Students Win Big in Annual EMBA Business Plan Competition

Executive MBA students went head-to-head in the Cox School’s annual EMBA Business Plan Competition Friday, April 23. Out of the dozen Cox teams competing against each other for the top spot, "Team Easy Switch," made up of Yazid Kadir, Dominic Locascio, Jennifer Olvera, Saby Panda and Javi Virk, took first place, winning a $10,000 prize.

For EMBA students, the annual Cox School competition is the culmination of their program. "Entrepreneurship is the EMBA capstone class," says John Terry, adjunct professor of entrepreneurship. "It requires EMBAs to demonstrate the skills they have acquired throughout the program, including strategy, finance, accounting, marketing, research and analysis." EMBAs are divided into teams to develop their own concept, write a business plan and pitch. All teams are judged in a preliminary round by active angel investors and peers to narrow the field and eventually determine the winning team.

This year’s judges were professional investors David Matthews, founder and managing director of RevTech; Hubert Zajicek, co-founder and CEO of Health Wildcatters; and Cox EMBA alumnus Don Ritter '01, founder and CEO of Endurance Resources.

First Place
Yazid Kadir; Jennifer Olvera; Javi Virk; Saby Panda; Dominic Locascio

Second Place
Umair Surani; Brian Scott; Tim Smyczek; Brian Thomas; Barry Boland

Third Place
JW Marshall; CJ Martin; Melissa Wickham; Gabe Garroni; Mike Godsoe