More than one dozen alumni representing seven cohorts and three programs returned to CMU-Q to assist with the 2018 Internal Case Competition. The annual competition for business administration students relies on the expertise and support of graduates to judge, mentor and act in the role of client.
For this year’s competition, student teams were challenged to create a fashion council as the hub for a fully-developed fashion ecosystem in Qatar. Teams competed to analyze the issue and prepare a compelling presentation for the judges. The winning team was comprised of business administration students Mohamed Hamdi and Emad Iqbal from the Qatar campus and Michael Kalnas from Pittsburgh.
Patrick McGinnis, distinguished career professor of business communication and the organizer of the Internal Case Competition, said, “The return to campus as a case competition judge has become a sort of rite of passage for many of our alums, signaling their confident shift in role from student to professional. The alums who return remember the hard work and camaraderie of the event, and they recognize that the years since their graduation have taught them important lessons that they are now prepared to share with our current students.”
For the competition, the Qatar Foundation Board Management Office served as a live client for the competing teams. QF board secretary Dr. Ghida AlJuburi drove the inquiry as lead judge and case contributor. CMU-Q alumni Mashael Al Misned and Mustafa Abualsuod assisted Dr. AlJuburi, while Maryam Al-Thani represented the organization throughout the competition. Al Misned, Abualsuod and Al-Thani are all alumni from the CMU-Q Business Administration Program.
Graduates also served as judges for the competition. Yousuf Akhlaq, Shuaa al Nasser, Madhurima Datta, Mohammed Al-Hor, Abed Khattab, Firas Bata, Nihal Fathima, Nawal Mir, Salma Moustafa, Ziad Nassar, Tehseen Niaz, and Bayan Taha tapped into their work experience and CMU-Q education to provide insightful, constructive judging.
With ten graduating classes, the total number of alumni is nearly 700. Graduates work for top organizations in Qatar and around the world.
