Weatherhead School of Management juniors Scott Cielinski (finance), Ayush Gupta (economics) and Evan Harris (finance, entrepreneurship) were the winners of the third annual DDR Real Estate Case Competition, which took place Friday, Nov. 13, at DDR headquarters in Beachwood.
Cielinski, Gupta and Harris won the Weatherhead School “bake off” several weeks ago, earning the opportunity to represent the management school against the winning teams from Colgate University, John Carroll University and The Ohio State University.
There were four topics the teams could choose from: REIT strategies and valuation, the impact of millennials on retailing strategies, challenges in Puerto Rico and portfolio mix strategies. The CWRU team chose REIT strategies and valuation.
This marks the first time a Weatherhead School team has won the competition.
The judges included the entire senior management team at DDR, including the chief executive and chief financial officers and and several other senior officials.
The team receives $5,000 in cash and an opportunity to interview for an internship or full-time job.