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С����Ƶ’s Small Business Institute (SBI) student consulting teams are again in the national finals in case competition.

The undergraduate SBI team of Cathy Viola of Bayville and Yevgenia Gorfinkel of Belle Mead, both May 2000 management graduates, has won the regional title in the SBI Directors Association case competition and is among ten finalists for the SBI National Consulting Case-of-the-Year Award. It marks the fourth straight year a Rider undergraduate team has won regional competition to advance to the finals. The 1998 team won the national title.

Likewise, a graduate team of Larry Wheeler of Mullica Hill and Michael O’Neill of Allentown, both May 2000 MBA graduates, entered the competition for the first time, also won regional competition and is one of ten teams to advance to the finals. The championship teams will be announced on February 8 at the SBIDA national convention.

“I am very honored to have an undergraduate team make it to the national finals for the fourth year in a row,” said Dr. Ronald Cook, associate professor of management and SBI director. “In addition, Rider MBA students also showed they can compete with the best in the country in their first competition.”

Cook and the graduate team of Wheeler and O’Neill were part of a cover feature article about Rider’s SBI program in the September 2000 issue of Mercer Business magazine. Their project focused on an evaluation of Lawrenceville Main Street’s Web site. Viola’s and Gorfinkel’s project, which involved an examination of volunteer recruiting and efficiency for Mercer mart, was also mentioned in that article.