Phi Beta Lambda Winners Turn in Top Performances at State

Members of the UT Dallas business career student group Phi Beta Lambda topped their performance of last year in competitive events at the recent Texas State Leadership Conference.

UT Dallas competitors picked up 19 awards. Last year competitors earned 12 awards for first or second place — this year 17. In all, 14 UT Dallas students scored first, second or third place in 19 events at the April conference. Ten of the 14 finished with top marks in two events. Nine of the qualified students will move on to the Phi Beta Lambda National Leadership Conference in Atlanta June 23 to 28.

The Jindal School hosted both the 2015 and 2016 state conferences. In addition to the challenges testing students’ business knowledge, the conference featured networking opportunities and workshops offered by JSOM’s Career Management Center and Business Communication Center to help participants’ polish both professional and leadership skills.

UT Dallas PBL Chapter President and Texas PBL Vice President of Communications Phimlamphay Merry Dimanh, set the leadership pace for the UT Dallas team by placing first in two state events. But Ramya Jose kept up with that pace by also earning two firsts.

A senior computer engineering major minoring in innovation and entrepreneurship, Dimanh won the mobile app development challenge with teammate Bethany Salgado. Dimanh also took first place in the computer concepts event.

Jose, a junior in accounting, shared first place in the business ethics event with Sejal Mali. Jose also won the microeconomics challenge.

Dimanh and Salgado won first place and $1,000 in the social media challenge at nationals in Chicago last year.

Dr. Michele Lockhart, UT Dallas PBL advisor, will once again be leading the students to nationals. “This has been another great year for PBL. The state conference was a complete success. It was a true JSOM team effort, and I could not have done it without the staff and faculty volunteers. Now, we’re off to nationals.”

The collegiate division of the Future Business Leaders of America, Phi Beta Lambda focuses on preparing students for careers in business and business-related fields. On the college level, more than 11,000 students nationwide participate in the organization, which is designed to build leadership and scholarship.

UT DALLAS PHI BETA LAMBDA 2016 STATE CONFERENCE WINNERS

Performance Events / Prejudged Events

First Place

Event	Competitor/s	Major and Class	Event Category
Business Decision Making	Angel Wang Indira Angajala	Accounting Junior Finance Junior	Management/Marketing
Business Presentation	Meher Vallabhaneni	Economics and Finance Senior	Communication
Business Ethics	Ramya Jose Sejal Mali	Accounting Junior Finance Junior	Legal
Future Business Executive	Harshita Guduru	Mechanical Engineering Senior	Career Related
Human Resource Management	Mounika Mutyala Nousheen Karimi	Supply Chain Management Sophomore Global Business Junior	Human Resource Management
Mobile Applications Development	Bethany Salgado Phimlamphay Dimanh	Global Business Junior Computer Engineering Senior	Technology
Management Analysis and Decision Making	Mounika Mutyala Nousheen Karimi	Supply Chain Management Sophomore Global Business Junior	Management/Marketing

Second Place

Event	Competitor/s	Major and Class	Event Category
Economic Analysis and Decision Making	Kaiya McCray	Economics and Finance Senior	Economics
Business Law	Kaiya McCray	Economics and Finance Senior	Legal
Impromptu Speaking	Meher Vallabhaneni	Economics and Finance Senior	Communication

Third Place

Event	Competitor/s	Major and Class	Event Category
Job Interview	Bethany Salgado	Global Business Junior	Career Related

Non-Performance Events / Objective Tests

First Place

Event	Competitor/s	Major and Class	Event Category
Statistical Analysis	Alekhya Nandula	Finance Senior	Management/Marketing
Microeconomics	Ramya Jose	Accounting Junior	Economics
Information Management	Alekhya Nandula	Finance Senior	Management/Marketing
Computer Concepts	Phimlamphay Dimanh	Computer Engineering Senior	Technology
Marketing Concepts	Nhi Lai	Information Technology and Systems Freshman	Management/Marketing

Second Place

Event	Competitor/s	Major and Class	Event Category
Macroeconomics	Nhi Lai	Information Technology and Systems Freshman	Economics
Personal Finance	Sejal Mali	Finance Junior	Accounting and Finance

Third Place

Event	Competitor/s	Major and Class	Event Category
Accounting Principles	Nidhi Gotgi	Accounting Junior	Accounting and Finance