Future business leaders receive gold, silver and bronze awards at the Vanier College BDC Case Challenge

The third edition of the Vanier College BDC Case Challenge competition took place at Vanier College on February 15-16. Eleven Quebec and Ontario college teams had three hours to analyze and present viable marketing solutions to a real business case example. The Gold Award went to the Mohawk College, the Silver was taken by Algonquin College and Vanier College was presented the Bronze.

David Moscovitz, Vanier College BDC Case Challenge Coordinator, was enthusiastic about the competition. “It’s been three years of growth and we’ve seen the quality of the presentations improve constantly,” he said. Vanier College values its partnerships with business and government organizations and the case challenge is a perfect example of how the collaboration with an organization such as BDC creates learning opportunities for students and motivates them in their educational and career pursuits. “This event has become an elite case competition in Canada and we’re now looking to expand into the Maritimes,” added Moscovitz.

“BDC is proud to support events that stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit in youth,” said Michel Bergeron, Vice President, Corporate Relations. “The Vanier College Case Challenge competition is an excellent way of helping tomorrow’s leaders gain hands-on experience. By being exposed to realistic business situations, student entrepreneurs learn how they can make a difference in a very competitive business environment.”

The teams presented their solutions in front of a panel composed of five judges: Bruno Delorme, Partner, BDC Consulting Group; Guy Hébert, President of the Saint Laurent Chamber of Commerce; Professor Harold Simpkins, Senior Lecturer in the Marketing Department of the John Molson School of Business of Concordia University; Professor Dave Bussiere, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Odette School of Business of Windsor University; and Charles Bierbrier, owner of Bierbrier Beer, whose company was the focus of this year’s case-study.

Students also attended presentations from event speakers that included Bruno Delorme of BDC, Harold Simpkins of Concordia University and Jordan Lebel, associate professor of Hospitality Facilities and Operations at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University.

Winning teams

Gold Award: Mohawk College

Team coaches: Patricia Kolodziejski and Mark Valvasori

Team members: Laura Tardiff, Kristin Dores and Cody Thompson

Silver Award: Algonquin College

Team coach: Bill Garbarino

Team members: Anne Patenaude, D’Arcy Pascal and Yves Lacroix

Bronze Award: Vanier College

Team coaches: David Moscovitz and David Desrosiers

Team members: Paul Phung, Tia Morrow, Stefanie Mortillaro and alternate, Aaron Knight

About BDC

BDC is a financial institution wholly owned by the Government of Canada. BDC actively supports the development and growth of Canadian small and medium-sized businesses through its complementary financing, investment and consulting solutions. BDC is one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers. For more information visit www.bdc.ca.

About Vanier College

Vanier College is a public Cégep located on 20 acres of beautiful tree-shaded campus in the Montréal borough of St. Laurent. Vanier College offers more than 25 two and three year programs leading to university studies or directly to the workforce. Vanier College has enjoyed an enviable reputation for excellence in education for over 37 years. For more information visit www.vaniercollege.qc.ca

(Source: Vanier College)