Carlson MIS Team Show Their Stuff in Canada and Florida

Two Carlson School MIS teams recently returned from Vancouver and Florida with notable results. Team Galileo Group competed at CaseIT in Vancouver and took first in division to make it to the finals. Team Nomad at the Heavener International Case Competition in Gainesville, Florida, just missed making the final round by a hair.

At CaseIT, the Carlson team of Nick Berger, Julia Garbuz, Indu Damodar, and Hunter Volkman competed in a short (five-hour) case involving talent onboarding and a long (30- to 40-hour) case about increasing agility through an innovation lab. Both cases were sponsored by Colliers Canada.

“The long case was extremely difficult as it was an industry that is new to most students, commercial real estate,” says team coach Corrie Fiedler. “I was honestly expecting some teams to drop out during the isolation period. This sort of difficulty results in very different recommendations which makes judging even more difficult than usual. Even though I’m pretty experienced at this, I had no idea how the judges would rank the finalist teams.”

The Carlson team ended up first in their division in both cases.

Belgium’s Université Libre de Bruxelles took home first place in the overall competition. The Carlson School has been in the Vancouver finals four of the last five years.

“This competition and the pre-work leading up to it has made me apply all the information I have learned throughout my MIS and finance undergraduate courses on a global stage,” said team member Nick Berger.

Teammate Julia Garbuz said the ability to immediately apply what she learned in her academic courses to the real world was a priceless experience. “I will hold onto these incredible memories and valuable knowledge and skills with me for many years,” she says.

Wenqing Wu, Mark Chia, Alekh Kale, and Amy Olsen represented the Carlson School at the Heavener International Case Competition in Florida. Lucas Vaz also trained with the team, but was unable to make the trip.

The team’s short case was about broadening a firm’s reach, sponsored by Study Edge, and the long case was, like at CaseIT, on talent onboarding, this time sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton. “Other than the sponsor, they read similarly,” Fiedler says. “Our teams did very well in both. Booz Allen Hamilton said to our team, ‘I’d hire you all on the spot. And I don’t say that to every team.’”

The team took fourth in the division in the short case and second in the long case. The winning team was Chulalongkorn University of Thailand.

Team member Mark Chia said the experience was the highlight of his undergraduate life at the Carlson School. “I now understand better how to tailor my presentations to suit the audience’s needs and wants, which is critical in successful pitches,” he said.

Special Thanks
Over nine years, exceptional sponsors, corporate partners, faculty, and students have moved the Carlson School MIS teams from unknowns to a “university to be reckoned with.” Fielder gives special thanks to Professor Gedas Adomavicius, Senior Teaching Specialist Kevin Kuhn, Senior Lecturer Tim Olson, Jan DeGross, and Ken Reily.