Rider University graduates placed third in the national Small Business Institute Consulting Project of the Year competition. The Small Business Institute (SBI) was founded in 1976 to provide college students with practical learning experiences by working directly with clients and performing analysis. Since Rider began competing in the contest in 1998, they have achieved a total of 40 top 10 finishes in both the undergraduate and graduate divisions.
Dr. Ron Cook, professor of entrepreneurial studies and director of Rider’s SBI program, expressed his pride in the students’ success and praised the university’s consistent achievement in the competition. He emphasized that exceptional students can achieve remarkable results when they collaborate to create solutions for clients.
The team consisted of Kaitlyn Kurfuss ’23, Lindsey Mulrooney ’23, Doris Martin ’23, and Ryan Dougherty ’23. They were tasked with developing a consulting report for Wolf Tree Wilderness Therapy in Ithaca, New York as part of Cook’s fall 2022 consulting class. Wolf Tree specializes in Wilderness Therapy programs and Mindful Outdoor Experiences in the psychotherapy and wilderness therapy fields. The students’ report proposed innovative strategies to enhance and optimize Wolf Tree’s brand presence in the wilderness therapy sector to attract more clients and increase revenue.
Kurfuss shared her experience working with Wolf Tree Wilderness Therapy, emphasizing the practical knowledge gained from collaborating with a real business to help them achieve their goals. She mentioned that managing a business, focusing on marketing, finances, and legalities are valuable lessons that cannot be learned from a textbook alone. David Molnar ’76, Rider’s entrepreneur-in-residence and former vice president of sales at Heraeus Sensor Technology also played an important role as a mentor to the team during weekly meetings by sharing his industry knowledge.
Overall, this achievement is a testament to Rider University’s commitment to providing hands-on learning experiences for its students while fostering their passion for entrepreneurship and innovation.
