Our Awards

Every year, we feature our award winners in multiple categories.

We have decided to name awards after people who we model. 

Mark Haber was Innovatank’s first advisor. He attended our ideation meetings and provided feedback on multiple aspects of the company. 

Dean Sanjay Sharma told us their story on how he and Mark started the case competition culture many years ago. 

When I joined JMSB as Dean in 2007, Mark Haber was teaching Marketing courses at Marianopolis College and also at JMSB and helping coach students for some case competitions (including Jeux de Commerce) at JMSB. His competitive approach to winning case competitions and dedication convinced me that he would be a great asset if he could devote much more energy in preparing JMSB students to compete against the best in the world. I constructed a full time position for Mark at JMSB so that he would not have to teach at Marianopolis any more and devote his energy to a teaching course in case competition preparation for JMSB undergraduate students and coaching them for many more case competitions. I also allocated a substantial budget for case competitions to enable the students to compete in many more national and international case competitions.

Mark with his competitive streak and confidence negotiated a contract where he would get bonuses based on a base minimum level of podium finishes and the bonus would go up after that threshold was achieved.  And did he overachieve! He prepared students rigorously and helped them win one case competition after another year over year. His coaching and competing success helped built strong analytical and presentation skills for our students, helped them succeed in job interviews and careers, and also quickly built the reputation of JMSB.

His approach to coaching was ‘tough love.’ The students knew that being coached by Mark was not easy and would mean leaving their egos outside the room. . He was a tough taskmaster and cracked the whip until the students were ready to compete to win. At one of the annual case competition celebrations at the Molson Brewery for our students and coaches, I named Mark “Dr. Buckley” because as everyone knew at that time, Dr. Buckley’s cough mixture “Tastes awful but it works.”  At least while I was there, the name stuck and Mark was proud of this tough love Dr. Buckley image as students lined up to be a part of this successful case competition program.

After I left JMSB, I met Mark a couple of times as he brought the JMSB teams to compete in the Grossman School of Business’s Annual Global family Enterprise Case Competition. I have not seen him for many years and I wish him well and thank him for all he did for JMSB’s students and to help build the reputation of the school.

Sanjay Sharma

We are proud to initiate the Decidetobekind Award

We met Shelly many years ago, she helped Samie write her first resume and assisted Stavros with Career sessions. Having worked with Shelly, she definitely stands by #decidetobekind. Shelly is open minded and always strives for excellence. She is flexible and extremely supportive and helpful with anyone she encounters. 

We are extremely proud to initiate this award in honor of her personality, professionalism and hope we celebrate with this mindset as we grow and live through life.  

We are proud to initiate the Kallioppi Award. 

Her name is Popi, she is a triple cancer survivor, multiple pharmacy entrepreneur and a professional pharmacist and lactation consultant. 

When we think of what it means to be an industry expert, she models it. She is well known in the field of pharmacy and she is a fighter for what is right. Stavros and Samie model her attitude in life. We have seen how she serves her customers, dedicates her life to the mastery of her profession.