Mays Business School Full-Time MBA student Russell Cardon, MBA Class of 2019, and his team won third place and $3,000 in the 2017 PepsiCo MBA Invitational Business Case Competition at Texas Christian University on October 27-28. Russell Cardon of Texas A&M University/Mays Business School is pictured on the far right. Team members shown in the photo l.to r. included Caldwell Moore of Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business, Shirin Sajjadi of TCU Neeley, Gustavo Garcia of Maryland Smith and Cardon (Mays Business School).
PepsiCo executives got a first-hand look at top MBA students from 14 universities as they competed in the 2018 PepsiCo MBA Invitational Business Case Competition at Texas Christian University Oct. 27-28. The company awarded $15,000 in cash prizes to winning teams.
Two Class of 2019 MBAs, Russell Cardon and Robert Rhodes, represented the Mays Business School in the event. Students were assigned to eight mixed teams, with each team member from a different school. The teams received the case from PepsiCo Saturday morning, worked quickly with their teammates, then presented their solutions to PepsiCo executives that afternoon. Winning teams were announced at an awards dinner that evening.
“Placing students on teams with students from other MBA programs replicates real-world business situations where colleagues and clients with different skills and interests must come together to create the best possible solution for the company,” said Kim Austin, director of the Career Management Center.
The first place winning team was comprised of students from the University of Maryland Smith School of Business, the University of Illinois College of Business, the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business and the Washington University at St. Louis Olin Business School.
Second place was awarded to the four person team representing TCU Neeley School of Business, University of Washington Foster School of Business, Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business and the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business.
Judging the competition this year were these executives from PepsiCo: Ralph Goedderz, vice president finance; Jim Hathaway, vice president planning; Richard Blazevich. Senior director marketing; Dave Boissevain, senior director sales strategy; and Ricardo Barrenechea, senior director finance.
Participating schools for the 2017 competition at TCU were:
- Columbia University, Columbia Business School
- Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business
- Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business
- Southern Methodist University, Cox School of Business
- Texas A&M University, Mays School of Business
- Texas Christian University, Neeley School of Business
- University of Illinois, College of Business
- University of Iowa, Tippie College of Business
- University of Maryland, Smith School of Business
- University of Notre Dame, Mendoza College of Business
- University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business
- University of Washington, Foster School of Business
- Vanderbilt University, Owen Graduate School of Management
- Washington University in St. Louis, Olin Business School
