In an Alexandria, Va., hotel room, five Tepper MBA students hunker down. It’s nearing midnight. They anxiously rehearse their PowerPoint presentation for the third time. A battle is looming. In approximately eight hours, they—along with two other finalists—will present their cost-effective plan to shift the nation to a lower greenhouse-gas profile by the year 2030. They will be judged by Exxon executives as part of the annual Business Case Competition. The winners receive $35,000. No pressure, right?

But Tepper MBA team members Jesse Alleyne, Felix Amoruwa, Ian Buggs, Richard Van Burgess III, and Jacob Garcia feel prepared to meet the challenge. For weeks, they balanced research hours and late-night meetings with midterms and personal lives—one member was even planning his wedding. The hard work paid off: Out of 50 invited schools in the minority leadership development competition, Carnegie Mellon earned a finalist spot with USC and Michigan.

In the hotel room, nerves are again prevailing. Amid the run-throughs, they talk about how proud they are to get this far, bringing their insight to the energy industry—but now they want to win. Finally, the team gets some sleep. In the morning they give their presentation, detailed in five phases, of the nation’s energy forecasts during the next 20 years. Their plan is to shift renewable energy from 8% to 20%.

Afterward, all agree it went well. They were right. Tepper took first place.
Courtney Kochuba (HS’07)