New to Foster: The Global Case Competition Leadership & Development Team

GC3’s Leadership & Development Team

A sampling of the new GC3 Leadership & Development Team during their first get-together.

To send the strongest, most equipped, and cohesive teams to international case competitions, while still offering life changing experiences to students, the Foster School of Business’ Global Business Center (GBC) created the Global Case Competition Leadership and Development Team. The goal of the team is to prepare student competitors for international competitions, and their future careers, by creating a competitive and uplifting ecosystem that will generate highly functional and well-socialized teams. During Spring Quarter, 16 students were selected for this opportunity. For more information about the Global Case Competition Club (GC3) and the Leadership & Development Team, check out their website.

Andrew Chan

“Greetings, my name is Andrew and I am originally from Hong Kong.

I am a senior currently majoring in Finance and minoring in Education, Learning, and Societies. This summer, I have kept myself busy to prepare for the upcoming law school admissions cycle. My past work experience includes being a legal intern at the Seattle Municipal Court and the Washington State Administrative Law Court.

My favorite case competition to date is the Target Consulting Challenge. The competition requires the team to meet with the business owner, and tailor a recommendation that would help the business owners put their products on shelf to Washington Target stores. This experience gave me a unique opportunity to see the operation challenges of small business owners face, and applying our creativity to solve the owner’s problem.

I have a few words of advice for those who are eager to participate in future case competitions:

1) Be very passionate about the project you will be/are working on. I strongly encourage you to be passionate about the case that you will be/ are working on. Turn your anxiousness to positive energy. Make use of your knowledge and learn what you don’t know. Be passionate in everything you do.

2) Try your absolute best. Winning is not everything about case competition. It is more about your attitude, motivation, and commitment to achieve your best. You should take a deep breath, think clearly what is your goal and ultimate takeaways in participating this case competition.

3) Treat your team as a unit. Pulling a good case competition is essentially about teamwork, coherency, and bonding. You should always cover a person’s blindside and balance your team’s weaknesses to strengths. Know everyone on your team, learn what they do best and utilize their strengths will help you succeed in a case competition.

Hopefully you will enjoy whatever case competition or project you are working on, and compete with a mindful sense with other teams. Good luck 🙂 ”

Bianca Cheung

“My name is Bianca and I’m heading into my third year at the University of Washington. I’m studying finance at Foster as well as biology/chemistry for my research interests. I enjoy giving presentations, so over the years at UW, I have presented my research projects, taught physics at a high school, and, of course, competed in a few case competitions. The competition that stands out most to me is the Global Business Health Case Competition. It’s a relatively new case competition, and requires that at least two different majors are represented on a team. I found that it was a really engaging way of combining my (and my teammates’) interests and knowledge in healthcare-related research with case competitions. It’s a great feeling when everything comes together and a case topic matches with your background or personal interests. My advice for case competitions: even though it’s hard to work with busy schedules, try to be with your team as much as possible. Working in the same physical space makes a huge difference in how quickly decisions are made, information is shared, and teams become comfortable.”

Keenan Goodman

“Hello, my name is Keenan. I am studying Finance in the Foster School of Business and pursuing a minor in Informatics. I have worked as an Operations Management Intern at a mid-sized manufacturing company named Columbia Machine Inc. and, most recently, as an IT Intern at Liberty Mutual Insurance.

My favorite case competition experience so far was the ABSA Case Competition that was created this last Spring. My teammates made this competition quite fun and educational. The team dynamic was great and we came up with a solution we were all genuinely passionate about.

Advice for new competitors: share your ideas fearlessly, you have more insight than you may think!”

Mike Guevarra

Mike is a Junior at Foster, concentrating in Marketing & Information Systems. He has interned with Boeing, Foster’s Marketing Team, and now a small educational consulting firm in China. His favorite case competition was Northwestern Mutual 2016, as he felt it was the most interesting and fun team dynamic he has been a part of. His advice for students interested in Case Competitions is to try competing with people of all experience levels and backgrounds!

Preston Gulledge

Preston is a Senior at Foster majoring in Finance, International Business, and minoring in Chinese. He interned with PwC management consulting last summer. His favorite case competition thus far in his time at UW has been the Harvard Global Case Competition as it was historically accurate biopharmaceutical start-up valuation case that blended VC, PE, and consulting. If Preston could offer one piece of advice to new case competition contestants, it would be: “Think Blue Ocean.”

Nick Harmon

“I am a rising junior majoring in finance. Ideally I will stay within the area and work in corporate finance. My favorite case I participated in was the Global Business Health Case Competition. I enjoyed it because I was able to work with a tight knit team and apply what I had learned in Foster into the real world. My advice for someone who is new to case competitions is to be organized and willing to provide and give feedback to their teammates.”

