Purdue Fort Wayne students stand out at 2022 Flipping Finance Challenge

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Winners of the 2022 Flipping Finance Challenge, a civic problem-solving event hosted by the Indiana Bond Bank, were recently announced. Three teams made up of 14 total students representing Purdue University Fort Wayne’s Doermer School of Business took part in this year’s two-week competition. Two of the PFW teams received top prizes for their efforts.

The goal of the annual challenge is to provide local units of government with access to new ideas and solutions, deeper consumer engagement, opportunities for co-creation, optimization of tasks, and reduced costs.

Five challenge track owners presented 14 challenge statements from which the innovators could develop a solution. In all, IBB received 29 submissions from 26 teams. Almost 80 innovators participated, which was a nearly 50% increase from the challenge’s prior high.

The challenge track owners for 2022 were Jay County, the City of Jasper, the Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity, the Town of Winfield, and Maverick Energy Consulting. Each selected its “Top 2” solution submissions with the winning teams receiving cash prizes from a purse of $5,000.

Top prize winners for 2022, with Purdue Fort Wayne teams appearing in bold, were:

Jay County Top 2

• No Money, No Problems: Kaitlyn Wampler, Ashley Martin, Holly Serban, Monterius Hartz, Sam James
• Team Independent: Kendria Pratcher

City of Jasper Top 2

• PFW Extreme: Kamron Bradtke, Thaine Boehme, Samantha Hiles, Carolyn Childers
• Team Roam: Jennifer Roam

Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity Top 2

• Cyber Paws: Gigi Nguyen, Hieu Nguyen, Nam Ho, Tom Nguyen
• MakeaPhish: Chiung-Yi Tsai, Xinyi Liu, Farheen Samad, Yating Zhao

Town of Winfield Top 2

• PFW Audit 1: Nikolas Albertson, Emily Staehr, Joe Vietmeier, Evan Carnes, Ethan Shuman, Christian Perez-Guzman
• Team Bondry: Amanda Mumphrey, Erik Martinez, Marielle Rujevcan

Maverick Energy Consulting Top 2

• PFW Audit 1: Nikolas Albertson, Emily Staehr, Joe Vietmeier, Evan Carnes, Ethan Shuman, Christian Perez-Guzman
• Challengers: Linh PT Nguyen, Michael Chen, Thie Nguyen

For the first time, a Best in Show — the Indiana Treasurer of State’s Award for Innovation in Public Finance — was also presented. No Money, No Problems took home the honor.

“This competition is an excellent opportunity for students at Purdue Fort Wayne to show off not only those skills acquired in the classroom, but also their ability to apply them in ‘real life’ situations,” said Dan Boylan, assistant professor of accounting, Doermer School of Business. “It’s fun to compete against some of the best schools in the state and country and be able to achieve winning results.”

Sponsors for FFC 2022 were Ash Interactive, Baird, Barnes & Thornburg, BondLink, Bondry Consulting, Bose McKinney & Evans, Crossroads Bank, First Merchants Bank, Frost Brown Todd, Hall Render, Ice Miller, JAM Productions, JP Morgan Chase, Key Bank, Maverick Energy Consulting, Mesirow Financial, Raymond James, Regions Bank, Stifel, Swap Financial and US Bank. This support funded the cash awards and allowed FFC 2022 to remain cost-free to all participants.

For more information about Purdue Fort Wayne’s experience in the Flipping Finance Challenge, contact Boylan at [email protected] or 260-481-6464.

Anyone wanting to learn more about participating in the 2023 Flipping Finance Challenge or sponsorship opportunities may express their interest here.