TCU Neeley MBA Team Takes Second Place in Finance Competition

MBA students from the Texas Christian University – Neeley School of Business recently took second place among eight other teams in the Association for Corprorate Growth (ACG) Cup Competition.

The TCU Neeley MBA team of Kyle Tilley, Jon Gulbransen, Aditya Padman, Tu Pham and David Funkhouser competed in the recent ACG Cup Competition, which required a presentation of valuation, capital markets and M&A strategic advice to a panel of business professionals. Competing against eight other Texas universities, the TCU Team walked away with second place and an impressive $7,500 prize. The other Texas Universities included: Texas A&M (which took first place), Rice, SMU, Houston, University of Dallas, UTSA, Texas, UTD and University of St. Thomas.

 

The goal of the Texas ACG Cup competition is to give MBA students from top programs throughout the Texas the chance for real-world business experi

ence and a first-hand look into the fields such as mergers and acquisitions, private equity and investment banking as they function outside of the classroom.

The pressure was on for the teams as they each presented their ideas to the panel of executive bankers, who were able to interrupt at any time to ask the team questions. “It was vital that we face and work through this type of pressure as a team,” said Funkhouser, “and we did.”

Before the competition, the TCU MBA team had the chance to connect with alumni and former competitors from 2015 and 2016, during which year Neeley took first prize.

“We welcomed their lessons, valued their input, ad our resulting efforts reflected the quality of work that is expected of a TCU MBA candidate,” said Gulbransen. “It was important for us to continue to do well in this competition and build on the legacy of the previous classes.

regions: Dallas

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