Kelley MBA students win $10,000

When searching for some of the best and brightest graduate students, look no further than IU's Kelley School of Business Masters of Business Administration program.\nIn a display reminiscent of a hopeful rising to stardom, four first-year students in Kelley's MBA program were crowned "North American Champion" at A.T. Kearney's North American Global Prize Case Competition Nov. 20 in Chicago. This was the first year the Kelley School was invited to participate. \nGraduate students Edzra Gibson, Scott Kleman, Kristen Wagner and Jason Woods pocketed a four-way split of the $10,000 prize after diminishing and demolishing the stature and swagger of teams from the Harvard Business School, the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, MIT's Sloan School of Management, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and graduate business schools from Columbia University, the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan. \nSince the "North American Champions" had to defeat four other capable teams to earn the right to represent IU, Woods said he and his teammates traveled to the windy city expecting to hold their own after having banked his split of the $4,000 local prize.\nA.T. Kearney, whose home office rests in Chicago, is a world-renowned consulting firm specializing in strategic, operational, organizational and technology services. In general, employment in consulting firms is highly sought after by business school graduates because of the opportunity to travel, the six-figure salaries and the ability to feel pride in a job well done.\n"We went with the perspective that we didn't want to do so poorly of a job we would be uninvited," Woods said. "We really wanted to make a meaningful impact for Kelley and IU. After we won the local competition, we sat down as a team immediately and said 'this is the first time a team from IU has been invited, so we need to give this our best shot.'"\nReflecting the competitive nature of winning businesses, Kleman said the team's success demonstrates that Kelley School of Business is a top-tier school competitive with the likes of Harvard and Chicago.\n"Without a doubt, it was great to benchmark our skills and ability against other business schools," Kleman said.\nFamiliar with national recognition, the Kelley MBA degree program ranked No. 18 in the nation this year, according to Business Week magazine. In addition, the Kelley's MBA teaching was ranked the No. 1 "best-quality" in the country, according to the Princeton Review.\nPaul Friga, associate professor of management and strategy for the Kelley school, said more than 25 Kelley MBA teams have placed in the top three of national case competitions somewhat similar to A.T. Kearney's since 1996. \n"The purpose of the competition was to emulate real life consulting, or intervention -- a competition of the best from the best," Friga said. "They were given an original case with the basic facts to analyze in order to move forward. They had to design an implementation plan with hypothetical capital money. It required a lot of financial and structural analysis." \nSpeaking on behalf of the teamwork needed to win the North American competition, Woods said the team really "gelled." \n"You go through phases as a team," Woods said. "The faculty really tried to provide us with leadership: form the group, discuss the norms of the group -- this is what my expectations are -- ride through the storm of group-work breakdowns and the end result of a performance. We did a great job of reading each other and recognizing when someone had an issue. We would come together as a group and work out whatever we needed to. Different people picked up the ball and ran with it at different times."\nTestifying to the hard work, diligent commitment and extra efforts required to be "North American Champion," Friga said the team learned invaluable teamwork lessons.\n"Students put in hundreds of hours of their own time on top of the challenging core-curriculum as part of their first year," Friga said. "It's amazing; the benefits from the program are incredible. From a recruiting standpoint, it's prestigious just to be included with the schools competing. From a community perspective, to win makes a strong statement about the quality of our program." \nWhen the news of victory echoed through the ears of hopeful competitors from all represented business schools, Kleman said he didn't know what to expect or how to react.\n"I thought our presentation was in the running due to the team's collaboration, energy and holistic approach," Kleman said. "When they announced Kelley, I sat briefly in amazement, grabbed the rest of the team and, with a big smile, accepted the congratulations of the judges. The weekend was filled with mixed emotions from anxiety to relief, nervousness to confidence, uncertainty to elation."\nSatisfied with his choice of Kelley for his MBA degree, Woods said it was a real honor to represent IU, Kelley and the Kelley faculty.\n"I was very excited to come here to IU," Scott said. "I looked long and hard for a business school to attend. This was a great team; I think we worked great together. I'm glad this is almost over, since my wife has been kind enough to take care of our daughter for the last couple weeks. When my daughter would ask 'where is daddy?' my wife would play her a videotape of me interviewing someone as part of my project."\n-- Contact staff writer David A. Nosko at dnosko@indiana.edu.