Some of Freeman’s very own won the 2011 National Association of Women’s MBA Strategy Case Competition in Newark, New Jersey, taking home a grand prize of $5,000. On March 23, Katie LaCorte, Dana Omar Mahmoud, Hakima Taoufiq and Sofia Zarate partook in the final round of the contest at the Newark, New Jersey corporate headquarters of the sponsoring company PSEG. In all, seventeen business schools hailing from all over the country competed in this competition. Six teams advanced to the final round, and then the Tulane team beat out those finalists who represented Boston University, George Washington, Hofstra, Simmons College and Texas A&M. Freeman School MBA ladies Sofia Zarate, Hakima Taoufiq, Dana Omar Mahmoud and Katie LaCorte (from left to right) cannot contain their excitement for winning $5,000, as they fist pump and “peace sign” alongside executive vice president and CFO of PSEG Caroline Dorsa (far left). “After results were announced,” Taoufiq said, “we asked one of the PSEG executives who attended all the presentation what made our proposal stand out. She said, ‘All six proposals were excellent, but yours felt as if you had been in the industry for 10 years.’ Hearing that from a PSEG executive was to us one more piece of proof that we had made the right choice by selecting the Freeman MBA.” LaCorte said, “It’s great to see two teams representing Tulane’s A.B. Freeman School of Business win an energy case competition and a finance case competition, within two weeks of one another! These wins are really so indicative of the caliber of business education that students receive from Freeman.” LaCorte is referring to Tulane Finance Case Competition winners Jason Costa, Arnab Dasgupta, Anthony Elia, and Vivek Sharma, who, on April 1, also garnered a grand prize of $5,000.
Katie Lacorte, MBA 2