Teams from Hendrix take
second and third place, earn cash prizes
Above: Hendrix seniors Joe Donaldson, Mary Frances
Shannon, and Connor Brooks finished second in this year’s Windstream Case Study
Competition. Below: Ethan Thomas, Ian Guthrie, David Blackburn, Nathan Silva,
and Ryan Torres came in third. (Photos courtesy Windstream Finance Leadership
Program)
CONWAY, Ark. (May 9, 2023) – Two of the four Hendrix
College teams competing in this year’s Windstream Finance Leadership Program
(WFLP) Case Study Competition were named finalists, coming away with cash
prizes for their efforts.
The Case Study Competition is WFLP’s
longest running analytics competition, where business students across Arkansas
put their talent to the test. Windstream
Holdings is an Arkansas-based, privately held communications
and software company offering managed communications services and high-capacity
bandwidth and transport services to businesses across the U.S. It provides
premium broadband, entertainment and security services to consumers and small
and midsize businesses primarily in rural areas in 18 states.
In the
company’s annual Case Study Competition, teams of three to five undergraduates
analyze data, respond to a prompt, and make recommendations based on their
analysis. This year, all teams submitted 10-minute video presentations of their
project for the initial round of competition. Four of the competing teams then
received additional data to analyze, participated in working sessions with
Windstream employees, then presented their new findings to executives of
Windstream. Cash prizes were awarded to the top three teams. Hendrix teams took
two of the three top spots:
- 2nd place: Connor Brooks ’23 of Grand
Prairie, Texas; Joe Donaldson ’23 of Linwood, Kansas; and Mary Frances Shannon
’23 of Hoover, Alabama.
- 3rd place: David Blackburn ’23 of Murfreesboro,
Tennessee; Ian Guthrie ’24 of Austin, Texas; Nathan Silva ’23 of Katy, Texas;
Ethan Thomas ’23 of Northlake, Texas; and Ryan Torres ’23 of Lincoln City,
Oregon.
“This
is the third year Hendrix has fielded teams in this competition, and I’ve been
impressed with our students’ preparation and performance every year,” said Dr.
Lyle Rupert, the C. Louis and Charlotte Cabe Distinguished Professor of
Economics and Business and the faculty sponsor for the Hendrix teams. “In
addition to getting this valuable experience and having a chance to prove their
skills to executives with a major corporation, members of these teams can also
receive credit in the Undergraduate Research category of the Hendrix
Odyssey Program, so competing contributes directly to
their requirements for earning their bachelor’s degrees.”
“The
WFLP Case Study competition gave us an opportunity to build practical, job-relevant
finance and business management skills in a collaborative environment,” said
Connor Brooks of the second-place team. He added that the experience will be one
he draws from as he navigates professional settings in the future.
Regardless of where their team placed in
the competition, all students benefitted from participating, Rupert said. The
competition provides opportunities to learn and refine data analysis skills, collaborate
with students of other majors—team members from Hendrix commonly major in economics,
accounting, business, computer science, or mathematics—hone presentation and
public speaking skills, and participate in networking with Windstream
executives.
This year’s panel of WFLP leaders included Mary Michaels, chief human
resources officer; John Eichler, controller; Megan Speck, senior director of cost
savings; Patrick Brimberry, director of corporate development; and Jeff Zern, vice
president of strategy.
“Throughout the entire experience, our team was able
to learn from Windstream professionals how to build proper presentations and
understand real world interactions,” said Nathan Silva, who was part of the
third-place team. He also appreciated that his team members came from a variety
of majors, as those different viewpoints helped them tackle their tasks more
effectively. “When it comes to the data, we were able to learn how to properly
devise the best possible outcome through a real-world simulation.”
About Hendrix College
A private liberal arts college in
Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College consistently earns recognition as one of the
country’s leading liberal arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges
That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges.
Its academic quality and rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix
as a fixture in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876,
Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To
learn more, visitwww.hendrix.edu.