By Keistrel Baron, UC Berkeley Student and CRB Student Assistant

Patagonia is known for constantly seeking ways to redefine the relationship between business and a healthy planet. In an effort to make a positive impact in the food industry, Patagonia launched Patagonia Provisions, which focuses on ethical and sustainable ways of producing food. Patagonia is once again partnering up with the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business to host a second case competition to address challenges in the food chain. For this competition, teams of graduate students from different disciplines will propose innovative solutions that Patagonia can implement to accelerate regenerative agricultural practices.

The finals will be held on April 21st, here at the Haas School of Business. You may sign up to watch the presentations here: https://2017patagoniacasecomp.eventbrite.com.

We are pleased to announce the 10 teams from across the nation that have made it to the final round of this year’s case competition (in order of team name). Team members listed will be in attendance at the final competition.

(Re)Generation Y (University of Pennsylvania)
Michie Adachi – MBA ‘18
Jessica Blum – MBA ‘18
Smitha Sharma – MBA ‘18
Vinayak Uppal -MBA ‘18
Chelsea Meyers – Masters, Integrated Product Design / Engineering ‘18

As a team, (Re)Generation Y members covered a lot of ground in the past year by plane, foot, bike, horse, and more. Cumulatively, they’ve:
Flown 220K miles (enough to circle the globe 10x),
Run 160 miles (many on soccer fields),
Biked 2400 miles, and
Covered 20 miles on horseback.

Columbia MBAgriculturalists (Columbia University)
Charlotte Paulson – MBA ‘18
Hannah Siegelberg – MBA ‘18
Matt Miller – MBA ‘18
Scott Liftman – MBA ‘18
Justin Gomes – MBA ‘18

Prior to pursuing an MBA at Columbia Business School, the members of Team Columbia MBAgriculturalists worked all over the world in social enterprise and national defense. On average, their team members speak four languages, read numerous alphabets and have visited over 50 countries, sampling and surviving numerous styles of adventurous street food. Now, they are committed to bringing Kernza Beer to the East Coast.”

Team FARM: Fair Agriculture and Resource Management  (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Lila Fridley – LGO (MBA/MS in Civil Engineering) ‘18
Sean Singer – MBA ‘18
Jeremy Hare – LGO (MBA/MS in Civil Engineering) ‘18
Lee Evangelakos – LGO (MBA/MS in Civil Engineering) ‘18
Kelly Rincon – MBA ‘18

After enjoying an Italian team dinner – and a bottle of wine – Team FARM think Provisions’ next big market opportunity is the regeneratively sourced American buffalo buffalata cheese.

Team Greenscape (University of California, Berkeley)
Olga Ballard – MBA ‘18
Adrian Lu – PhD ‘18
Ryan Peterson – MDP ‘18
Ali Ticker – MBA ‘18
Michael Fleischmann – MPP ‘18

Team Greenscape has 2 certified yoga instructors, someone who performed for Liza Minelli and someone successfully competed in China’s most popular reality show.

Team Hoos Green (University of Virginia)
Bryan Shadron – MBA ‘18
Ben Strickland – MBA ‘18
David Baum – MBA ‘18
Jacob Lee – MBA ‘18
Caroline Herre – Masters, Urban and Environmental Planning ‘17
Stephanie Roe – PhD, Environmental Science ‘20

Team Hoos Green has a passion for farming, just like Thomas Jefferson, the founder of the University of Virginia, having traveled to over 484 total farms themselves. A farmer at heart, Jefferson grew over 89 species of vegetables and herbs and 170 varieties of fruit at his Monticello home gardens. They look to carry on Jefferson’s rich agricultural tradition.

Team Krobo Crimson (Harvard University)
Kristen Gendron – MBA ‘18
Nikki Hutsell – MBA ‘18
Ruth Isenstadt – MBA ‘18
Lizzie Moore – HGSE, Ed.M (Specialized Studies) ‘17
David Chan – MBA ‘18
Karla Mendez – MBA ‘18

Team Krobo Crimson is named after Mount Krobo, found in the farming communities of Ghana, West Africa. The Krobos are an eclectic group, but they share a love for the important things: good beer, Patagonia chili, sustainability, getting outside, and of course, hanging out with each other. They’re pretty pumped to meet everyone at Haas, where they get to combine all those things!

Team Plant Power (Yale University)
Nitesh Kumar – MBA ‘17
Nathan Hall – MBA/MEM ‘17
Serena Pozza – MBA/MEM ‘18
Nikola Alexandre – MEM ‘18
Emily Oldfield – PhD, Soil Sciences ‘18
Chris Martin – MBA/MEM ‘18

Team Plant Power was born out of a chance meeting of several team members at a forestry-themed dance party/mixer between Yale’s environmental and business graduate schools.

Team Starfish Solutions (Cornell University)
Amanda Archila – MBA ‘18
Mandi Fried – MBA ‘18
Crosby Fish – MBA ‘18
Anne-Marie Mitchell – MBA ‘18
Ann Bybee-Finley – PhD ‘18
Seth Olson – MS, Applied Economics and Management ’18

Three members of Team Starfish Solutions are in a band together called Doubtful Accounts.

Team Usurpers (Babson College)
Ty Thiele – MBA ‘17
Maureen O’Brien – MBA ‘17
Andrew Franks – MBA ‘17
Evadne Cokeh – MBA ‘17
Amanda Roosevelt – MBA ‘17

Team Usurpers are the founding members of a group at Babson who are committed to using business to solve social and environmental problems. Their objective has been to encourage Babson College to provide more learning opportunities for students to pursue experiences and careers in social innovation.

Team Wolverine Farmball (University of Michigan)
Amelia Harris – MBA/MS, Natural Resources and the Environment ‘19
Erik Wolfe – MBA/MS, Natural Resources and the Environment ‘19
Nosheen Hayat – MPH, Food & Nutrition ‘18
Amanda Lownes – MPH, Nutritional Sciences ‘18

The first letter of Team Wolverine Farmball’s first names can spell: paean – a song of praise or triumph.

We look forward to hearing the teams pitch their ideas in front of Patagonia executives for the final round. If you are interested in attending the case competition finals, visit: https://2017patagoniacasecomp.eventbrite.com.

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