THUNDER BAY – Business Administration students from across Northern Ontario will be put to the test in Algoma University’s 10th Annual Northern Ontario Case Competition on March 31st at Algoma’s Water Tower Inn and Suites. Students will be joined and judged by celebrities Amanda Lang, Michael Hyatt, Farah Perelmuter, Martin Perelmuter, and Jessi Cruickshank.
“The Business Case Competition is the best way for students to finish off their career at Algoma University,” says Algoma University’s Business and Economics Professor Cathy Denomme. “It allows them the opportunity to showcase their talents to future employers and to compete with their peers. Students also get the opportunity to network in different cities, which is a unique occasion for those in Northern Ontario.”
This year’s event will include guest speakers and judges Amanda Lang, Michael Hyatt, Farah Perelmuter, Martin Perelmuter, and Jessi Cruickshank. The celebrities will interact with the students throughout the competition. They will visit each of the teams for approximately 15 minutes as the students work on the solution to the case, allowing students the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities to the guest judges but also gain vital feedback from them.
Amanda Lang is an anchor and producer for two weekly shows at Bloomberg Television Canada. Lang has been covering business in North America for 20 years, and is an award-winning journalist known for her no-holds-barred approach to the people, companies, and stories making the news. Previously, Lang was CBC’s senior business correspondent on The National, and host of The Exchange with Amanda Lang, a daily business program that aired on CBC News Network.
Michael Hyatt became a self-made millionaire when he was just 25 by building two highly successful tech firms valued in the hundreds of millions. Today, he ranks as one of Canada’s top entrepreneurs, is a Dragon on CBC’s new online sensation Next Gen Den, and is a weekly Business Commentator on CBC News Network. Hyatt is also an active investor, speaker, and philanthropist.
Jessi Cruickshank is one of the most recognized young stars in Canada. Cruickshank became a household name for hosting MTV Live and The Hills After Show. Cruickshank went on to host CTV’s Olympic Morning, the MTV Movie Awards, appeared on Degrassi, The Style Network, The Soup, and traveled the world as a Canadian Ambassador for Free the Children. She is also currently the host of Canada’s top fall show, Canada’s Smartest Person, now in its second season.
Farah Perelmuter is a born entrepreneur and started her first business when she was only nine years-old. After graduating from Western University and completing a marketing program in Toronto, Perelmuter started her own business, Speakers’ Spotlight, with husband Martin Perelmuter. Today, Speakers’ Spotlight has offices in Toronto and Calgary, and has been selected by Profit magazine as one of the 100 fastest growing companies in Canada. As CEO and Co-Founder, Perelmuter has been ranked as one of Canada’s “Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs” for seven consecutive years by Profit. In 2008, she was named as one of “Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100” by the Women’s Executive Network. In 2009, The Women’s Post named Perelmuter as one of Canada’s “Top 20 Women of the Year.”
Before becoming President and Co-Founder of Speakers’ Spotlight with wife Farah Perelmuter, Perelmuter was a corporate lawyer at a prestigious international law firm. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics at Western University and the Faculty of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. His views on the speaking industry have been reported in television and print media, and have been published in over 60 countries. Perelmuter has been a guest lecturer at several colleges and universities, and was a keynote speaker at the Public Words Speaker Forum at The Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School in Cambridge.
In previous years, the competition has featured the likes of Co-Founder of Free the Children Craig Kielburger; Million Dollar Neighbourhood’s Preet Banerjee; Terry O’Reilly, CBC radio host of O’Reilly on Advertising, The Age of Persuasion, and Under the Influence; Bruce Croxon, co-founder of Lavalife and former Dragon on Dragons’ Den; Evan Solomon, host of CBC’s Power & Politics and The House; and Diane Buckner from CBC’s reality hit show Dragons’ Den.
Students from Algoma University, Algoma University’s satellite program in Brampton, Lakehead University, Nipissing University, and Laurentian University will also be participating in the competition, making it a truly Northern Ontario event.
