Two teams of MBA students from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College in Wellesley, MA and Portland, OR, ranked #16 and #73 in the 2007 Innovation Challenge® business competition produced by Idea Crossing, Inc. and hosted by the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business.

The Innovation Challenge is the largest competition of its kind in the world, consistently uniting hundreds of teams from the top MBA programs worldwide with some of the biggest global brands in a groundbreaking experience designed to solve real-world business challenges.

Navin Vemuri, Jake Krishnan, and Sanjay Nichani from “Team Babson” ranked #16, and are Babson MBA students in the Fast Track Program in Portland Oregon.   “We are proud of our ranking in this highly competitive field, and want to thank the Babson faculty who provided us with excellent conceptual inputs in the fields of strategy, marketing, and operations that helped us formulate our business plan," said team member Jake Krishnan.

Ajit Verghese, Massimiliano Catanzaro, Nish Murthy, Sam Vaill, and Tim Seamans from Babson’s “Remhertz Consulting, Ltd” team ranked #73.

Ten teams from Babson participated in the challenge.  Overall, the challenge showcased 1236 contestants from 63 schools from 57 countries.

Babson offers the Portland Fast Track MBA program at the World Trade Center (WTC) in Portland, Oregon. The unique blended-learning format of this program combines Web-based study with face-to-face sessions where students learn from world-class faculty, business leaders, and perhaps most important, each other.

Last year Babson established its first permanent home in Portland, and Babson has academic and corporate ties to the Portland area reaching back more than six years.

The Babson Fast Track MBA program allows working professionals to continue their careers while earning their MBA - in just 24 months. Students gather on campus for two days, approximately every six weeks for an interactive classroom experience. 

For information on the Portland Fast Track MBA program or other Babson MBA programs, please visit

http://www3.babson.edu/MBA/admission/default.cfm