Northwestern University Clinches the Victory at Fifth Annual National MBA Case Competition Sponsored by Deloitte and the Deloitte Foundation

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Jan 12, 2015, 02:00 ET

NEW YORK, Jan. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Deloitte and the Deloitte Foundation announced that a team from Northwestern University (Kellogg) won the fifth annual National Case Competition held at Deloitte University, the organization's landmark campus for learning and leadership development near Dallas, Texas. The school's winning team of Matt Heintz, Andry Lesmana, and Bora Sekerel earned the top scholarship award of $20,000.

Fifteen finalist student teams from top MBA programs analyzed a set of complex strategic choices for Quirky Inc., a consumer products company headquartered in New York. Each team was provided with a series of strategic issues facing Quirky, a detailed fact base on the case, and a 10-hour time limit to formulate recommendations related to segment selection, "winning" positioning, and scale – all to support profitable growth. Teams presented their strategies and recommendations to a panel of judges that included Deloitte leaders and industry experts.

"I was incredibly impressed with this year's lineup of competitors," said Kim Frazier, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and a competition judge. "The students displayed high levels of creativity, confidence, and insight during this high-pressure competition. I have no doubt that in the future they will play major roles in developing impactful solutions to the world's crucial business issues. Congratulations to Northwestern and all of the participating teams."

Student teams from the following schools were also recognized for their efforts:

New York University (Stern) - $10,000
University of Chicago (Booth) - $6,000
University of Virginia (Darden) - $3,000

During the case study competition, the work of the teams was evaluated by judges including:

Bijal Shah, director of retail and CPG analytics, iBotta Inc.
Dan Hawkins, senior product manager, TripAdvisor
Danny Maloney, chief executive officer and co-founder, Tailwind
David Strand, E14 Fund Management Inc.
Doug Hwang, product manager, Etsy
Janna Garza, vice president of platform engagement and community, Quirky Inc.
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, journalist, JP2E
Jonathan Leland, director of community engagement, Kickstarter
Kevin Flatt, brand director, MNML
Lindsay Casler, vice president of sales and product operations, Quirky Inc.
Marc Maleh, managing director, R/GA
Nancy Chen, vice president of merchandise planning, Quirky Inc.
Rich Eagles, regional director, DuPont Sustainable Solutions

"For more than 86 years the Deloitte Foundation has been developing future business talent. This case competition is one of many programs that we sponsor to help achieve this goal," said Carol Lindstrom, president, Deloitte Foundation. "Real life experiences like this are an important supplement to in-classroom learning and can sharpen students' ability to perform as critical thinkers, innovators, and leaders."

In addition to the winners, this year's finalists included teams of students from the following MBA programs:

Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)
Columbia Business School University
Cornell University (Johnson)
Dartmouth College (Tuck)
Duke University (Fuqua)
Emory University (Goizueta)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
The University of Texas at Austin (McCombs)
University of California, Los Angeles (Anderson)
University of Michigan (Ross)
University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

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SOURCE Deloitte