Smith School MBAs Win ACG Cup Case Competition

Another case competition – another honor for University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. This time a team of second-year MBA students participated in the ACG Cup Case Competition and was declared winner, impressing the judges with their analysis of case study and presentation skills, in February 2011.

The competition is designed to give students from leading MBA programs across the country real world experience and invaluable insights into mergers and acquisitions, investment banking, financial advisory and private equity. The teams from distinguished schools as Georgetown University, American University, George Washington University, and University of Maryland participated to compete against each other.

The case study provided the teams with the opportunity to present valuation, capital markets and M&A strategic advice to a panel of seasoned M&A professionals from within the ACG community. Derek Criswell, Elan Rozmaryn, Nicolas Godfrey, and Quint Mansell formed the team to represent the Robert H. Smith School of Business. The team worked hard to analyze and understand the challenges presented in the case and prepared a comprehensive response to come up with excellent recommendations.

Mansell attributed the success to strong background developed through Smith coursework: “We felt that the strong community atmosphere gave us the ability to create synergies in our group. Additionally, the unique courses offered at Smith gave us a leg up on the competition.”

The team returned with the first-place prize money – $1,500 – while competing against some of the best MBA minds in the nation. This was the third time University of Maryland won this competition, and surely not the last!

Nabeel Jawad, MBA Candidate 2011, Smith Media Group