A team of Bentley students placed second in the 2012-2013 Association for Information Systems National Student Competition. A total of 82 teams from 17 universities around the country participated in the four tracks of the competition.

The team, which included students Mackenzie Segura-Cook ’15, Ryan Hebert ’13, Alina Usmanov ’15 and Brendan Colford ’14, participated in the Systems Analysis and Design track, developing a comprehensive analysis and high-level design solution based on the case study of a car racing school's efforts to improve the quality of its business processes. The case detailed an in-depth conversation among the company's employees, and students acted as consultants hired to provide systems analysis and design services for the racing school.

Other competing schools in the national finals included Brigham Young University, University of Alabama, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Michigan-Dearborn and University of North Texas.

“This achievement demonstrates the quality of Bentley’s information systems programs and students,” says CIS Professor Heikki Topi, who advised students with Professor Jennifer Xu. “The team placed by preparation, hard work and sheer determination. They have been working since January, competing in several levels of the competition that culminated at the finals in April.”

Immediately after the national AIS competition, the students (joined by an additional student teammate, Eric Ohlson ’13) participated in Walmart's IT Challenge competition in mixed-school teams with participants from about 30 leading IT schools around the country. A Bentley student served on the winning team, the runner-up, and one of the other three finalist teams (Brendan Colford, Eric Ohlson, and Alina Usmanov, respectively), all with visible leadership roles. The first-place and runner-up teams won $5,000 and $2,500 respectively for charities of their choice. The winning team supported the victims of the Boston Marathon tragedy through the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation and The One Fund Boston. The second-place team donated their winnings to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Photo caption (left to right): Students Mackenzie Segura-Cook, Eric Ohlson, Alina Usmanov, Ryan Hebert, and Brendan Colford.