University of New Haven MBA Students Place Third in Innovative National Case Competition

A team of MBA students from the University of New Haven recently earned national recognition, placing third at the Ivy MBA Mind-to-Market Case Competition hosted by Iowa State University. Facing off against top programs from across the country, the team was challenged to develop and present a commercialization strategy for emerging energy technology.

For the students involved, the experience was about more than the final result. It was an opportunity to test their skills in real time, strengthen their ability to collaborate, and translate complex ideas into clear, actionable strategies.

Competing in the Ivy Mind-to-Market Case Competition at Iowa State University was one of the most demanding and clarifying experiences of my MBA program. Our three-person team faced a real challenge from the start. None of us had a technical background, yet we were tasked with building a commercialization strategy for autothermal pyrolysis technology, a subject well outside our training.

The other teams had more members, more diversified disciplines, and had known about their participation since October of last year. Balancing that alongside the pressure of a live competition pushed me to operate at a level of focus and adaptability that I hadn’t been tested in before.

The experience in the room with the judges was equally formative. Their questions were pointed and thorough, and at one moment it became clear that a core element of our strategy hadn’t landed the way we intended. Rather than defend a position that wasn’t holding up, I chose to acknowledge it directly and told the judges that we had missed the mark. It was a deliberate decision, rooted in my conviction that honesty and integrity matter more than the appearance of confidence. When we advanced to the finals, that moment felt like the most meaningful part of the result.

What I carried home from Iowa was not just a result. It was a reinforcement of the values I want to lead with throughout my career. Being authentic, acting with integrity, and having the willingness to acknowledge mistakes and grow from them are not secondary qualities in business. They are the foundational ones. I also learned something unexpected about my own resilience: that I am capable of performing at a high level and winning under conditions that most people would consider impossible, such as presenting to the C-suite of Rise Energy after not having slept for 42 hours. I didn’t know that about myself before this experience, and I certainly do now.

When I first began preparing for the Ivy Mind-to-Market Case Competition at Iowa State University, I knew it would push me outside my comfort zone. What I did not expect was how much it would expand my understanding of finance and strengthen my confidence in applying financial analysis to real-world business decisions.

While working on the case, I approached it primarily from a financial perspective. The process pushed me to dive deeper into concepts such as fund allocation, equity analysis, and the distinction between CapEx and OpEx. I spent a lot of time researching and refining these ideas to understand how the technology in the case could realistically be financed and brought to market. During the presentation, I had the opportunity to explain these complex financial concepts to the judges and show how they supported our broader strategy. Being able to contribute that financial perspective to our team’s solution was incredibly rewarding.

The competition also reminded me of the importance of teamwork. Preparing our presentation required intense collaboration, including spending an entire night without sleep, refining our strategy and slides. Even during those long hours, we managed to keep our spirits high, sharing laughs and encouraging one another to keep pushing forward.

Beyond the competition itself, the journey was just as memorable. Traveling together, cracking jokes, and sharing the excitement of representing the University of New Haven created moments I will never forget. Placing among such strong teams was an incredible honor, but the experience itself, what we learned and achieved together, is what I value the most.

The preparation for the Competition was an experience that tested my analytical capabilities together with the ability to translate complex information into a clear strategic objective. Our team began preparing for the competition by working through case materials provided by our professor Maurice (Mo) Cayer, Ph.D., prior to our trip down. It quickly became clear that the scope of the challenge required not only extensive research but also strong coordination among each other.

Each of us brought different strengths and experience, and an early priority was identifying how those strengths could best complement one another. This allowed us to divide the workload strategically and contribute depth and clarity to different parts of our overall solution.

A significant part of my preparation involved conducting research on previous participants and winning teams whose approaches were published on the official Ivy Mind-to-Market Case Competition webpage. Studying how past competitors structured their arguments and communicated their strategies provided valuable insight on how to approach the case. Additionally, speaking with previous participants from the University of New Haven offered practical guidance and a new perspective on the demands of the competition, helping shape how we approached our preparation and presentation materials.

In preparation to reach the final stage, our team spent more than 48 hours immersed in research, analysis, and refining our strategy, functioning on less than an hour of sleep and memories we will be taking with us. Despite the challenge, this experience strengthened my confidence in my ability to perform in high-pressure, fast-paced environments.

Our main objective was to develop a clear commercialization strategy for the client, Rise Energy, and highlight how they convert underutilized biomass into valuable, carbon-negative products to increase awareness and reduce emissions. We were required to translate technical and research insights into a format that was both accessible and engaging for the board of directors in Ames, Iowa. Balancing analytical depth with strategic clarity to ensure our recommendations were both credible and actionable was one of the key takeaways for me.

One key lesson I carried from this experience was the importance of narrowing complexity into focus. Rather than addressing multiple competing issues, we learned to identify the single most critical challenge and build our strategy around it. Competing in the Mind-to-Market Case Competition reinforced my belief that effective leadership lies in transforming complex information into clear, actionable output.