Their technology-driven strategy landed them in the recent finals of the 2022 John R. Lewis Racial Justice Case Competition (JLCC), where they earned a $5,000 award as Emory’s highest finishing team.

A program of The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute, JLCC is the first student-run case competition focused on racial justice. Participants research the history of systemic racism in the U.S. and provide bold, innovative, and actionable recommendations for Fortune 500 companies seeking to solve racial inequality inside and outside their organizations.

For Shanae Smith 23MBA, the competition gave her a way to fight back.

“It was hard seeing the disparities that exist in our society and choose not to do something about it. JLCC gave us all the platform to not only say, ‘here are the issues,’ but also ‘here is what you as a business can do about it,’” she said.

This competition really challenges the companies we work with to essentially put their money where their mouth is. Given the potential impact I could have, it was an opportunity I was not going to pass up.

Shanae Smith 23MBA

Inspiring Words from Former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young

Director of The Robson Program for Business, Public Policy, and Government and Associate Professor of Finance Jeffrey Rosensweig arranged for Andrew Young – the esteemed Robson Distinguished Lecturer – to step into the role of addressing participants of the JLCC this year. “This competition is likely the most significant new program at Goizueta in many years,” he said. “It has addressed a very real need and shares real-world solutions to our nation’s very deep systemic inequities and racial inequality.”

Rosensweig invited Young—the former United Nations Ambassador, Atlanta mayor, and iconic civil rights leader—to speak to competition participants. In a conversation guided by Natalie Allen, former CNN News Anchor and the primetime anchor for Newsy, the two discussed the evolution of the movement for civil rights change, the hurdles overcome, and the work yet to be done.

In a perfect synergy of the competition’s mission and purpose, Young shared personal stories and spoke about how students with vision and courage will change the way business is done and change the world.

A colleague and friend of Martin Luther King Jr., Young recalled the achievements of their vibrant student days. “We wouldn’t have a civil rights movement without students,” said Young. “Students have the courage and the vision, but they also have the opportunity to grow up together.”

The Racial Gap in Health Care

For Goizueta, Smith joined Katie Hoole 23MBA, Michael Laguna 23MBA, and Aliya White 23MBA to compete as Team Disruption. The name reflected their desire “to create solutions that disrupted the norm,” White said. “The goal of the competition was meant to be bold, and we are addressing racial injustices from a business context, something businesses don’t normally do. The name Team Disruption embodied our boldness, our challenge to the status quo, and the potential for something new.”

They advanced to the JLCC finals by having the strongest proposal related to consulting and professional services. Accenture’s problem statement: “How can we lessen the inequity of quality of care between Black, Indigenous, people of color, and white people?”

Team Disruption’s presentation vividly portrayed the racial gap in health care. They pointed out that Black women today are three times more likely to die in childbirth than white women, and Black and brown Americans are over two times as likely to die from the impacts of COVID-19.

In a 2020 Kaiser Foundation poll, 7 of 10 Black Americans said they are treated unfairly by the health care system and 55 percent said they distrust it. Of the 28 million Americans who are uninsured, 13 million are Hispanic or Latinx, and 5 million are Black.

Understanding How Historic Inequity Relates to Treatment Today

The reasons are systemic. Over centuries in the U.S., people of color were used as test subjects in dangerous medical research such as syphilis “and today we continue to have policies that marginalize communities of color,” Hoole said. “This has all led to distrust between communities of color and the health care industry. It is imperative that we address this issue now.”

“For some, the global pandemic shed light on the disparities of access for health care, but for Black and brown communities, this is something that we’ve known all along and have been experiencing for years,” White said. “This is why we decided to focus on the health and public sector. It is something that we’re passionate about. It’s relevant to us all. And it’s been affecting all of us for a long time.”

The four had first connected through the Consortium, a program dedicated to enhancing diversity and inclusion in global business education by striving to reduce the significant underrepresentation of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans in business school. To add authority to Team Disruption’s recommendations, the four revealed their own experiences with health care inequities, which had motivated them to form the team in the first place.

