In April, the Wisconsin School of Business will host the inaugural Wisconsin Invitational Consulting Case Competition, the first national undergraduate consulting case competition at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
With nine schools and 18 undergraduate teams participating, it is already considered a top-tier case competition given its scale, caliber of students, and the significant prizes awarded.
It’s also a bit of a dream deferred for WSB—until now, says Melissa Leffin, executive director of career, employer, and pathway engagement for the school’s undergraduate program office. Competitions were dormant during the COVID-19 era, but post-pandemic, Leffin’s team started to explore different avenues for assisting students interested in consulting.
“In the last five years, there’s definitely been a big emphasis on meeting the demand that students have for a career path in a more robust way,” says Leffin. “For a long time, we were placing some students into careers in consulting, but a lot of the support was driven through these highly selective student organizations. So, as a school for undergraduate students, it’s been a big priority to think about how we can better support students being able to be successful in their pursuit of consulting as a career path.”
Leffin and her team accelerated recruiting support, career programming, and resources in this area and started to see success with case competitions within Wisconsin. They also saw explosive interest and rapid growth with WSB’s consulting certificate—which is also open to nonbusiness majors on campus. Leffin credits team member Alex Lawver with the idea of WSB hosting its own competition—“to really put Wisconsin on the map as a key destination for consulting,” Lawver suggested.
“That was where we started thinking about being able to not just give our students the opportunity, but to really showcase Wisconsin and the foundation we’ve built in consulting,” Leffin says. “An event like this gives employers exposure not just to Business Badgers but also to students from other top schools across the country. Our hope is that this leads to more formalized relationships with top consulting firms.”
The competition was made possible in part thanks to generous gifts from Ravi Mhatre and Kathryn Bojack, parents to a Badger alum, and from alumnus Jay Laabs (BBA ’98), CEO of Spaulding Ridge.
Industry partners including Accenture, Bain & Company, EY, and Deloitte have continued to sign on in the weeks leading up to the event. “We’re intentionally securing employer partners that work in both management and technology consulting spaces,” Leffin says. “We’re really trying to take that holistic look and showcase the breadth of the consulting landscape.”
Building the case: Summit Trucking
Tom Burkard, director of consulting for WSB, oversees the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s consulting certificate; he worked with a team of undergraduate students and Kristen Fellhoelter, career engagement manager and career coach, to build the competition’s case study.
The case is set in the U.S. market and involves a fictional trucking company, Summit Trucking, but uses real-world public data. The case focuses on Class 8 trucks (semitrucks) and whether the company should convert them to electric trucks—an opportunity each case competition student team will research in depth.
“This is much more about critical thinking; there is no one right answer that, shall we say, will ‘win,’” Burkard says. “We’re not looking for that one number that solves the opportunity (case). This case is structured to be in line with real-world consulting industry problem-solving. There are many solutions to the case and there are risks associated with each solution. The question is, which solution has the best outcome with the lowest risk? The teams that can do that will be in the best position to win.”
Student teams have two weeks to work on the case before they arrive at Grainger Hall for the competition—preparing their presentation with findings and recommendations to the panel of judges.
Strong teams blend creativity, teamwork, and “confidence in their solution,” says Burkard. “Ownership is important to us in terms of whether they truly believe in their solution set, and whether they can handle some of the tough questions that they’re going to get from industry leaders that will judging this case.”
Each team will have 20 minutes to present to the judges. Prize money will be awarded to the top four teams.
Lily Peterson (BBA ’25), a case competition veteran, says she welcomed the opportunity to be on the other side this time—writing instead of competing. Her three other teammates also took key roles in case creation: Zach Magnin, data set; Emily Canales, case design and case structure; and Alex Gonikman, case testing.
“Writing this case has given me a completely new perspective,” says Peterson. “It was both challenging and rewarding, and I learned a lot about coordinating the different moving parts, like the dataset, case background, and company details. Tom and the career center worked closely with me and a fantastic team of students to bring this case to life. I think having a student perspective shape the case topic and structure will make it especially relevant to real-world challenges we’ll face in our careers.”
Making connections
Winning aside, the event is an exceptional opportunity to network with employers, alumni, and industry leaders both formally and informally. Friday will include an employer showcase, where students can meet with employer sponsors similar to a career fair, and coffee chats, where participating students can meet one-on-one for 15-minute increments with sponsors.
Student organizations Badger Consulting and the Wisconsin Consulting Club will assist with competition logistics and provide participants with mock interviews and coaching. Jenny Lanzel and Paige Smith from the undergraduate career events and experiences team are leveraging their expertise to ensure that this competition is an impactful signature experience for both students and employers.
A former management consultant himself, Burkard says the excitement today around case competitions—as opposed to when he was in school—shows “just how impactful these cases can be.”
“There are definitely real-world opportunities for [students] to get ahead, to be prepared for jobs where they will go out as a team and work on a particular issue and find solutions,” says Burkard. “If they can do this and do this well, they will have very successful careers no matter where they go. So it’s very rewarding to see these teams thrive and compete in this type of atmosphere.”