MBA students advance to semi-finals of LEEDS case competition

by Staff |  December 16, 2009

Four Full-time MBA Students will represent Mason at the ninth annual LEEDS Case Competition: Innovate for Impact at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The competition will be held Feb. 19-20, 2010.

The case presented by Jane McPhail, Bryce Ritter, Siddharth Bhartiya and Anna Perry was selected as one of 20 semi-finalists from a total of 68 entries. The 20 semi-finalists will compete for a spot in the final round and a share of the $10,000 in prize money. 


Each year, the LEEDS Case Competition focuses on one issue of sustainability. For this year's first round, teams were challenged to find a solution to the problem of increasing food demand in the face of limited farmable land. Their case presentation was intended for the United states Department of Agriculture.

The solution that McPhail, Ritter, Siddarth and Perry created and proposed was a two-part implementation plan they called T.U.R.F. – Technology for Urban & Rural Farming. In this plan, the team recommended offering rural farmers sustainable farming options, and proposed implementing vertical farming to urban areas.

The team has raised enough to cover most of the money needed for the trip, but are still in need of about $600.  If you are interested in being one of the team’s sponsors, please make a donation online by following these steps:

  1. Go to the mason.wm.edu/giving
  2. Click on the "Give now" button on lower left side of page
  3. Fill in all fields with an asterisk (*)
  4. Very important: Copy and paste the following text in the comments field of the form: "Please donate this to the Mason School Annual Fund to be used for the LEEDS Competition in February of 2010"
  5. Complete your payment information and click on "Proceed to confirmation."

If you have questions about supporting the LEEDS team, contact Bryce Ritter at [[Bryce.Ritter]].

For more information about the competition, visit the LEEDS Net Impact Case Competition site.