Our Origin Story

the dream of two seniors

The Carolina Case Challenge was founded in the Spring of 2019 by Jess Schmitz and Phillippa Owens, who were seniors in UNC Kenan-Flagler’s Undergraduate Business Program (UBP) at the time. After representing UNC in “the varsity sport of business school” by participating in multiple case competitions each, both domestically and abroad, Jess and Phillippa were eager to pay it forward and provide other students with similar great experiences. They came to UBP staff member, Amy Bugno, with a wild request in December of 2018 – an international, intercollegiate case competition with big name corporate sponsors… before graduation.

Luckily, both Jess and Phillippa had developed high levels of trust with Amy through previous experiences, and she had seen their work in action before. Jess had recently demonstrated her team leadership skills and ability to stay calm under pressure as she, Amy, and three other students trekked the Icefields Parkway in Canada for another case comp, and Phillippa had shown her organization and operational efficiency the previous year while planning the nation’s largest student-run career fair. So despite potential obstacles and a serious time crunch, Amy urged the UBP leadership to take the leap with her and support these two enthusiastic and reliable student leaders.

bringing that dream to life

Jess, Phillippa and Amy worked together to scale the event to a realistic geographic range, recruited a committee of 10 UNC students, secured two corporate partners, co-wrote a case, planned an intricate staggered schedule, and launched the day-long event on March 1, 2019. In year one, 12 student teams from the University of North Carolina, Duke University, and North Carolina State University made the early morning trek to Chapel Hill, crammed into study rooms for 6 hours each, and presented their innovative solutions to judges from Royal Caribbean (client) and EY (firm sponsor). After two rounds of competition, the champions were crowned at an awards dinner, where participants and sponsors celebrated their experience, and the committee celebrated the miracle that they’d just pulled together in less than three months.

the future of Carolina case challenge

The Undergraduate Business Program at UNC Kenan-Flagler aims to continue to grow and expand the Carolina Case Challenge year over year, to ultimately fulfill the objective Jess and Phillippa set out in 2018. Each year, new student leaders will receive the torch and the objective to improve and expand upon the previous event. Over time, our hope is for undergraduate students from all over the world to visit Chapel Hill to compete in this challenging, collaborative, fun program where they can showcase their problem-solving skills, represent their home universities, and make new friends while they’re at it.

Our Founders

(L-R) Jess Schmitz, Amy Bugno, and Phillippa Owens at the 2019 Carolina Case Challenge Awards Ceremony. Following graduation in May 2019, Jess began working as a business analyst at Deloitte Consulting, and Phillippa became a Strategist at BrightHouse, a BCG Company.

hear from a co-founder