Smith’s parents, after moving from Jamaica, struggled to find affordable health care for her grandmother. Laguna’s parents came from Romania and Panama and had to find health care for him and his siblings. White’s mom survived breast cancer, including surgery on the wrong breast. Hoole, a former Title I schoolteacher with Teach for America, saw that her students’ lower socioeconomic status led to lesser health care.

When John Lewis passed away, his casket was on display at the Capitol Rotunda and I went to pay my respects. John Lewis has always been well respected and an icon in the Black community and I have always been in complete awe and respect of John Lewis and his mission in life. One of the reasons I can go to Goizueta and pursue my MBA as an African American is because John Lewis fought to end legalized racial segregation in the US. When I first learned of the competition, I knew this was an opportunity to address racial inequality from a different lens and get into ‘good trouble’ as John Lewis would say.

Aliya White 23MBA

Access, Training, and Advocacy

Team Disruption’s recommendations leveraged Accenture’s existing technology to build bridges with Black, Indigenous, and people of color who need health care. Accenture is a global professional services company across more than 40 industries, employing 674,000 people and serving clients in more than 120 countries; its first-quarter 2022 revenue in the health and public service sector was $2.7 billion.

Using interviews with leaders in the health care value chain, and surveys of 350 health care consumers, Team Disruption presented a three-part proposal:

Part One: Accenture’s virtual assistant, Ella, who provides medication reminders, vitals tracking, and appointment scheduling, could be programmed to better relate to diverse audiences and increase access. Ella could provide local transportation options to health care providers, make health insurance recommendations based on socioeconomic status, point to advocacy resources, and offer language assistance.

This is important because Kaiser Foundation data showed that 18.4 percent of uninsured adults said signing up was too hard or confusing.

Language barriers, age, lack of financial resources, and limited access to health care and resources could mean life and death for some individuals.

Michael Laguna 23MBA

Part Two: Accenture can harness its Avenues virtual reality training technology to train hospital staff on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and measure its effectiveness. Avenues currently is used for caseworkers, and 75 percent of trainees feel more prepared to succeed. If used for health care workers in Georgia, this technology “could impact 127,000 health care workers in succeeding in situations involving racial bias,” Smith said.

This change could help sickle-cell anemia patients, for example, get pain medication. In one study, 63 percent of nurses treating sickle-cell believe “that addiction manifests itself in sickle cell patients, which is not true, and 30 percent of those nurses didn’t want to give those patients pain medication,” Smith added. “We believe that with a little bit more training on implicit bias we can really help these patients to feel heard.” 

Part Three: Through its Change Management Program, Accenture should hire program managers for health equity, who would ensure the Ella and Avenues programs were implemented and would serve as an advocate for Black, indigenous, and people of color.

A program manager for health equity “is an integral change that needs to be made to the organizational structure of a hospital to really bridge the gap in care,” Smith said. “We found that through our research if there is a DEI initiative, it’s usually on the doctors to discover any error, implement solutions, and make sure that change gets executed. The program manager for health equity would be able to take all of that work off the doctors’ shoulders so they can focus on care.”

In summary, White said Team Disruption sees “the cost to Accenture as very minimum, but the potential of entering this new space is going to be huge for access and training. Accenture will be able to make a huge dent in addressing these disparities.”

Local Beneficiary: Hungry Atlantans

The 2022 JLCC drew 76 applicant teams from more than 40 universities who competed for monetary prizes up to $20,000. The field narrowed to 20 semifinalists: four teams going head-to-head to solve one of five racial justice problems posed by Accenture, IBM/Call for Code for Racial Justice, Moderna, Taco Bell, and UPS.

“The John Lewis Racial Justice Case Competition is a bridge connecting students’ intellect, training, and creativity to business solutions for the pressing needs of society today,” says Lynne Segall 99MBA, associate dean for management practice initiatives and the competition’s faculty advisor. The teams “have given our sponsors a lot to think about and act on.”

During this year’s competition, students from the Yale University School of Management took first place, the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business team took second place, and the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business team took home the Audience Award.