Karah Hsu

“I plan to concentrate in Marketing and Finance. My favorite case competition is the Russell Investments International Case Competition because I learned the most during that case competition. The best way to improve your case competition skills is to practice.”

Rose Jao

“Hello! My name is Rose, a Junior in the Foster School of Business studying Marketing, Finance, and HR. I am currently a Supply Chain intern at Boeing, and during the school year I am a Marketing/Communications intern for a tech company called SWAT Systems. My favorite case competition thus far is the Russell Investments International Case Competition of 2016. A sudden drop forced us to scramble and find a last minute replacement member, which ended up forming of the most dynamic and collaborative teams I’ve ever been on. A word of advice I have for beginners is to dive-in immediately and build your experience. You can only truly improve at case competitions by doing them–there is no magic book, website, or template.”

Cody Ng

“Hey there! My name’s Cody, and I’m a rising senior studying Business Administration: Finance and Information Systems. I’m currently interning at Apple as a Project Manager Intern and have interned at Goldman Sachs and Amazon in the past!

My favorite case competition has been the UW Global Business Case Competition (GBCC), where teams from all around the world congregated at Foster for a week of competition, events/activities, and fun. Through GBCC, I created genuine friendships with students from Singapore, Portugal, etc. and learned from/competed against some of the best student consultants in the world.

For a new case competitor, my piece of advice to him/her would be to try to determine and understand his/her strengths and weaknesses early on; I’m a big advocate of playing to one’s strengths while also studying and improving one’s weaknesses.”

Carolyn Qi

“My name is Carolyn, and I am a Junior studying Marketing and Information Systems at the Foster School of Business. My favorite case competition was a EY Competition on the topic of cars and new car technology because it gave me a chance to look into a whole new industry I never thought about before. My suggestion for people interested in case competitions is to do lots! The more experienced you are at them, the more fun they become.”

Renee Ren

“Hello! My name is Renee, a sophomore studying business at Foster. I plan to major in Finance and International Business (Spanish Track).  During my first year at the University of Washington, I have taken on leadership roles in the Supplier Diversity Program and my business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi. I also really enjoy case competitions because they have helped me to improve my teamwork, research and presentation skills. My favorite case competition was the Russell Investments International Case Competition last fall because I learned a lot about the Airline Industry and was able to construct a creative expansion plan for Emirates Airlines. One advice that I have for people who are new to case competitions is to divide the tasks strategically among each team member. It is always more efficient to assign responsibilities depending on each person’s strengths instead of trying to do all the work together.”

Amanda Schmitz

“Hi there! My name is Amanda, and I’m an incoming senior majoring in Business Administration, concentrating in Marketing and Information Systems. In terms of my professional experience, I’ve had the opportunity to intern for SAP Concur for two summers, and I’ve been heavily involved across a variety of organizations and activities in the Foster School of Business — especially case competitions. Case competitions hold a special place in my heart, and among them, the Global Health Business Case Competition is my favorite because of the cross-major collaboration and interesting charges. My biggest piece of advice for case competitions: quantify every piece of your plan.”

Skye Scofield

Skye is a Junior at the University of Washington Foster School of Business, studying Finance and Information Systems, and pursuing departmental honors. He’s been involved in a variety of organizations across campus and this year is serving as Managing Partner of Montlake Consulting Group and Programming Director of the Interfraternity Council, in addition to his involvement with GLDT. He spent his summer as a Business Intelligence Intern with OmniePartners, and when he’s not working, he loves to sail, ski and work on his basketball game.

Favorite case competition: “My favorite case competition was the 2017 Deloitte Case Competition. The charge was both broad and focused, and we had enough information to create dynamic, detailed solutions to an engaging problem.”

Key Advice: “Never stop asking questions. Your curiosity is your greatest strength in case competitions, the more you learn, the better you’ll get.”

Sophie Wong-on-Wing

Sophie is majoring in accounting and minoring in dance. As an intern, she worked in consulting and assurance, and she also enjoys freelance dancing. She is starting full time with EY next year. Her favorite case competition was the Global Health Business Case Competition because it incorporated issues outside of business and required working with people from different industry backgrounds. Her word of advice to new case competitors would be: Practice!

Davin Yeom

“I’m a senior studying business administration, with a focus in accounting and information systems. I interned at PACCAR Financial this past summer, and I hope to go into public accounting with a CPA after graduation. PwC’s accounting challenge was my favorite case competition, because it allowed for very creative problem solving and frequent interactions with the mentor. My advice for case competitions would be to highlight individual strengths and use your resources wisely.”

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