Raymond T. Butkus, M.B.A., lecturer of business administration, threw his hands in the air and let out a celebratory “yes.” Two of the teams he coached had just placed first and second in the Town & Gown Business Consulting Program competition.
A collaborative effort developed by the School of Business at Saint Peter’s University and the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce, the event is a competition between 75 senior business students enrolled in the program where teams brainstorm solutions to local businesses. The final event requires students to present their recommendations and findings to their peers and a panel of judges.
Alonso Diaz ’17 from the winning team, Pilsner Haus and Biergarten said, “We had a good group. I also enjoyed the research part of the project. We had to go to the bar and speak with the manager to get more information about the business. We also got to eat a lot of soft pretzels,” he added jokingly.
Meredith Przybocki ’17 from the same group commented, “It was difficult to balance my nerves. In addition, it was challenging to find the most valuable information to squeeze into a ten minute presentation, but the judges’ reactions gave me the confidence to keep going when I was on stage.”
The team that worked with Noellery Inc. came in third place and the team that worked with Hudson Kitchen came in second.
The judges, Gail P. Godesky, first vice president of Provident Bank; Steven Gomez, executive director of the Greater Newark Enterprises Corporation (GNEC); Cecilia Michalik ’73, retired executive vice president of Ford Credit and president of Michalik Consulting LLC; Vanessa Quijano, small business development coordinator for Jersey City EDC; and Michelle Richardson, executive director of the Hudson County Economic Development Corporation, graded each presentation and presented the groups with challenging questions during the Q&A.
Overall, the experience proved to be exhilarating and offered real-world experience.
“You learn how to handle a client and you try to understand their needs from an outside point of view,” said Selena Guzma ‘17, part of the team that worked with Morlees, a shoe retail company.
Company owners also benefited from the experience.
Emma Taylor, owner of Milk Sugar Love, commented, “The students were so patient and they came up with marketing solutions that I had not even thought of,” she said. “I was impressed.”