Team Disruption moved into the finals, and a chance for the grand prize, by outpacing three semifinalist teams: Techquity Agents (representing Cornell SC Johnson Graduate School of Management), Carry the Torch (from Johns Hopkins University’s Carey Business School), and Team Act (from The Wharton School). Cornell was among Emory’s four JLCC co-sponsors, including Howard University School of Business, Rice Jones Graduate School of Business, and Yale School of Management.

The five finalists delivered 20-minute live presentations on January 21. They were judged on the potential for impact, the feasibility of recommendations, the creativity of solution, boldness, research quality and evidential support for recommendations, story structure and narrative, slide craft, and presentation delivery.

Each prize-winning JLCC team donates half to a nonprofit involved with racial justice work. Team Disruption donated to Free99Fridge, which provides high-quality produce at no cost to anyone who wants or needs it via their community fridge network in Atlanta.

“We discovered a shared interest for addressing food insecurity,” White said of her teammates. “We wanted to support an organization that was local to Atlanta, supports people of color, and where we could see an impact—$2500 worth of groceries could feed a lot of people.”

Future Growth in Racial Justice Begins with Awareness

Since its inception, the John R. Lewis Racial Justice Competition has raised awareness for business and community to unite in crafting solutions and implementing meaningful change. “This competition is about so much more than the win,” Rosensweig said.

“Our process begins an important dialogue between our corporate sponsors and their top-level executives and some of the best and brightest student minds in the country,” he said, noting Goizueta’s role in hosting the competition each year. “JLCC has staying power, and as its renown grows, we expect our corporate sponsors will compete for the opportunity to benefit from student competitors’ intellectual and analytical thought process as well as their boots-on-the-ground perspective of what racial justice truly means within our communities. JLCC is the springboard for necessary and ongoing change across the United States.”   

As the competition’s faculty advisor, Segall encourages readers to learn more about how you can participate as a team member, corporate sponsor, volunteer, or audience member at Goizueta’s annual John R. Lewis Racial Justice Competition.

The post Disrupting Health Care Inequities Earns MBA Team $5000 JLCC Prize appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

Competition Connects Leading Students and Corporations to Drive Racial Justice and Equity

Emory University’s Goizueta Business School today announced the winners of the 2022 John R. Lewis Racial Justice Case Competition. The first of its kind competition, launched in 2021, was spearheaded by Goizueta MBA alumnus Willie Sullivan to examine how companies can address racial injustice within their organizations. During this year’s competition, students from the Yale University School of Management took first place, the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business team took second place, and the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business team took home the Audience Award.

“At Goizueta, we work to reimagine and redefine a different, better way of doing business to solve the world’s greatest challenges with ingenuity, integrity, and grit,” said Goizueta Interim John H. Harland Dean Karen Sedatole. “In all of my years of academia, this competition represents one of the most poignant examples of the power of student voice and the unbreakable intersection between business and society.”

Lynne Segall 99MBA, associate dean for management practice initiatives and the competition’s faculty advisor noted, “The whole point of the competition is for student teams to propose bold initiatives. Once again, I am so impressed with the creativity of the recommendations and their grounding in evidence-based research. These student leaders have given our sponsors a lot to think about and act on.”

In December, the 76 applicant teams from more than 40 universities were narrowed to 20 teams of students from leading universities across the country. For this year’s competition, entrants were invited to complete industry-specific applications for the categories of consulting and professional services, food and beverage, healthcare, technology, and transportation and logistics.

The winners of the second annual John R. Lewis Racial Justice Case Competition will divide their monetary winnings between the team and the racial justice/inequality organization of their choice. With members of the late Congressman John R. Lewis’s family in attendance, presenting the awards was John’s nephew, Jerrick Lewis.

• First Place ($20,000) – Team JAVELN of Yale University School of Management worked with IBM/Call for Code. Half of the winnings will be donated to Black Women Talk Tech.
• Second Place ($10,000) – Team Bridging the Business Gap of University of Southern California Marshall School of Business worked with Taco Bell. Half of the winnings will be donated to OneTen.
• Audience Award ($10,000) – Team Racial Justice League of Georgetown University McDonough School of Business worked with UPS. Half of the winnings will be donated to Dreaming Out Loud Inc.

