November 2, 2005

Krannert team tops IU in 'live' case competition

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. –A team of Krannert School of Management undergraduates at Purdue University topped seven other teams – three from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business – in the seventh annual Krannert-Kelley Case Challenge.

The competition, sponsored by a student group, the Krannert School of Management Council, took place on Oct. 23. The teams, each with four students, presented marketing ideas for SonarMed and Greg Ayers, the company's chief financial officer. In addition to the winning Krannert team, IU teams and one team from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, three other Krannert teams participated.

The members of the winning team were Bryce Ondell, a senior from LaCrosse, Wis.; Bobby LaRue, a senior from Naperville, Ill.; Michael Paddock, a senior from Gurnee, Ill.; and David Fox, a senior from Naperville, Ill. The members of the team each received a prize of $250, provided by the Krannert Undergraduate Leadership Account.

The teams used SonarMed's business plan and had only 24 hours to do research for their presentations before a panel of judges.

Sara Stein Koch, director of the Krannert School's Undergraduate Management Communication Center, said the student teams achieved a great deal in the short preparation time.

"SonarMed's Greg Ayers was surprised and pleased with what the students were able to assimilate and present," Stein Koch said. "It was a good experience from the students' point of view, too.

"One team told me, 'We should do this more often.'"

In addition to Ayers, the other judges were Henry "Hank" Suerth, entrepreneur-in-residence at the Burton D. Morgan Center in Discovery Park; Julie Goonewardene, associate director of technology commercialization at Discovery Park; Amy Childress, who received her MBA from Krannert; and Bob Balcerzak, an independent consultant from Indianapolis.

SonarMed is a Purdue Research Park company.

Writer: Mike Lillich, (765) 494-2077, mlillich@purdue.edu

Source: Sara Stein Koch, (765) 496-3183, saraj@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

To the News Service home page