the team from Colorado-Boulder took top honors in the race. The overall winner was the team from DU, followed by the University of Pittsburgh in second place, the University of South Carolina in third place, and Brigham Young in fourth place.
“Race and Case is a fantastic tradition and it’s the best thing I’ve done at Daniels,” says Nichols, who will graduate in June. “Everyone I’ve talked to, from current students to alumni, hold the experience dear to their hearts.”
Ed. Note: The winning team included Erika Braune, Adam Loveland, Rhys Williams, Alex Wilson and Sayantan Banerjee.