Press Release: Brock School of Business MBA Students Win Two of
Top Five Spots in USASBE International Case Competition
Contact: Kara Kennedy
Director of External Affairs
(205) 726-4070
Birmingham, Ala. -- MBA students from Samford University's Brock School of Business recently
won two of the top five spots in an international case competition sponsored by Baylor University
and that focused on entrepreneurship. The competition was hosted by the U.S. Association of
Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), at its conference last weekend in San Francisco,
California.
Laura Hudson, Joshua Sheppard, Xuan Qin, and Andrew Summerlin won second place with their
case, "Charlie Thigpen's Garden Gallery," which focused on the Birmingham, Ala., retailer. The
judges complimented the students on their case, noting that it would be extremely useful for
aspiring entrepreneurs to analyze because it highlighted many critical challenges that arise when
opening a new business. Second place included a $1,000 prize.
MBA student Meg Lozner won fifth place with her case, "Southern Grits to Haute Cuisine: Much
More Than a Taste of the South," to highlight how the Birmingham, Ala., region can be marketed
nationally as a center for culinary tourism, based on its local restaurant and farmer's market
scene. This is the second year in a row that Lozner has been a finalist, making her the only
student in the history of the competition to achieve this recognition.
"We are very proud of the hard work our MBA students," said Charles Carson, associate dean of
the Brock School of Business. "They took consulting projects they conducted as part of one of our
MBA classes and continued working on them to prepare them for this competition. Their hard
work paid off by providing them with a unique experience to present to a distinguished group of
judges, who encouraged them publish their cases."
Other schools with finalists in the competition included Baylor University, Bryant University
(Rhode Island), Hyderabad University (India), and Loyola Marymount University.
About the Brock School of Business at Samford University:
Samford University's Brock School of Business has a long history of achievements in business
education. The university has offered degrees in business and commerce since 1922. In 1965, the
School of Business was established to offer both bachelors and masters degrees in business. It
was formally named the Brock School in 2007 for Birmingham banker and Samford trustee Harry
B. Brock Jr., reflecting his long career in business and his commitment to high quality business
and entrepreneurship education. The Brock School of Business holds AACSB Accreditation, the
benchmark of quality worldwide and the most widely sought after standard of excellence by U.S.
business schools.