News Release

Building on what has become a tradition, four students from Johns Hopkins Business scored a strong showing in the 2002 National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Case competition. Finishing in the top six, the Hopkins group bested student teams from such business schools as Yale, Duke, Wharton, MIT and Darden. The MBA program, the second largest in the Baltimore-Washington area, is housed in the Johns Hopkins Graduate Division of Business and Management in the School of Professional Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Johns Hopkins has sent a team to the competition for the last nine years and has brought home three second-place finishes and one first place. The annual event this year was held in Nashville, Tenn. Sponsored by DaimlerChrysler Corp., the competition challenges business students to research a business issue or problem, and then personally present their analysis and recommendations to a panel of judges. The NBMBAA began the competition to recognize and encourage the professional development of outstanding minority MBA candidates.

This year's successful team -- Jerry Dawson, Brian Kelly, Carmen Maxwell and Jessica Montoya -- spent more than a month researching and preparing their presentation. The group examined issues relating to the automotive industry, said Dr. James Calvin, associate professor of management at Johns Hopkins Business and director of SPSBE's Leadership Development Program for Minority Managers.

"We're very proud of the continuing success of our students," Dr. Calvin said. "To date, no other school has achieved such a record of success in this competition. It's especially impressive given the fact that our graduate students, who study part time, were able to compete successfully against teams of full-time MBA candidates."

The team was coached by William Keating Jr., practitioner faculty member in the Graduate Division of Business and Management. The Johns Hopkins team's case focused on delivering an eight-point recovery strategy for an automotive manufacturer which was mired in a two-year slump and had a $91 million shortfall.

The top three finishers, in order, were Michigan State, UCLA and the University of Michigan, all schools with distinguished full-time MBA programs. In total, 42 student teams competed this year, including one team each from England and South Africa.

The Johns Hopkins contingent represented the only East Coast institution to reach the national final round in Nashville.

Dawson, employed by Jones, Lang and Lasalle, a regional real estate firm, is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. Kelly, a LAN manager for Washington Gas, received his undergraduate degree from Northeastern University. Maxwell attended Lincoln University and currently works for TEKsystems as a vice president for Consultant Program Development. Montoya, who received her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of New Mexico, is state and community relations manager for Washington Gas.