Primary Navigation

• News & Media
  • News
    • Major Bankruptcies and their Impact on the Economy
    • Weathering the Economic Crisis: Simon Faculty Views
    • Convocation
    • In Memoriam
    • The Challenge of Health Care Reform
  • Women's Entrepreneurship Blog
  • Publications
  • Simon Newsletters
  • Photo Galleries
  • Multimedia Library
  • For the Media

• Why Choose Simon?
• Academic Programs
• Executive Education
• Faculty & Research
• Centers of Excellence
• News & Media
• About Simon

Secondary Navigation

• Alumni
• Recruiters
• Admitted Students
• Current Students

• Request More Information
• Visit Simon
• Apply Now
  • Full-Time MBA
  • Part-Time MBA
  • Executive MBA
  • Full-Time MS
  • Part-Time MS
  • Ph.D.

News Details

**MEDIA ADVISORY** SIMON, UR STUDENTS VIE TO WIN MARK AIN BUSINESS MODEL COMPETITION

Release Date: May 06, 2009

Rochester, N.Y.―May 6, 2009—Aspiring student entrepreneurs at the University of Rochester will present their business models to a panel of judges during the third annual Mark Ain Business Model Competition on May 13, 2009, from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. in the Schlegel Hall, Eisenberg Rotunda.

Open to undergraduate and graduate students University-wide, 22 business teams, representing the Simon Graduate School of Business; the College of Arts and Sciences; and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, entered the competition.

“The Mark Ain competition is a great way to enliven the entrepreneurial culture at Simon,” says Marita Greenidge ’09, student organizer and vice president of special events for the Simon Entrepreneurs club. “Students get a chance to apply the skills they learned throughout the academic year to create business plans that could very well turn into real ventures.”

Greenidge says the club organizes a series of three workshops, which cover business plan development, marketing and financial planning, to prepare students for entering the competition.

“Interest in the competition and workshops continues to grow—this year the number of plans submitted increased yet again, and workshop numbers more than doubled,” says Greenidge. “We expect to see further success in the future as more and more students discover the possibility of entrepreneurship as a viable career path.”

The five finalist business teams are Polynet Technology (undergraduate team), Brightwave Solar Inc. (graduate team), MCH Management (Simon M.B.A. team), Target Waveform Inc. (graduate team), and Custom Eyes (graduate team).

Finalists will present their business models on Wednesday to win $10,000 toward the implementation of their plan. The competition is made possible by support from Simon alumnus and entrepreneur Mark S. Ain ’67, founder of Kronos Incorporated, the Chelmsford, Mass.-based market leader in the workforce management industry.

In addition to Ain, the panel of judges will include Edward J. Ackley ’64 (’53 UR), owner and president of The Filter Store in Mendon, N.Y., and former C.E.O. of Consler Corporation (now owned by Graver Technologies) and James Senall ’99, president of  High Technology Rochester. The competition is supported by the Simon Entrepreneurs club and the University of Rochester Center for Entrepreneurship.

09-15

The Simon School prides itself as the place Where Thinkers Become Leaders™ and is currently ranked among the leading graduate business schools in the world in rankings published by the popular press, including BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Forbes. For example, the Financial Times recently rated the School 2nd in the world for finance and 5th in the world for managerial economics. More information about the Simon School is available on the World Wide Web at www.simon.rochester.edu.