Elon wins Georgetown’s McDonough-Hilltop Business Strategy Challenge 

An Elon University undergraduate student team earned first place in the 2017 McDonough-Hilltop Business Strategy Challenge hosted by Georgetown University Feb. 8-11.

The Elon team was comprised of Meghan Greene ’17, a marketing and finance double major from Hickory, N.C.; Ariel Mittleman ’18, an accounting major from Leawood, Kansas; Matt Snow ‘17, a finance major from Hudson, Massachusetts; and Victor Soler-Sala III ‘18, a finance and marketing double major from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Patrick Bell, lecturer in management, mentored and accompanied the team to Washington, D.C.

The McDonough-Hilltop Business Strategy Challenge (MHBSC) is an international non-profit case consulting competition organized by Hilltop Consultants, a consulting group at Georgetown University, and primarily sponsored by the McDonough School of Business.

Twenty-four teams were presented with a case about a problem a real nonprofit organization in the Washington, D.C., area is facing. The teams analyzed the case and presented their unique and sustainable solutions to the organization’s problem.

“The case was focused on an NGO whose mission was to encourage engagement-based learning which is exactly the type of learning that Elon advocates for,” Soler-Sala said. “The impact that engagement-based learning has on these lower-income areas is incredible, so it was comforting knowing that our school understands how important and effective something like this is.

“In 36 hours, our Elon LSB students developed an action plan, including implementation details and a timeline, all backed by research and data,” Bell explained. “The team’s work was of truly professional quality. I was beyond impressed.”

The other participating teams were from American University, University of California-Berkeley, Emory University, Florida State University, Fordham University, George Washington University, Georgetown University, Ivey Business School, MacEwan University, Northeastern University, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, Queens College, Shantou University Business School, Simon Fraser University, St. John’s University, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, University of Calgary, University of Hong Kong, University of Pittsburgh, University of Washington, Villanova University, Washington University-St. Louis and Western University Ontario.

“This experience has helped prepare me for the future by giving me the opportunity to use what I have learned at Elon and apply it to a real life experience in the business world,” Mittleman said. “The competition not only helped me with problem solving, but also helped me enhance my presenting skills and ability to work and get the job done in a specified amount of time.”