Freeman hosts 20th Finance Case Competition

MBA teams from Washington University in St. Louis, Tulane University and the University of South Carolina took home the top honors at the A. B. Freeman School of Business’ 20th annual Rolanette and Berdon Lawrence Finance Case Competition.

The competition, which was held at the Freeman School on April 8, tests the valuation and financial analysis skills of students in a challenging, time-sensitive environment. Student teams are tasked with analyzing a real-world finance case and then presenting their recommendations to a panel of finance professional charged with selecting the top presentations.

For the second straight year, Washington University took home first-place honors and the grand prize of $7,000. Host Tulane University, represented by a team of MBA students from the Freeman School, earned second place and a prize of $5,000, and the University of South Carolina took home the third-place prize of $3,000. Also participating in this year’s competition were Southern Methodist University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Texas at Dallas and Vanderbilt University.

Serving as judges for this year’s competition were Joe Agular (A&S ’81, MBA ’88), partner with Johnson Rice & Co. in New Orleans; Chris Conoscenti (MBA/JD ’01), managing director with Credit Suisse in Houston; and Casey Herman (BSM ’86), partner with PwC in Chicago.

“I've been doing this for a number of years, and I can't remember a debate we’ve had where the shades of gray between one, two and three were so close,” Conoscenti told the teams prior to the awards presentation. “You all should be really proud of what you did.”

“The margin between teams was paper thin," added Agular. “You all made it very tough for us.”

The Finance Case Competition began in 1997 and has been sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence since 1998. Berdon Lawrence (BBA ’64, MBA ’65) is the founder of Hollywood Marine and former chairman of Kirby Corp., an operator of inland tank barges headquartered in Houston. Kirby purchased Hollywood Marine in 1999. Lawrence is also a former member of the Business School Council and a former member of the Board of Tulane.

“With the education you have, you’ve got a head start on a lot of people," Lawrence said to the participating teams, “so work hard and do well and I hope you’ll remember this competition as part of your education.”