First inaugural Broad Women’s Leadership Case Competition empowers future leaders

The Broad College of Business hosted its inaugural Broad Women’s Leadership Case Competition this year on Jan. 30 in the Entrepreneurship Lab. It brought together Broad students, faculty, corporate sponsors, and four student organizations for a day dedicated to leadership, collaboration, and professional growth. Designed to increase student participation in case competitions, the event created an accessible entry point for participants to build confidence and real-world business problem-solving skills.  

The competition was developed through a collaboration between the Women Business Students’ Association, Women in Entrepreneurship, Women in Finance, and Woman Impacting Supply Chain Excellence, alongside Kymm Hadlock and Helen Dashney, both fixed-term faculty in the Department of Finance at Broad. The initiative was created to encourage students to participate in case competitions early in their academic careers and help build confidence for future participation.  

The competition featured two divisions: freshman/sophomore and junior/senior, allowing students to compete among peers at similar stages of their academic journeys. Of the 119 students who expressed interest, 48 were selected to compete in teams of four. Corporate sponsors and individual donors supported the event and served as judges. 

The first-place team in the freshman/sophomore division said the Women’s Leadership Case Competition was both empowering and confidence-building. Neha Khedekar, a sophomore studying supply chain management with minors in IT and graphic design, said she may not have entered a case competition if it weren’t women-focused but now feels motivated to pursue more.   

Vedanshi Pahuja, a sophomore in supply chain management and an IT minor, said the experience strengthened her presentation skills and built her confidence.  

“I also love empowering other women,” she continued. “The whole room is full of so many inspired women. Prof. Hadlock, Helen Dashney, and the organizing committee did an amazing job organizing the first-ever case competition.” 

Prashanthini Nandakumar, another supply chain major, highlighted the team’s late-night collaboration, strong dynamics, and the strong friendship they made along the way.  

“I came into this competition with little to no case competition experience, so this definitely helped me grow in that regard,” Therese Prince, a supply chain management major and a minor in entrepreneurship and innovation, said. “Now I feel empowered, like Professor Hadlock hopes that people would feel.”  

The first-place team in the junior/senior division said the case competition challenged them to think across multiple areas of business while working closely as a team. The case, which focused on the pharmaceutical industry and metastatic breast cancer, required them to research deeply and consider supply chain, marketing and finance perspectives.  

The team members revealed that the most challenging aspect of this case was the time crunch. 

“But at the end of the day, one thing that I learned is just to learn and trust the process and just trust whatever potential that you have in yourself,” Aastha Walia said. “I believe all of us were our biggest cheerleaders.”  

They also describe the healthy competitive spirit they noticed in the other participants in the competition.  

In addition to competition experience, the event supported students in building their Broad 360 profiles by providing meaningful leadership and professional development opportunities. Organizers plan to continue growing the competition in future years, expanding access and strengthening pathways for students to engage in case competitions and leadership experiences across Broad.