The five finalist teams and their targeted industries were:

1. Emory University—Team Disruption, consulting and professional services
2. University of Southern California—Team Bridging the Business Gap, food and beverage
3. University of Florida—Team I.D.E.A., healthcare
4. Yale University—Team JAVELN, technology
5. Georgetown University—Team Racial Justice League, transportation and logistics

This second annual competition, named for the late Atlanta Congressman John R. Lewis, was sponsored by Accenture, IBM / Call for Code, Moderna, Taco Bell, UPS, Momentive.ai, and Yahoo! Finance. Goizueta was joined by university partners Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, Howard University School of Business, Rice Jones Graduate School of Business, and Yale School of Management who hosted preliminary and semi-final events and recruited top students, sponsors, and judges nationwide.

United States Ambassador to the United Nations, civil rights leader, and confidant to Martin Luther King Jr., Andrew Young delivered the keynote address as Goizueta’s Robson Distinguished Lecturer. Young served as the 55^th mayor of Atlanta and served as a U.S. Congressman from Georgia. He was a key strategist and negotiator during civil rights campaigns that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“Business has taken the lead,” Young shared in reflection on how times have changed. He went on to say, “Business is far more powerful for dealing with social change than is government.” His two words to guide students in their quest for racial justice? “Vision and courage.” On inspiring college students to become leaders, he encouraged a balanced life, reassuring them that “You will know when your time comes.”

Other ceremony participants included Goizueta MBA students and Managing Director Kegan Baird 22MBA and Co-Managing Director Jasmine Burton 22MBA, John R. Lewis Racial Justice Case Competition founder Willie Sullivan 21MBA, and Emory University President Gregory L. Fenves.

“This competition is all about education and action,” said Baird. “It gives students like me really powerful, hands-on experience and organizations access to some of the brightest emerging leaders in business. I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished together.”

The John R. Lewis Racial Justice Case Competition is part of The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute. The Institute represents an elevated commitment by Goizueta Business School to address complex challenges confronting people, the planet, and the business community.

Learn more about the John R. Lewis Case Competition and how you can get involved.

The post Goizueta Business School Announces Winners of the 2022 John R. Lewis Racial Justice Case Competition appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

After a tumultuous year of uncertainty, compassion, and hope, Goizueta graduates from each of the school’s undergraduate and graduate programs celebrated the milestone moment of their Commencement, heralded by the Atlanta Pipe Band as is Emory tradition. 

To mark the occasion of this year’s Commencement ceremonies, Emory University President Gregory. L. Fenves recognized the “remarkable, resilient Class of 2021 and the Class of 2020.” About them he wrote, “These graduates have overcome unprecedented challenges to learn, grow and discover. I’m excited about the bright future that is ahead of them, and I can’t wait to see all they will accomplish as alumni of Emory University.”

Goizueta held diploma ceremonies for students in programs including BBA, Evening MBA, Executive MBA, Full-time MBA, and Master of Business Analytics.  A special Commencement ceremony was held for the Class of 2020, whose celebration was held virtually last year due to the pandemic. 

John H. Harland Interim Dean Karen Sedatole acknowledged recent student experiences. “What surprised me most and made me most proud – is how much we’ve found together. We’ve found trust and teamwork. We’ve found flexibility, prioritized what’s most important to us, and found a renewed commitment to shaping the world around us,” she said. “This perspective, the skills you’ve gained, and the experiences you’ve had will stay with you. And I’m confident that they will make you a stronger team member, a stronger leader, and a stronger global citizen.”

Upon conferring the degrees, Fenves cited, “Graduates … you are charged with conducting the world’s business with integrity and skill. You are the drivers of innovation, helping to expand the boundaries of what can be achieved in commerce, trade, finance, technology, accounting, and more. As leaders and entrepreneurs, you enter an ever-changing marketplace … with the training and experience to make a powerful impact on society.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci Receives Emory University President’s Medal

President Fenves wrote, “Only five individuals have received both an honorary degree and the Emory President’s Medal—President Jimmy Carter, Congressman John Lewis, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dr. William Foege, and Ambassador Andrew Young. Dr. Anthony Fauci will join that short list of iconic figures, and we couldn’t be prouder.” Fauci received an honorary degree from Emory in 2003.

