A four-member team comprising full-time MBA students of the Class of 2020 at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business has won the first place in the Salesforce Product Marketing Challenge, overcoming 96 teams from business schools across the US.
The competition was judged by the company’s senior product marketing directors and executives. The judges stated that the Ross team of Vishal Chandawarkar, Naja Edwards, Alexandra Morbitzer, and Avinav Sinha stood out for their in-depth research into Salesforce’s ideal customer and innovative solutions in terms of channels.
Over the course of two weeks, 691 competitors from 45 schools had immersed themselves in Salesforce and its competitors’ solutions for the consumer goods market and developed strategic positioning and messaging for the brand.
“The tight timeline pushed us to stay focused in our exploration as we drew insights from the broad and far-reaching consumer goods industry to build an impactful, razor-sharp final recommendation,” Chandawarkar said.
As top performers, the Ross MBAs will also have a chance to interview for the company’s summer MBA product marketing internship, the school said on its news blog.
Chandawarkar, a Product Management Fellow at Ross, says in his Linked in profile that after 5 years of successfully developing challenger brands, he was seeking product management roles to blend creative and analytical thinking and build products that push cultural boundaries. His assignment prior to enrolling for MBA was Associate Brand Manager, Tequilas and Gin, Campari Group from February 2016 to August 2018.
Avinav Sinha has worked as a Quantitative Consultant at Gartner, Gurgaon, India where he partnered with CXO-level clients to generate revenue growth insights by conducting hypothesis-based research and surveys, leading to 95% client retention
Naja Edwards is concentrating on data and business analytics. Interested in pivoting into positions at the intersection of technological innovation, strategy, and business, she has previously worked in the aerospace industry as a propulsion engineer in commercial and military propulsion systems. Her last assignment was Propulsion/Fuels Service Engineer at Boeing, she says in her Linked in profile.
Alexandra Morbitzer had spent several years working in public relations, integrated marketing, media relations and communications consulting. She graduated with honours from St. John’s University where she earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in Government and Politics with a minor in Public Relations. She was also a member of the school’s varsity Track and Field team.
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Voted President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee by fellow St. John’s athletes, she helped overhaul and redesign the orientation program used to ensure a smooth transition for new freshman and transfer athletes. A fanatical sports fan, she also created the online healthy lifestyle and wellness platform “Fit Latina.”
Avinav Sinha has worked as a Quantitative Consultant at Gartner, Gurgaon, India where he partnered with CXO-level clients to generate revenue growth insights by conducting hypothesis-based research and surveys, leading to 95% client retention.
He has also managed cross-functional collaboration of business and IT to launch a new client-facing web channel, creating 16 interactive web products used by over 5,000 industry leaders. (Image Source:wikipedia.org)
