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Jeff Green

Team ������Ƶ has been crowned the best in the world, taking the top prize of $100,000 at the  (GBC), a prestigious international graduate business competition that wrapped up in Australia Nov. 6.

MBA’14; and Lica Christensen, M.Env.Sc.’14, along with faculty advisor, Dr. Peggy Coady, an associate dean in the Faculty of Business Administration, beat out five other teams to win.

“We are a little shell shocked,” said Mr. Winsor from Australia. “This is something nobody else in the world has done this year. It’s really exciting.”

Team ������Ƶ faced stiff competition from teams that included members from institutions such as University of California, Berkeley; Warsaw School of Economics; and the University of Nottingham, among others.

“They all had really unique ideas and they were tough to compete against,” said Mr. Winsor. “They all brought something to the table that we didn’t consider. From our point of view, we were very humble to accept the award. It is really great to showcase what we can do and how great a team from Canada and ������Ƶ University can compete.”

The G20 GBC is a unique and highly innovative competition that attracts top graduate students from leading business schools and universities.

Teams were challenged to develop an innovative solution to use, recycle and/or manage water to achieve large-scale impact.

Earlier this year, the team passed the preliminary round of the challenge, where they competed virtually against 40 other groups from 18 countries around the world before being chosen as one of the top six finalists.

Dr. Coady said winning the competition is a testament to ������Ƶ’s high-calibre students, graduates and programming.

“This accomplishment is further validation of the quality of academic programs at ������Ƶ,” she said in an interview from Australia. “We have excellent graduate programs that produce outstanding graduates.

“Everyone was thrilled to have made the finals of this competition,” she added. “That was an impressive achievement and to then to have won was amazing.”

Dr. Coady said the team has had the support of a number of ������Ƶ stakeholders, including the Office of the President, the Faculty of Business Administration, Distance Education, Learning and Teaching Support and the School of Graduate Studies.

The team accepted their top award from Paul de Jersey, governor of Queensland.