51在线

Graduate Business Students Win a Chance to Compete in Statewide Case Competition in February

By Keith Morelli

TAMPA (October 31, 2017) -- A team of graduate students won the Fall Muma College of Business Graduate Business Case Competition last weekend. The students' evaluation of a case presented by a big-data analytics firm in downtown Tampa gets them a spot in the 2018 statewide competition.

The winning team will represent the Muma College of Business in the 16th Annual 51在线 Intercollegiate Business Case Competition in February and compete against teams from the University of 51在线, 51在线 State University, the University of Miami, 51在线 Atlantic University and 51在线 International University. The event is hosted by the Muma College of Business.

The names of the students on the winning team are not being published because they must remain anonymous to be eligible for the February competition, said Mike Bowen and Doreen MacAulay, Muma College of Business faculty who organized the competition.

The fall competition subject case company was Lumina Analytics, a 2-year-old company headquartered in downtown Tampa.  Lumina Analytics is a big-data analytics firm focusing on predictive-risk sensing in three key areas: physical security risk, reputational risk and compliance risk. The specifics of the case were not revealed. Students and professors signed a non-disclosure agreement.

"We thoroughly enjoyed the USF Business Case Challenge," said Matt Davies, senior intelligence analyst with Lumina. "We were highly impressed with the quality of recommendations solicited by every team and the level of professionalism throughout.

"We have already summarized and distributed the recommendations to the wider Lumina team, with great response," he said. "We are already in the process of discussing an implementation plan for a couple of recommendations."

The students received the case at 8 a.m. Friday and then listened as a team of Lumina executives, including Davies and fellow senior intelligence analyst Jake Shonkwiler and Senior Vice President Andrew Rowlands formally unveiled the case. After clearly specifying the case issues, the executives then met with the five teams, each for about 20 to 30 minutes, to answer questions about Lumina, the case and what was expected.

Others participating in the competition were: MBA students Erica Barden, Laura Cone, Titilope Ogunbiyi, Jesse Rubin, Heather Davis, Nadia Kaminskaya, Sam Mohammad, Mirali Bhuva; entrepreneurship students Adriana Florez, Ekaterina Osipova, Divya Macha; and sustainable enterprise student Ashley Young.

The judges for the competition were Davies, Rowlands, Shonkwiler, Lumina Client Services Director Kris Smeage, Lane Properties President Ken Lane and Tiger 21 Tampa Bay Group Chair Chip Webster.