A team of MBA students from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business, brought home UT’s first-ever SEC MBA Case Competition winner’s trophy. Gregg Hammond, Lauren McNamara, Joe Moulden and Lauren Porter took first place in the ninth annual competition, which was held in Lexington, Kentucky, in early April.

For the competition, the team worked on a business problem from Valvoline, Inc. Randy Bradley, associate professor in supply chain management and the team’s advisor, said the team researched and analyzed the company from all angles.

“When our name was called, I was extremely excited and happy for the team because I know all the hard work they put in to come together and bond as one cohesive unit,” Bradley said. “It was sheer exhilaration.”

Calling Bradley’s long experience with the SEC case competition a significant benefit to the team, Moulden said, “He guided us, giving us sample prompts to prepare for and then giving us valuable feedback on how to improve our performance. Just having time around Dr. Bradley, seeing the way he takes care of business, has helped our professional development. It is one of the most valuable learning experiences in the program.”

McNamara said because of the extra workload the competition requires from participants, it was tough to assemble a team, but when she, Hammond, Porter and Moulden finally came together, each member brought a unique set of skills that contributed to the team’s success, enabling them to perform at their best for the college.

“I felt confident because my teammates are so smart and such great presenters; when we were up there, we really held the room,” she said.

The team closely studied the company, from product offerings to product failures to industry reports to the résumés of the board of directors and C-suite executives.

Porter said knowing the company inside and out came through in the final presentation. “Coming up with first place shows that putting in all that effort and work is what can put you above the competition,” she said.

Hammond called participating in the competition similar to taking an additional business course. “This was a learning opportunity, from public speaking to critical thinking to a big picture look at a company that’s going through an organizational change,” he said. “I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. I encourage anyone to do this competition, because you can get so much out of this.”

According to Tara Mohrfeld, director of academic and student services for graduate business programs, the judges were impressed with the Haslam team’s executive presence, composure, detailed recommendations and polished presentation.

“A long-time case competition advisor said it was the best presentation he’s seen in his 27 years of developing teams,” she said. “We are proud of the incredible job they did in their presentation.”

Teams had approximately 24 hours to outline an approach to the real-world challenge from Valvoline while also organizing the presentation for the competition. Senior executives from Valvoline comprised the judging panels. They considered each presentation, selected four teams to advance to the finals and ranked the final four teams.

In the overall competition, Vanderbilt University finished second, followed by Auburn University and the University of Alabama. In individual competitions, Haslam’s Gregg Hammond also was named the best presenter in Division D.

The contest in Lexington, hosted by the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky, marked the first time since 2019 the SEC MBA Case Competition was held in person.

The competition provides a high-level experiential learning opportunity for SEC business school students to showcase their skills at solving simulated, real-world problems that cover the spectrum of business disciplines. The 2023 competition is scheduled to be held at the University of Georgia.

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CONTACT:

Scott McNutt, business writer/publicist, rmcnutt4@utk.edu