The BB&T Center for Leadership in the Lewis College of Business at Marshall University held its inaugural Business Leadership Symposium (BLS) on April 15, 2021 to celebrate our students’ accomplishments with community engagement and economic development. The event was hosted on the virtual Zoom platform and was attended by over 80 participants. BLS is conceived as a conduit between the classroom and the world of business by showcasing some of the great applied experiential project work going on in our undergraduate and graduate business courses. The event provided a sampling of our students’ innovative and interdisciplinary business solutions, with their impact and implications extending well beyond theory into the world of practice. With the change of name of the center from the BB&T Center for the Advancement of American Capitalism to the BB&T Center for Leadership, we have rebranded our Business and Economic Research Symposium which we had started in 2018 to the Business Leadership Symposium from this year. Our business school contributes to economic and business development through engagement, innovation and impact. And so, we have incorporated student projects in our business courses as much as possible and we have developed the Herd Business Solutions initiative for student consulting project, all with the goal to enhance experiential learning, which is truly a DNA of our college and a cornerstone of our academic mission. The Lewis College of Business faculty are thought leaders and influencers. They are highly sought-after experts in their fields, who are regularly consulted about marketplace trends and phenomena. And, as they mentor our students on consulting projects, they help to develop the next generation of business leaders with a spirit of discovery and exploration. Experiential learning is one of our key strategic priorities. During 2017 – 19, 352 students mentored by 13 faculty worked with 46 organizations to help real businesses solve real problems for real customers.
The BLS event was conceived, administered, and presented by Dr. Monisha Gupta, Director of the BB&T Center for Leadership, who shared the mission and vision that the center upholds and works to provide to the students. She further shared the various activities that the center has undertaken in the recent past, which include: Hosting the Emerging Leadership Certification program; Introducing a Business Consulting class; Appointing an advisory board; and Inducting student leadership fellows. The attendees were introduced to the Advisory Board members Mr. Chuck Oldaker, Dr. Bob Simpson and Ms. Lisa Chamberlin Stump. The advisory board members independently addressed the students and emphasized the significance of soft skills like leadership and the role they play in building corporate careers. Dr. Bill Bissett, the President & CEO of the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce, was the keynote speaker for the event. The Huntington Regional Chamber represents more than 550 businesses in the Cabell and Wayne County area. Dr. Bissett shared valuable insights on leadership through his personal experiences.
The screening and selection process was orchestrated by Dr. Gupta who worked diligently to ensure timely submissions, accurate judging, and final summation of the overall scores. The projects were split between a panel of 13 judges, who viewed these independently and graded them on a comprehensive assessment scale. This process ensured that each student submission was judged by a cross section of judges which included academicians and industry representatives.
This symposium drew 17 project submissions by 56 students from various disciplines of the business school. The projects ranged from sustainable solutions for retail, restaurants, and businesses to financial solutions for evaluating investment criteria. Other project submissions included solutions in health care management, service marketing and legal implications of erroneous advertising. The faculty members present commended the innovative and pioneering platform this symposium provided for students to network and establish industry-wide connections.
The final prizes were awarded to:
- 1st Prize: Caleb Griffith, Josie Pratt, Sean Marks for their project on J P Morgan’s investment valuation, supervised by Dr. Timothy Bryan. This award of $1000 was sponsored by Service Wire and was presented by Mr. Chuck Oldaker, Executive Vice President and CFO, Service Wire to the winning team.
- 2nd Prize of $ 750 went to K Omar Shariff for his project on redistribution of resources in Healthcare. He worked with Dr. Alberto Coustasse-Hencke.
- 3rd Prize of $500 was won by Olivia Freeland who presented a project on FTC vs Facebook and the role of anti-competitive behavior on social media and guided by Dr. Casey Baker.
- Special category Prize of $400 was given to Kelsey Mowrey, Laney Jones, Victoria King and Maddy Garrison who were overseen by Professor Margie Phillips, for their project on Green Management and working with local businesses. This special category was introduced to applaud the outstanding effort of this group.
Dr. Nancy Lankton, Associate Dean for LCOB, handled the Q&A session and also presented the prizes for the second and third positions. I want to thank Dr. Monisha Gupta, Director of the BB&T Center, and the advisory board members for the center, for their dedication and commitment to student experiential learning. I also want to thank our judges for devoting their valuable time to evaluate our projects. A special note of appreciation is also due to many of our faculty members who incorporated these projects in their classes, and to all students participating in these projects who went above and beyond their regular coursework to imbibe in experiential learning.
Projects presented under Business Leadership Symposium Spring 2021
- City National Bank; Alyssa Ledbetter, Kasey Lemley, Destiny Leon, Katlyn Young
- Myers Hall to assist the HELP program; Lucy Bongiorno, Mike Rulli, Sapphire Atkinson, Saige Pye
- Home Depot; Sierra Greenway, Madison Phillips, Brittany Hart, Jiya Khatiwada
- WSAZ; Kaleigh Copley, Kathleen Aluise, Hannah Stapleton, Rose Colclough
- Derrick Video Goes Green; Andrew Kesling, Rayan Caruthers, Robert Bays, Adam Warren,
- Bob Evans; Brian Schleicher, Jamie Vermillion, Drew Sparks, Kristin Wilcox
- River House Café: Kelsey Mowrey, Laney Jones, Victoria King, Maddy Garrison -16 minutes
- Dan’s Sport Shop; Nick Adkins, John Cheatwood, Ryan Capuano, Jordan Billups
- Sodexo; Madison Holbert, Karin Neace, and Myla Pack
- Rubberlite Incorporated; Douglas Workman, Makenzie Kazee, Colton Jones, Jessica Hanson
- JP Morgan Chase Investment valuation; Caleb Griffith, Josie Pratt, Sean Marks
- Apple and Samsung analysis of financial statements; Katerina Coon, Stephanie Muench, Zach Semple
- Deceptive advertising; Intuit and free tax-filing: G. Mathew Jewell
- FTC vs Facebook; Olivia Freeland
- Service Design Project; Uber: Rachel Allred, Reagan Booton, Daylor Lewis
- Redistribution of resources in Healthcare; K.Umair Shariff
- Impact of COVID-19 on routine Childhood immunization; Jessica Ford-Davis, Patricia Lewis and Wendy Trzyna
