In February, University of Detroit Mercy took first place honors, winning the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Detroit Cup in the MBA Business Case Competition. The event is an intercollegiate contest among students at business schools throughout Southeastern Michigan to find the brightest minds for the future of mergers and acquisitions.

The winning ACG Cup team shares the moment with CBA faculty. From left: adjunct faculty member Euge Greenstein; Ann Morgan ’99, ’09; Brian Powrozek ’10; Jennifer Gallagher ’10; Professor Mary Ann Hazen; Associate Dean Ken Kuna.

The UDM CBA Team, Brian Powrozek '10, Jennifer Gallagher '10, and Ann Morgan '99, '09, took home the prized cup in the second year of this prestigious academic event, winning the top prize of $10,000 in scholarship money. Supporting the team were coaches Management Professor Mary Ann Hazen and EMBA Adjunct Euge Greenstein. In the competition, students received invaluable feedback from judges and expanded their own networks.

See video of UDM's presentation on the ACG web site.

Says Morgan, "The ACG Cup was a great opportunity. It allowed us to use the skills that we had acquired in business turnaround, decision analysis and management classes, and apply them in a real world situation. And we were just so excited to be able to bring it home to UDM our first year."

The ACG Cup was open to all graduate students officially registered at  participating schools through the 2008-2009 academic year. Competing against UDM this year were the Eli Broad School of Business at Michigan State University, Oakland University, the Ross School of Business at University of Michigan, Walsh College and Wayne State University.

The competition consisted of two case-study challenges. Teams were judged on the quality of their recommendations and presentations and responses to judges' questions.

Says Morgan, "The differentiator for us was teamwork. One of the things the judges commented on was how our team worked together so well and how we were able to incorporate contributions from all three of us into what we did."

Morgan credits CBA faculty for giving the team the background needed to win. "We can't thank Professor [Gregory] Ulferts enough for the skills and tools he gave us, and Professor Hazen and [Adjunct Instructor] Greenstein for helping us and mentoring us."