RIDER SBI TEAM WINS REGIONAL COMPETITION 

Rider's Small Business Institute (SBI) student teams have done it again.
     The undergraduate SBI team of Cathy Viola '00 management and Yevgenia Gorfinkel '00 management has won the regional title in the SBI Directors Association competition and is among 10 finalists for the SBI National Consulting Case-of-the-Year Award. It marks the fourth straight year an undergraduate team has won regional competition to advance to the finals. The 1998 team won the national title.
     Likewise, a graduate team of Larry Wheeler MBA '00 and Michael O'Neill MBA'00 entered the competition for the first time, also won regional competition and is one of 10 teams to advance to the finals. The championship teams will be announced February 8 at the SBIDA national convention.
     "I am very honored to have an undergraduate team make it to the national finals for the fourth year in a row," said Dr. Ronald Cook, associate professor of management and SBI director. "In addition, Rider MBA students also showed they can compete with the best in the country in their first competition."
     Cook and the graduate team of Wheeler and O'Neill were part of a cover feature article about Rider's SBI program in the September 2000 issue of Mercer Business magazine. Their project focused on an evaluation of Lawrenceville Main Street's Web site. Viola's and Gorfinkel's project, which involved an examination of volunteer recruiting and efficiency for Mercer Mart, was also mentioned in that article.