MBA Students Take on World, Capture Case Competition Championship

Matthew Turner had never heard of case competitions before he started his graduate studies at The University of Texas at Dallas, and now the MBA program at the Naveen Jindal School of Management has equipped him to win them.

He and his teammates recently took first place in the 2025 MBA Case Competition World Cup Finals, outperforming 49 other teams from around the world to claim the title. Competitors included Yale University, Carnegie Mellon University, HEC Paris, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Cambridge.

The Jindal School team - the MVP's - consisted of Turner and fellow MBA students Lola Fadiran, John Habenicht, Anjani Durisety and Azka Jawed.

This year's competition tasked teams with developing a strategic plan to expand the national footprint of Cava, a Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain. Out of 237 applicant teams, 50 were selected to compete. Of those, five teams, including the MVP's, advanced to the final round of presentations held Nov. 21.

"I'm very pleased to have had this opportunity to represent UT Dallas against other top business schools," Turner said. "The program has definitely boosted my confidence by helping me walk, talk and think like an MBA."

He said that the Jindal School's encouragement and support gave him and his teammates the courage to design a proposal that involved Cava buying out its competition.

"Our marketing classes have been very helpful in teaching us to analyze cases adeptly, especially in training us to cut through the noise and identify the core issues that will drive the biggest changes," he said. "I am incredibly grateful to the Jindal MBA for bringing us together. The strong emphasis on helping the cohort bond helped us identify each other's strengths and weaknesses and gave us the confidence that each person would perform well under pressure."

Turner was quick to credit his teammates.

"I am so thankful to each member of my team for the work they put into this project," he said. "John's brilliant market analysis formed the core of our pitch. Azka and Anjani both presented excellently and made our slides look fantastic, and Lola's leadership brought us together and led us to victory."

For Fadiran, the MBA program's curriculum structure and teamwork culture helped strengthen her relationship with her teammates.

"Working with my team to develop a strategy for the case was natural because we had already built trust and collaboration from the very beginning of the program," she said. "It means a lot to represent the MBA program and bring this achievement home. If I had to choose a business school again, I would gladly choose the UT Dallas MBA without hesitation."

Lisa Shatz, senior assistant dean and director of MBA programs, said her students consistently excel in competition because the Jindal School designs the MBA experience to build the skills great teams need - technical knowledge, diverse thinking, real-world experience and the ability to work collaboratively under pressure.

"Our students are an incredibly diverse cohort and have an average five-year work experience," she said. "That alone gives us a strong start in any competition. But their drive is what ultimately keeps our teams winning."

The competition was presented by Management Consulted, a company that provides interview preparation services and consulting career resources, and Case Questions, a company that specializes in case interview training and career guidance for aspiring consultants.

Media Contact: Jimmie Markham, Naveen Jindal School of Management, 972-883-5079, [email protected], or the Office of Media Relations, UT Dallas, (972) 883-2155, [email protected].