Cornell’s UT-Austin National Real Estate Challenge Case Team has selected Annamaria Lookman (Baker ’16) and William Woodsworth (MBA ’16) to lead the team in 2015. Lookman and Woodsworth will join as understudies this year, participating in all team meetings, case practices, trainings, and will fly to Austin along with this year’s team when they take the stage November 19th-20th. The annual case competition is held at the University of Texas’ McCombs School of Business, with competitors from the nation’s foremost real estate and business programs. The 2013 Challenge included Berkeley, Chicago, Columbia, Georgetown, MIT, Northwestern, NYU, UCLA, UNC-Chapel Hill, USC, UT, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Wharton, and Wisconsin, with Cornell placing fourth overall.
Each team submits six currently enrolled graduate students that receive a case by e-mail before the event, and are then judged on a 20-minute presentation by accredited real estate professionals from many of the nation’s top firms. Cornell’s coaches and Baker Program in Real Estate Advisory Board Members Jon Minikes and Brad Olson help the team prepare during the semester by running mock case exercises, and by holding regular meetings where the team breaks down strategies and insights gleaned from real world transactions.
“These case competitions provide an arena to test my knowledge of a subject area outside of a purely academic setting and simulate real investment opportunities that I may have in the future,” said Lookman, who plans to continue her career in real estate development with larger regional projects in the southeastern United States. In addition to working through case specifics, a strong presence is key: Lookman’s presentation “focus is always on engaging with the audience and developing a connection.” In order to be selected as an understudy, Lookman and Woodsworth, along with a field of candidates, presented to the current team and coaches on a mock case.
Woodsworth pointed to an important reality in presenting cases: “it is essential that you completely understand the downside of a topic subject. Speaking to the upside of a project is fun, but if you cannot effectively communicate a mitigation strategy to handle key risks, then you leave yourself unnecessarily exposed when the judge’s Q&A starts.” Much like the risks in the case itself, the choices made in presenting the case response carry uncertainties and opportunity costs, which is why the case process provides such a useful practice for the real world. “Much like real estate cases, the process of acquiring a real asset involves a rapid and comprehensive analysis of market and transaction, as well as the specific upsides and downsides that accompany each,” said Woodsworth.
Winning teams not only gain the attention of major national and international real estate investment and development firms, but a cash prize of $25,000 to be split amongst the members. Co-captains if this year’s team, Nicholas Martinez (Baker ’15) and Brandon Moss (MBA ’15) are eager to compete this year, having assembled a strong team of Baker and Johnson School students. In just eight short weeks, the team will be off to Austin, Texas to represent Cornell University for this year’s National Real Estate Challenge.
