This could well be the most successful month in the history of the Faculty of Business Administration. Student teams have collected one bronze, two silver and a whopping five first place finishes in various competitions this semester, with six of these awards coming in March. At various competitions across the country and around the world, Memorial has a developed a reputation for being a tough team to beat.

Memorial students won gold in the 2009 Network of International Business School (NIBS) case competition. Team members, Ryan Gosse, Ryan Hopkins, Andrea Kean and Katie Mercer, were in Tennessee for that competition. The team beat last year’s reigning champions, the Helsinki School of Economics in the final round on March 13.

Another Memorial team, this one consisting of three MBA students, Trevor Earle, Leonard Felix and Amanda Traverse, and one B.Comm.(co-op) student, Erin Gullage finished in first place in the Dalhousie Credit Risk Case Competition.

The world champion SIFE team competed in the regional competition in Halifax, Nova Scotia on March 5 and 6. They won first place in two categories, financial literacy and entrepreneurship. The strength of the SIFE programs and the commitment of the students have earned SIFE Memorial a berth in the national competition later in the spring.

Maria Smirnoff, a recent B.Comm.(co-op) graduate, placed first as the lead forecaster in the Atlantic Canada Chartered Financial Analyst Forecasting Competition.

The undergraduate case team of Samantha Attwood, Erin Gullage, MaryBeth Handrigan and Adam Power won silver in the John Molson School of Business Undergraduate Case Competition in February and the same students also placed second in the 2008 Network of International Business Schools (NIBS) case competition in Coventry, England, last spring. Two of the team members, Samantha Attwood and Erin Gullage, competed in the Intercollegiate Business Competition (ICBC) in January, where they also placed second and brought home a silver medal.

Undergraduate students Kasey Chaulk, Rosemary Flinn, Jana Harding and Nick Hounsell placed third in the P&G Marketing competition held in Halifax in March.

This host of awards comes as no surprise to Dr. Gary Gorman, dean of the Faculty of Business. “Memorial’s business students have a legacy of success in case competitions and more recently with the Students in Free Enterprise program, and I think it speaks to the quality of our programs, the dedication of our faculty members who act as coaches and advisors, the support of the business community and the willingness of our students to get involved and put in the time and hard work necessary to succeed,” he explained. “I’m very proud of all those involved.”

The NIBS team and the John Molson School of Business Undergraduate Case Competition team and were both coached by Peggy Coady. Lynn Morrissey is the faculty advisor for SIFE Memorial. Dr. Alex Faseruk coached the Dalhousie Credit Risk team and Ms. Smirnoff in the Atlantic Canada Chartered Financial Analyst Forecasting Competition. Dr. Tim Jones coached the P&G Marketing Competition team.