ALLIANCE, Ohio – For the past six years, Peoples Bank has hosted an annual case competition for undergraduate students in Marietta, Ohio. The competition poses challenges to teams of three students, addressing issues relating to human resources, marketing, financial analysis and decision making. During the 2018 competition, fifteen schools including Mount Union competed for the trophy and a $1500 award to be shared among the team members.

Mount Union marketing and management major Nicolle Wilson ‘18, finance major Jonathan Konz ‘18 and financial mathematics and finance major Andy Jones ‘19 traveled to the competition and brought back the first-place trophy. Mount Union became the first university ever to win the case competition twice, following the team’s first victory in 2015.

During the qualifying round, the team defeated The College of Wooster, Ohio University and Marietta College. In the finals, Mount Union triumphed over host school Marietta College, Ohio State University and Marshall University. 

“In my opinion, the Mount Union victory was the result of a well-rounded team where the strengths and weakness of the three team members offset one another nicely,” said Bill Schweizer, assistant professor of management at Mount Union, who attended the competition with the team, along with Dr. Amber Hunt, assistant professor of finance. “The team did an exceptional job of making room for each member to contribute at the appropriate times.” 

A permanent plaque commemorating the 2018 team is already on display in the EABA trophy case, and Peoples Bank will ship the rotating trophy for Mount Union to display after having it engraved.

“We will display the trophy until we carry it back to next year’s competition—of course with the intention of bringing it back again!” said Schweizer.

For more information about the Department of Economics, Accounting and Business Administration at Mount Union, visit mountunion.edu/eaba-student-success.