Finalists in the first Olin Business School Sustainability Case Competition (OSCC) will present their solutions to the university’s parking problems on Friday, Feb. 12 in Simon Hall’s May Auditorium on the Danforth Campus. A $5,000 grand prize will be awarded to the winning team at a reception in the Knight Center following the presentations.
More than 100 Olin students representing every program from undergraduate to MBA entered the competition in December. Sharon Yoon, associate director of MBA student affairs, says the participation “exceeded our expectations.”
“We were thrilled with the interest,” Yoon says. “The quality of the entries was generally quite strong. We saw a lot of very creative suggestions and unique approaches to solving the on-campus parking challenges at WUSTL.”
Owen Bochner, a second-year MBA student at Olin and one of the organizers of the OSCC says, “this inaugural competition is the fruition of over two years of planning by the MBA Programs Office and several MBA student organizations to raise awareness of and engagement with sustainability among the Olin student body.”
Olin’s chapter of Net Impact is one of the sponsors of the competition. Its goal, according to Bochner is “to raise awareness of corporate responsibility and sustainability at Olin and to promote the use of business to create a better world.” Other sponsors include: Anheuser-Busch, Edward Jones, Peabody Energy and the Olin Strategy and Consulting Association.
Finalists’ presentations to the panel of judges will be open to the community beginning at 1 p.m. Feb. 12. Judges include: Steve Hoffner, associate vice chancellor for operations; Matt Malten, assistant vice chancellor for sustainability; Gail Choate, deputy director of planning for St. Louis County; Nick Stoff, director of parking and transportation services; Dan Elfenbein, assistant professor of strategy at Olin; and E.J. Hullverson, Olin MBA ’09 and author of this year’s OSCC case.
Registration is required to attend the awards reception at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 12 in the Knight Center and to enter a raffle drawing with $1,000 worth of prizes.
Members of the final four teams in the OSCC:
Team 4:
Justin Blau, BSBA 2013
David Maxwell, BSBA 2013
Johan Olofsson, BSBA 2013
Amanda Signorelli, BA 2013 (Arts & Sciences undergrad)
Team 7:
Brock MacDonald, BSBA 2010
Aparna Misra, BSBA/MSF 2010
Victor Roy, BSBA 2010
Team 12:
Matt Basler, MBA 2011
Aaron Davidson, MBA 2011
Akshay Honnatti, MBA 2011
Steven Pedro, MBA 2011
Team 29:
Babatunde Ilori, MBA 2010
Kavya Naini, MBA 2010
Greta Simon, MBA 2010
Stephen Wiese, JD/MBA 2010
