Gatton Team Set For 2011 National Biz Quiz

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 30, 2011) – For the fourth consecutive year, students from the University of Kentucky Gatton College of Business and Economics will head to the annual Wall Street Journal National Biz Quiz competition at The Ohio State University this fall.

Gordon Holbein, a senior lecturer in strategy and leadership at Gatton who serves as the team's coach, recently announced the selection of three students and one alternate chosen on the basis of a quick recall competition.

The team members are Jonathan Evers, a junior finance and math major from Paducah; Alyssa Rivard, a marketing and management sophomore from Pikeville; and,

Danail Kelisakiev, a finance senior and Gatton Global Scholar from Varna, Bulgaria.

Ryan McFerran, a junior finance and economics major from Hebron, qualified as the team's first alternate.

"We are anticipating another successful trip to this prestigious national event, as well as a great deal of learning as our students continue to become 'world ready,'" said Holbein.

In 2008, the first year that Gatton became one of only 24 universities invited to the competition, then-UK sophomore Jeffrey Howard of Louisville, a Gatton Global Scholar majoring in accounting and minoring in international business, captured first place in the individual competition among 72 participants.  At that event, Gatton's three-student team of Howard, then-UK senior finance and management major Mark Spurlin of Danville, and then-UK senior decision science and information systems major Ryan Hayes of Frankfort, placed fourth out of the 24 teams, beating out squads from schools such as Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Emory, Michigan, North Carolina, and Notre Dame. and other fine programs.

The event, which will be held Nov. 11-13 at OSU's Fisher College of Business, is co-sponsored by the Nationwide Insurance Financial Leadership Rotation Program.  

The students will be challenged by several rounds of fast-paced, head-to-head quick response competition.  Questions are drawn from nearly two months of issues of the Wall Street Journal and are expected to cover a wide array of topics including the economy, politics, international affairs, corporate strategies, accounting policies, personal finance, sports, the arts, medicine, and social trends.

Nationwide Insurance looks at Biz Quiz participants as potential hires for its financial leadership program, considered to be one of the top management development opportunities in the country.

MEDIA CONTACT:  Carl Nathe, (859) 257-3200; Michele Sparks, (859) 257-0040