By Nathaniel Luce
A student team from the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management placed second among 70 top business schools in an MBA business case competition focused on preparing women and minorities for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Sponsored by the Executive Leadership Foundation and Exxon Mobil Corporation, the annual competition invited MBA/MA teams to analyze a compelling business issue that challenged their critical thinking, analytical, and communications skills. The 2013 winners were selected by a distinguished panel of judges that included leaders from corporations and non-profits such as BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Merck, Sustainable Star, The Johns Hopkins University, and the National Council of La Raza.
Vanderbilt MBA students Andre Hill (MBA ’13), Sharde Miller (MBA ’14), Shandra Scott (MBA ’14), Veronica Barnes (MBA ’14), and Ketiwe Zipperer (MBA ’14) made up this year’s team, which will receive a $20,000 cash scholarship award.
Case competition teams were tasked with defining the roles that corporations should play to ensure access to a diverse, domestic workforce literate in STEM fields. Based on this, students developed specific strategies for a green technology firm named Crystal Wind Associates (with $70 million in annual revenues) that needed to recruit and sustain diverse, domestic STEM talent to fuel both current and future growth initiatives.
Vanderbilt’s team recommended an initial $1,110,000 investment spread out over five years across the following initiatives:
Fund – Annual merit-based scholarships for undergraduate students with STEM related fields (focused on minority students) to increase access to STEM education
Educate – Paid summer externships with Crystal Wind Associates for local middle and high school teachers to improve their understanding of market trends and needs to apply to their classroom curriculum and improve student awareness of STEM career opportunities
Influence – Partner with companies in similar fields (i.e. ExxonMobil, GE, etc.) to form a STEM marketing coalition to increase awareness of STEM related careers and dispel negative perceptions of STEM professionals among 13 – 25 year olds
Employ – Develop Crystal Wind Associates’ talent philosophy and employer brand, offer summer internships for undergraduate students, offer apprenticeships to students in 2-year technical/vocational programs, and establish a leadership development program
To easily assess the success of these initiatives, the Vanderbilt team developed a scorecard with specific metrics to be tracked on a quarterly basis.
“I would like to congratulate all of the teams for their strong showings in The Executive Leadership Foundation’s Business Case Competition,” said Ronald C. Parker, president and CEO of The Executive Leadership Council and Foundation. “For our nation to compete globally, we need more college graduates with degrees and training in the STEM fields. It will be important for corporations to build a qualified pipeline of American workers to fill these jobs,” Parker added.
A team from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a team from Wake Forest University’s School of Business placed first and third, respectively.
Contact Person: Ryan Underwood Business Editor Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management
Contact Phone: (615) 322-3469
Contact Email: ryan.underwood@owen.vanderbilt.edu
