Finance Undergrads Place in NYC

PROVO, Utah – Feb 12, 2016 – A three-person team of Brigham Young University finance students returned to campus with a brighter future on Wall Street after placing second in the Duff & Phelps YOUniversity Deal Challenge. The team’s company valuation earned them an all-inclusive trip to New York City and $2,000 each.

“The judges were looking for students who could present with confidence,” says finance professor Hal Heaton, the team’s adviser. “Our students were able to answer the hard questions. That’s the kind of people executives want to put in front of their clients.”

This year’s case study required teams to valuate the anticipated threat of online streaming to Summit Networks, a cable television operator. More than 100 university teams submitted a detailed presentation analyzing the complex transaction existing in the case. After much deliberation, BYU and two other team finalists were selected to go to New York City to present and compete for first place.

The BYU finance team consisted of juniors Daniel LeFoll from East Hampton, Conn.; Zoee Hancock from Kansas City, Mo.; and Jared Bell from Bainbridge Island, Wash. To rise above the rest in the competition, each of the BYU students spent roughly 100 hours on the initial proposal and final presentation.

“There were some nights where I would go to bed at one in the morning, wake up at five and then do it all over again,” LeFoll says. “We had to eat, drink and breathe it.”

The lack of sleep paid off as this competition opened doors for future internships and career opportunities. LeFoll also acknowledged that having an all-expense paid trip to New York City and presenting to a boardroom of Duff & Phelps experts and nationally acknowledged professors was well worth the sacrifice.

“We really did put so much passion into it,” LeFoll says. “It was close. My team was phenomenal, and the experience was amazing. The learning that occurred was fantastic.”

Team members attributed much of their success to the education and support they received from the Marriott School of Management. During the entire process the students worked and collaborated with many Marriott School educators.

“I was really thankful for the professors and faculty who spent so much time and effort to advise us,” LeFoll says. “Honestly, we could not have done what we did without them.”

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems and public management. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,300 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.