University of Akron Wins 2017 Community Bank Case Study Competition

The University of Akron is the winner of the 2017 Community Bank Case Study Competition. Student members of the winning team are: Michael Moore, Kenan Sprague, Jeff Kelbach and Jacob Ruocchio-Cole. Dr. Bhanu Balasubramnian served as the team’s faculty advisor. Peoples Bank of Marietta, Marietta, Ohio, was the team’s community bank partner.

Winning Case Study Paper and Winning Case Study Video

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors announced the first, second and third place finishers on May 25, 2017, during a meeting of state and federal regulators in New Orleans, La. Each University of Akron team member will receive a $1,000 CSBS scholarship. The winning team will also present its case study on Oct. 4 in St. Louis during the Community Banking in the 21st Century research and policy conference which is co-sponsored by the Federal Reserve and CSBS. The top case studies, including the winning case study, will be published in the Journal of Community Bank Case Studies.

The student team from Iowa State University placed second and the team from Texas Tech University placed third. Students on the Iowa State University student team will each receive a $500 CSBS scholarship. The students from Texas Tech University will each receive a $250 CSBS scholarship.

Thirty-three undergraduate student teams from universities and colleges around the U.S. participated in the 2017 case study competition. Partnering with banks to conduct original case studies, the Community Bank Case Study Competition encourages students to explore community banking and community bank supervision. The 2017 competition focused on management and board succession planning. More information about the 2017 CSBS Community Bank Case Study Competition is available at www.csbs.org/bankcasestudy.