Isenberg Marks 10th Annual Ethics Competition Challenging Students on Business Decision-Making

The Management Department, together with the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst, recently hosted the 10th Annual Ethics Competition—a signature event that pushes students to grapple with complex ethical challenges in business. Marking a major milestone, the competition brought together undergraduate and graduate teams to demonstrate their analytical skills, creativity, and dedication to ethical decision-making.

Associate Department Chair and Business Law Program Director Jennifer Merton highlighted the impact the event has made on students in the past decade.

“The competition has challenged students to develop solutions that are legal, ethical, and financially viable, while also serving as a gateway to national and international ethics case competitions, where our teams have consistently excelled,” she said. “Beyond competition success, its true impact lies in shaping future ethical leaders and sustaining a strong alumni network that continues to mentor and support new generations.”  

This year’s competition, held Nov. 8th at Isenberg, serves as a full-circle moment for Merton, who first served as faculty advisor 10 years ago to the first-place winners of the final weekend at the Inter-Collegiate Business Competition (ICBC) as an international invitational team.

“The Isenberg Ethics Competition reflects Isenberg’s commitment to fostering ethical leadership through both curriculum and extracurricular opportunities,” she said.

This year, students were asked to provide recommendations to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and its Data Governance Leadership Committee on the use of artificial intelligence in advertising—considering whether there should be limitations on adoption of this technology, as well as how to manage implementation strategies in ways that meet financial, legal, and ethical considerations. Student competitors received the case a week before the competition to prepare a 25-minute presentation, which was followed by questions and feedback from the judges.

2025 Undergraduate Division Winners

• Room One – First Place: Dresden Howell, Michael Atkin, Nicholas Pimental, and Aili LaMarca
• Room Two – First Place: Pranav Muralitharan and Melanie Ho
• Room One – Second Place & Open Division Winner: Alex Lombardi, Milo Loyall, and Cheng-Yu Wang
• Room Two – Second Place (Tie):
  • Matei Ionut Suta and Gavin Roi
  • Ellie Lee, Yanyan Lee, and Sabrina Tierney

2025 Graduate Division Winners

• Room One – First Place: Kyla Kastie, Ojone Ameadaji, Steffi Keough, and Thanh Vu
• Room Two – First Place: Amlan Sengupta, Alyssa Li, and Sonia Bergman

The following faculty served as judges: Brian Shea, Cheryl Jacques, Judge Henry Boroff, Nicole Amos, and Carlos Valladares.

Alumni who participated in the Isenberg Ethics Competition and historical members of the Isenberg Ethics Team are invited every year to help judge the competition and provide feedback to support the next generation of students. In 2025, the alumni judges were Patrick Bannon ’18, Zach Gross ’18, Thomas Colucci ’21, Jessica Bielonko ’20, Paulette Palomares ’24, Fiana Herscovici ’24, Matthew Minafo ’16, Riley Linden ’24, Maddy Hughes ’24, Vibha Hegde ’25, Noah Gelman ’20, Luke Norton ’20, Ian McCarron ’24, Anha Mehta ’25, and Garrett Maille ’23.

Panel discussions featured guest faculty experts Carolina A. Rossini, Leah Wing, and Tom Woodside, alongside alumni speaker Cristina Roselli. Industry professionals and alumni Thu (Erica) Phan of Ernst & Young and Madhav Karwa of Columbia University added their perspectives on ethics in practice.

Student Reflections

For many students, the competition was more than an academic exercise:

Opportunities Beyond the Competition

The competition has traditionally served the role of providing a transparent process to choose members of the Isenberg Ethics Team, which has competed in national and international ethics case competitions, including the International Business Ethics Case Competition, the International Business Ethics and Sustainability Case Competition, the Eller Collegiate Ethics Case Competition, the Templeton Business Ethics Case Competition, and the Regional Ethics Bowl. The team recently advanced to the finals at the ICBC in both the Ethics/HR stream and the Business Policy stream, taking place at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, in January 2026. 

The winners of the 10th Annual Ethics Competition were awarded the opportunity to connect with leading voices in the marketing industry and share their recommendations at the ANA Data Governance Leadership Committee meeting on May 14, 2026, where they will present their findings to marketing industry leaders as well as join virtually during the April 2026 ANA Masters of Data national conference.

• Learn more about the Isenberg Management Department: https://www.isenberg.umass.edu/programs/depts/management