President Fenves wrote, “During the past year, Dr. Fauci’s name has become synonymous with truth, clarity, and medical expertise. As chief physician to our country in the midst of a pandemic, he has become one of the most trusted voices in medicine for millions of Americans, and we are excited to honor him as part of Emory’s 176th Commencement.” 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci addressed the graduates and guests virtually as he shared insight into recent events. “This has been an extraordinary, challenging, and difficult year. I have had the opportunity and privilege to be part of the public health and scientific response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This global health crisis has changed the landscape of all of our lives,” he said. “Such times call upon all of us to work together.”

He continued, “If there are any lessons that we have learned from this pandemic, they are these. One: science will provide the solution to this pandemic as we have seen with the rapid and successful development of multiple safe and highly successful vaccines. Two: societal divisiveness is counter-productive in a pandemic. We must not be at odds with each other since the virus is the enemy – not each other. Hopefully, as we move forward, our collective commitment, tireless efforts, passion, and resilience will help us achieve a successful end to this unprecedented public health emergency.” 

With wisdom gained from years of service to the public health of the world, Fauci noted, “Only by working together with our partners in academia, industry, and the community will we be able to rapidly achieve this goal and be prepared to respond to future infectious diseases and outbreaks. Once again, thank you so much for this great honor.” 

Fenves concluded, “Emory’s motto, ‘the wise heart seeks knowledge,’ is exemplified by Dr. Fauci’s many decades of public service,” Fenves says. “Indeed, it is his wise heart, and the knowledge he has provided, that have helped us get through a year like no other.”

For more Commencement memories, stories, and ceremony details, and videos, please visit commencement.emory.edu. To view the Emory Commencement program, visit here. With insight from the Emory University Historian Gary Hauk 91T, read about the history of Commencement at Emory in “The Feast of Reason and the Flow of Soul.”

The post Goizueta Graduates Celebrate Commencement & the Future Ahead appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

The civil rights icon met with Dean Erika James, then spoke to an MBA class comprising of 150 students, faculty and administrative leaders. Later in the day, Young was interviewed by CNN anchor Natalie Allen during Rosensweig’s BBA class of 65 undergraduates. In addition to the class sessions, Ambassador Young had lunch with several BBA and MBA student leaders, including members of the Black MBA Association.

The post Ambassador Young visits Goizueta appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

Goizueta’s recent Alumni Awards celebration honored Andrew Serwer 84MBA, managing editor of FORTUNE magazine, as the 2014 Distinguished Alumni and Morgan “Mac” Schuessler 98EvMBA, president of Global Payments, Inc., with the 2014 Alumni Service Award. This year’s event, held at the Miller-Ward Alumni House, was smaller and more intimate than in past years, providing the ideal venue for attendees to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones.

Special guests, invited by the award winners, made the gathering all the more memorable. Serwer’s guests included Ambassador and Mrs. Andrew Young, as well as Joel Babbit, co-founder and chief executive officer of Mother Nature Network; Lynn Brindell, senior vice president of marketing for CNN; and faculty emeritus Brown Whittington and his wife.

Unable to attend, Schuessler sent in his comments by video. Bob and Dixie Kannard, Schuessler’s in-laws, attended along with Carl Williams, who accepted the award on Schuessler’s behalf.

“The alumni award ceremony was a fantastic evening honoring the best of the best of Goizueta alumni,” says Elizabeth Halkos 01MBA, president of Goizueta’s Alumni Board. “Not only were we able to honor Andy Serwer and Mac Schuessler, we also engaged Goizueta alumni leaders committed to the long-term success of the school. Given the dedication and enthusiasm demonstrated by our nominees, the event personally inspired me to be a better alumna and leader for the school.”

— Carol Lindsey

The post Alumni honored at awards celebration appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.