Earlier this month, Culverhouse first-generation student Joshua Davis and three other fellow Culverhouse undergraduate students—Deborah Oberkor, Jose Andres, and Anai Correa, pictured above in that order with Fisher College of Business Dean Anil Makhija in the center and Davis on the right—traveled to Columbus, Ohio to attend the KeyBank and The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business leadership symposium. Each was placed in teams with other b-school students for the case competition, and Davis’ team won the competition along with $7,500 in scholarship money.
The challenge was to restructure an oil company in order to meet ESG compliance requirements by 2025. The team (which also consisted of Julie Zheng from The Ohio State University, Ahmed Doudi from Wayne State University, and Othmane Fardaoussi from University at Albany, SUNY) suggested that the company turn to tidal power, a renewable energy source, and incorporate AI to optimize processes, ensure compliance, and increase profit. The team also emphasized the importance of securing funding from OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) in the form of incentives.
“The section of our presentation that won us the competition was our financials and explaining how this restructure would affect the company’s stakeholders,” Davis explained. “We described how we would use all the funding to allocate the funds to receive the most profitable return on our investment. We gave a thorough analysis of this section because we knew that this would be the most important piece of our restructure and for our investors.”
Davis has had a busy September, first delivering a presentation to the Culverhouse Board of Visitors about how real estate student organizations are supporting the student experience, including his work with CORE Ready. On the heels of that experience, Davis was selected to attend the leadership symposium after one of his peers was injured and couldn’t travel. The case competition formed teams that mixed students from each of the 13 schools represented. “We had never worked together and it was clear, early on, that all four of us were leaders,” Davis said. ”
We established a common goal, communicated, and respected each other, worked hard to get it done….and we won!”
Winning is something of a family tradition: Joshua Davis’s wife, Haleigh Davis, was a member of last year’s Manderson MBA Case Team and was a finalist in the 2022 National Black MBA Association Graduate Case Competition.