The Ignatian Consulting Club (ICC) is preparing to send its second team to Georgetown University for the McDonough Business Strategy Challenge. ICC was started last year by Darren Fossett ’11 as a way to provide students with exposure to the world of consulting.  Under the guidance of communications professor John Strain and accounting professor Doug Boyle, the club acts as a consulting firm, providing services to clients both within the University and in the community. In its first year, ICC completed projects for Aramark Food Services on campus and Montgomery Brothers, Inc., a wealth management firm in Washington, D.C.  Matthew Nealon ‘12 and this year’s club president, Buck Montgomery ’12, led the projects, respectively. The club also sent its first team to Georgetown for the case competition, a major feat for a consulting club in its first year.

The McDonough Business Strategy Challenge is a competition in which teams of four from all over the country and abroad compete against one another in providing the client, a company chosen by the organizers of the competition, with consulting services in the form of a presentation to a panel which includes management of the client itself and employees of outside business companies. Schools included in last year’s competition ranged from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to last year’s winner McGill University in Canada. Last year’s team consisted of Fossett, Montgomery, Brian Musto ’12 and Victoria Maurer ’13. The group had a great experience and gained good insight into the competition for later teams. Making up this year’s team are ICC vice president Mark Wehrenberg ’12, Joseph Burbella ’12, William McGuiness ’13 and Christine McBride ’13. Strain, whose expertise in teaching lies in argumentation, logic, and rhetoric, will accompany the team.

The team is excited about the competition as they prepare for the trip, which is February 16-19 on campus at Georgetown University. The diversity of this year’s team provides a well-rounded team dynamic for the competition. The team members’ backgrounds add experience and knowledge as they include two students from the College of Arts and Sciences and two students from the Kania School of Management. Burbella is a double major in business administration and finance, McGuiness is a double major in economics and finance, Wehrenberg is a political science major pursuing an MBA in accounting, and McBride is a communications major concentrating on public relations. All bring unique perspectives to provide a well-rounded approach to this year’s team and are ready to take on the competition.