The final round of the Northwestern Mutual Integrated Business Case Competition was held this past Saturday in the Business Leadership Building. Five finalist teams, selected out of 28 total teams, competed for prizes and recognition, presenting their strategic recommendations for the ReStore operations of the Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity. Thanks to the continued generosity of College of Business alum Tait Cruse of Northwestern Mutual, the Texas Financial Group, the winning team members each received $750 (with $150 per member for 2nd place and $100 for 3rd).
Judges for the competition included Ron Collins, Vice President of ReStore, Bernardino (Dino) Martinez, a store manager at ReStore, Patrick Matthews and Hugh McFadden, both Managing Directors at Northwestern Mutual, The Texas Financial Group, and Dean Finley Graves, representing the College of Business.
The students did a great job, showing how much they have learned throughout their entire education here at UNT. Many of the students invited family and friends to provide support, enjoy the presentations and lunch, and see the cpmination of the student’s hard work.
While a difficpt decision, the judges finally were able to identify 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams. Members of the top three teams are listed below (and shown in the attached PowerPoint). If you know any of these students, please congratpate them on their good work.
The Judges
Patrick Matthews, Northwestern Mutual, Hugh McFadden, Northwestern Mutual, Finley Graves, Dean, College of Business, Bernardino (Dino) Martinez, ReStore, Ron Collins, ReStore, Habitat for Humanity
First Place Winners
Justin Caldwell, Linda Braund, Preston Pavla'T, Aleksey Gurov, Benjamin Dethlefs & Sunny Malik. Also pictured are Hugh McFadden (2nd row left) and Patrick Matthews (2nd row right) of Northwestern Mutual.
Second Place Winners
Christopher Bennett, Maria Gloria, Steven Hicks, Robert Knox, Jonathan Moncrief (not shown), Patrick Russell, Trevor Sailors, and Andrew Shuster.
Also pictured are Hugh McFadden (2nd row left) and Patrick Matthews (upper right) of Northwestern Mutual.
Third Place Winners
Grant Saab, Emily Johnston, Michael Patterson, Brendan Knickerbocker, Caroline Cremer (not shown) and Vinh Truong. Also pictured are Hugh McFadden (2nd row left) and Patrick Matthews (2nd row right) of Northwestern Mutual.
Also doing a great job, but not placing in the top three, were the following teams. Again, they are to be congratpated for all of their efforts.
Alvaro Acevedo, Anthony Aguilar, Mary Anne Keifer, Kyle Brand, Marcy Moseley, Henrry Carranza, Victoria Murry, John Diaz, Brandon Perryman, Derek Froidl, Ashley Purdin, Justin Gapen, April Tallman, Arron Martinez, Regina Torres, Angel Meraz