Five Students Win Wikler Case Competition

A group of five students won the 2011 Wikler Case Competition on Friday, April 15, 2011, after weeks of preparing to compete against six other peer groups. The groups argued a case titled, “Valuation of AirThread Connections” to judges earlier in the day. The case, which came from Harvard Business Publishing, involved the acquisition of AirThread Connections, a large regional cellular provider, by American Cable Communications.

The competition provided an opportunity for students to showcase their abilities, while simulating roles in the financial management profession. Each team developed and supported a solution and a strategy for the real-world organization’s issue. Eric Kuang, Cindy Li, Christine Perry, Bryan Huang and Alex Wang won first place in the competition and $1,000 each. They were presented a check by Joseph Wikler, a judge and the sponsor of the competition.

Wikler, a graduate of Yale Law School and Yale University, is a private investor currently serving as a director of Oppenheimer Family of Mutual Funds and numerous privately held companies. He also serves on the Investment Committee of the Associated Jewish Charities of Baltimore. Wikler was a consultant for the T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Value fund for many years and was the director of research and chief investment officer for the Rothschild Company.

“I started this competition to help the undergraduate program. I believe that incentives matter,” Wikler said. “I think incentives make students work harder, and in turn it is a much better result for teachers. I really like the way the competition has been integrated into the program at Smith.”

Other judges of the competition included Peter Clyne, vice president of mergers and acquisitions for Lockheed Martin’s Information Systems and Global Services; Jay Gouline, president of Springlake Corporation and Mayfield Associates, LLC; and Alex Triantis, professor of finance and the chair of the finance department at the Smith School.

“All of the teams did a great job and we were really proud of all the effort that went into these smooth presentations,” Triantis said.

Jessica Bauer, Office of Marketing Communications