Concordia’s undergraduate business competition sets a global benchmark
The JMUCC organizing team (from left): Izak Nagar, VP finance and development; Melissa Payette, VP external affairs; Chris Carpini, VP academic affairs; Melissa Palumbo, president; W. Christopher Kovalchuk, VP corporate relations; Kaitlyn Williams, VP logistics; Stephen Young, VP marketing; Matthew Litwin, VP communications and sponsorship; missing from photo Solene Tangauy, VP judges. | Photo by Adam Castonguay
From February 22 to 28, the student-run John Molson Undergraduate Case Competition (JMUCC) will welcome 96 competitors from 24 schools and 13 countries, including Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
A team from the John Molson School of Business will also compete and is comprised of Maylen Cytryn, Franco Perugini, Michael Richardson and Andrew Wesley Graham. They are coached by Dan Silverman, Christian Bonneau and Mark Haber.
The organizers and their 50 volunteers attend to every detail of the event, offering participants an unforgettable experience. “An entire year of planning is building up to one event that’s not even about you. To understand what it means to be part of a global community, that’s something I’ll never forget,” says Matthew Litwin, VP communications and sponsorship.
From networking to budgeting, the JMUCC organizing committee has built up an array of marketable skills throughout their experience. “This committee has given me a chance to test what I can do — here’s a budget, you can build what you want, work towards a common goal. Sure, there’s a career benefit to doing it, but we do it because we love it,” Litwin says.
A well-oiled machine, the competition is an international ambassador for Concordia University, with an open-door policy. Everyone is allowed to watch the competitors in action. And for anyone who cannot attend, all 102 presentations will be broadcast live.
Guided by a seasoned advisory board that has been made up of the same experts since the event’s inception seven years ago, JMUCC is now positioned as a business-school competition benchmark. “External competitions around the world have come to know us and have asked us our advice on how to run their own competitions,” says Melissa Palumbo, the organizing committee’s president. “It’s a good measure that we’re doing something right.”
But wait, there’s more
JMUCC is one of four major case competitions hosted by the John Molson School of Business. The MBA International Case Competition is hosted by MBA students for MBA students, and generally runs during the first week of January.
In its second year, the Engineering and Commerce Case Competition (ECCC) unites engineering and business undergraduate students to fuel new ideas. The competition will run from March 10 to 15.
The Van Berkom JMSB Small-Cap Case Competition focuses on small-cap investment and is open to undergraduate and graduate-level students, and will take place on March 20 and 21.
All case competitions are open to the public and free to attend.
Can’t make it out to watch the JMUCC teams in action? Watch them live, starting on February 20.