BYU Team Wins ACG Cup Competition

PROVO, Utah – Apr 03, 2014 – A team of Brigham Young University MBA students bested competitors from across Utah to win first place and $5,000 in the Association for Corporate Growth Cup Competition. This is the third consecutive year BYU garnered the top spot at the annual event held in Salt Lake City.

“The preparation we received from the MBA program allowed us to quickly stand out among our peers,” says Abigail Curran, a member of BYU’s winning team. “We worked very hard and had fun doing it.”

The ACG Cup gives MBA students the opportunity to create and present strategic financial advice to local professionals in the ACG community. Teams first compete in preliminary rounds held at each school, then advance as finalists to pitch their analysis and defend their recommendations during an in-depth Q-and-A session with the judges.

“It was our technical analysis and investigation of alternatives that set us apart,” says team member Dave Toronto. “We presented the judges with both a thorough analysis of our ultimate recommendations and also the benefits and risks of other alternatives.”

The competition was sponsored by the Utah chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth, an organization of local business executives who meet regularly to network and engage in professional training opportunities. ACG Utah awarded $8,000 to universities in the case study competition, including first-place money to BYU and $1,000 each to the other three finalists: the University of Utah, Utah State University and Westminster College.

BYU’s team consisted of second-year MBA students Ben Dailey and John Holbrook, both from Salt Lake City, and first-year MBA students Abigail Curran from St. George, Utah, and Dave Toronto from Ann Arbor, Mich. 

“Our team had great chemistry while preparing and presenting,” Dailey says. “The fact that we got along so well made the long days of prep work much more enjoyable. There was a general sense that nobody wanted to let the others on the team down.”

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems, and entrepreneurship. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.