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STUDENT Achievements
Team of Five Advances to National xAct Competition Finals five VSB students won first place in the oncampus
division
of
the
PricewaterhouseCoopers
(PwC)
Extreme Accounting (xACT) Competition and qualified to represent VSB in the national competition in New York City. The “Mindsweepers” team of Alyssa Mazzarini ’14 VSB, Matthew Santoriello ’14 VSB, Ariana Weihn ’14 VSB, Daphne Lam ’13 VSB, and Ali Galgano ’12 VSB, with faculty advisor Kenneth Hiltebeitel, won $1,000 as the on-campus winners and $10,000 as one of five national winners.
Assistant Professor of Management James Klingler
Joseph Mancari, VSB ‘09
The xACT challenge is a high-level case competition that tests students’ critical thinking, decision making, teamwork, time management, and presentation skills. Each team is given two weeks to develop a case solution to a real-world accounting issue, which they then present to a panel of PwC representatives. The winning team from each school is considered for the national finals, but only five teams are chosen to compete. Villanova University is one of the five schools to advance, along with Providence College, University of California—Berkeley, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Washington.
Ali Galgano ’12 VSB, Alyssa Mazzarini ’14 VSB, Ariana Weihn ’14 VSB, Daphne Lam ’13 VSB, and Matthew Santoriello ’14 VSB won $10,000 and advanced to the national finals of the PwC xAct Competition. Kenneth Hiltebeitel, PhD, advised the student team.
“Being among the national finalists at the xACT competition
“The xACT competition exposed me to so many different
helped us establish a relationship with PwC on a personal level,
aspects of the business world,” said Mazzarini. “It improved my
which would have been hard to achieve in a typical networking
public speaking skills and gave me experience in presenting an
event,” said Lam. “The most rewarding part of this competi-
idea to a group of executives. Being a national finalist was a
tion is at the end of the day when everyone involved becomes
great honor, and I feel very accomplished after all the work our
our friends.”
group put into the competition.”
Real Estate Scholarships Awarded to VSB Students
Emily Dinovo ’12 VSB
Two VSB students won national scholarships from the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Network. Emily Dinovo ’12 VSB and Kristen Killeen ’12 VSB were two of just ten students who received $10,000 grants, and were the first-ever winners from the Philadelphia area. As part villanova business | summer 2012
of the scholarship, Dinovo and Killeen also received internship positions with commercial real estate organizations. “I am honored to receive an award that not only will help support my academic experience in business, but will also provide me with practical experience in the real estate industry,” said Dinovo. “Not many scholarships also provide their winners with internships. This opportunity helps pave the way for women in a traditionally male-dominated industry.” The CREW Network is a premier business networking organization specifically designed to support women
Kristen Killeen ’12 VSB
in the commercial real estate industry. The scholarship program was launched in 2008 and distributes $100,000 annually to ten undergraduate students. These scholarships are just one way that the CREW Network helps women prepare for success in commercial real estate. They also provide mentoring,
leadership development, and professional training for women in all stages of their career. The CREW Network hopes that by supporting the achievements of women, they will help diversify the industry as well as influence its success. “Through winning the CREW scholarship, I was able to make many connections within the CREW network,” said Killeen. “Combined with securing an internship, this gave me an entrance into the real estate business. The value of this scholarship to my professional development is immeasurable.”
