Media Release

For Immediate Release

December 9, 2008

Saint Mary’s hosts first annual Sobey Business Skills Competition

Seventy-two of the best and brightest business minds from across Atlantic Canada converged on Saint Mary’s University Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 for a multi-event business skills competition.

When the dust settled, $8,750 was awarded to students across Atlantic Canada and Saint Mary’s business students made their School proud – winning or placing well in every event.

The skills competition, the first of its kind in Canada, included teams from Saint Mary's University, Dalhousie University, St. Francis Xavier University, Acadia University and Cape Breton University. Students competed for cash in competitions such as a business trivia challenge, a stock competition, a live case competition, an interview competition and a current issues challenge.

Saint Mary’s owned the podium in the Scotiabank Stock Challenge, took first and second place in the Clearwater-sponsored Quiz Bowl, and placed second in the Aliant-sponsored Interview Challenge, the D250 Current Issues Challenge, as well as the Codapop Live Case Competition.

In the Scotiabank Stock Challenge, 13 teams used 10 three-minute rounds to buy and sell stocks in an attempt to build portfolios from 10 theoretical companies representing all major financial sectors. 

The Saint Mary’s team of Chun SI, Fan Fang, Sihui Wu, Jiali Yang and Haobo Sun had the highest return on their investments.  Jesse Grieder, Terri Mann, Mark Mullally, Fadi AlMashat and Dave Neal placed second, and Felecia Thomas, Victor Gendy, David Gladstone and Ryan Mrozek was third.

In the Quiz Bowl, a tournament-style trivia competition, students hammered buzzers for the right to answer business questions and earn points. Hosted by Colin MacDonald, CEO of Clearwater, the Saint Mary's team of James Rafuse, Gopal Kallakuri and Jonathan Chase won the competition and Terri Mann, Kyle Westhaver, and Ryan Mrozek also of Saint Mary’s placed second.

Ryan Mrozek and Terri Mann of Saint Mary’s placed second in the D250 Current Issues Challenge, judged by Russell MacLellan and CBC Radio’s Jennifer Henderson. This challenge required teams to present essays on how to improve the Atlantic Canadian economy. Tyler Dilney and James Violande from Cape Breton University tied for second place, and Kelsey Peters, Katie Brewer, Blaire-Lindsay Cooke, Shelaine O’Donnell and Sarah Pyke another team from Cape Breton University, won first place in the challenge.

The Saint Mary's team of Lindsay Gallivan, James Rafuse, Zach Briggs, and Christian Moger placed second in the Codapop Live Case Competition, a competition that gave five teams two hours to prepare marketing proposals for a panel of Codapop representatives, including, Doug Tayler, Owner of Codapop, Tammy Milbury of RBC and Savior Joseph of Color. Acadia University’s team of Brady Pimlott, Cale Inglis, and Leslie Lewis won the event with Kelsey Peters, Katie Brewer, Blaire-Lindsay Cooke, Shelaine O’Donnell and Sarah Pyke from Cape Breton University placing third.

Saint Mary’s also placed second in the Aliant-sponsored Interview Challenge. In this competition, contestants had to apply for a mock position at Bell-Aliant. Three finalists were selected and granted final interviews in front of a panel of three judges (David Delaney and Deborah Moore of Bell-Aliant and Bruce Snow of Robertson Surrette). Brady Pimlott from Acadia University won the event, Catherine Rossiter from Saint Mary's placed second and Katie Brewer from Cape Breton University was third.

The First Annual Sobey Business Skills Competition was presented by CMA Nova Scotia. For more information about the competition, please visit:

http://www.smu.ca/bsc/winners.html

The Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University is the largest and most respected business school in Atlantic Canada. It is the only comprehensive business school in the region, offering Ph.D., MBA, and EMBA programs, in addition to a large undergraduate B.Comm. program.

In all, some 3,000 full- and part-time students attend the Sobey School of Business. While many of the students are from the Atlantic region, the Sobey school draws students from Europe, Asia and the Middle East, giving the campus a strong international flavour. The mission of the school is to advance management education, theory and practice through excellence in student-centered teaching, scholarship and community outreach. It is this commitment that equips the graduates of the Sobey School of Business to succeed in a constantly changing world.

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For more information:

Blake Patterson
Public Affairs Officer
Saint Mary's University, Public Affairs
(902) 420.5514
E-mail: blake.patterson@smu.ca
www.smu.ca