MBA students win a financial competition on their first attempt

November 13, 2008

A group of students from the Intensive MBA program at HEC Montréal finished first in the annual Best in Class case competition, organized by Financial Executives International Canada (FEI Canada). This was the first time that HEC Montréal had been invited to take part in this competition, now in its third edition. The event was held at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, on November 7 and 8.

The four students on the HEC Montréal team, who have been in the program only since September, are Mazyar Estaki, Svetlana Machurina, Alex Popovici and Namita Vashi. They were prepared and coached by MBA Program Director Jean Talbot. “I am particularly proud of our team’s performance, since this was the School’s first time at this competition,” explains Jean Talbot. “Their victory is all the more impressive in that our students were just starting their program, whereas other competitors were much further along in their respective programs.”

Front row: Alex Popovici, Svetlana Machurina and Namita Vashi. Back row: Jean Talbot (coach) and Mazyar Estaki..

Four of the ten initial teams made it to the final round of the competition. They were given two hours to come up with a solution to a fictitious crisis and present it to six distinguished business leaders. The HEC Montréal team’s rigorous analysis, their justification of the suggested solutions and the quality of their answers to questions earned them first place and a $10,000 prize.

“It is truly a privilege to have had the opportunity to compete among such esteemed MBA peers across Canada,” noted team member Namita Vashi. “We were pleased to represent HEC Montréal at the competition and to be invited to attend the annual FEI conference next May.”