University of Michigan Team Wins ESG Dilemma Challenge

Ann Arbor, February 1, 2025 – The Alliance for Responsible Capitalism hosted its first annual ESG Dilemma Design Challenge — focused on the challenges and opportunities surrounding ESG in the banking sector. Co-sponsored by Comerica, Business+Impact and the Erb Institute, the challenge began in September 2024 and culminated with an in-person final pitch competition on February 1, 2025 at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. The competition attracted student teams from colleges around the world to address one central request: “Design a roadmap for banks to accelerate a sustainable market transformation while effectively managing their stakeholders.”

Banks recognize the material risks of climate change to business, and their customers report increasing interest in sustainable investing options, but banks also face diverging political pressures. There are calls for accelerated action and new regulatory requirements on one side and a backlash against ESG investing strategies on the other. Challenge teams, and the market in general, have been called to explore more deeply the aligned interests and values among banks and their stakeholders to identify paths forward.

The judging team did not know the schools each team hailed from, and used a blind judging rubric.

Business+Impact is proud to announce that Team Capital Gains/Carbon Drains, made up entirely of Erb Institute MBA/MS students, won the competition and the first prize of $10,000. The team included UM students Katelyn Parsons, MBA/MS in Sustainability class of 2027; RJ Juckett, MBA/MS in Sustainability class of 2027; Marcus Missirlian, MBA/MS in Sustainability class of 2026; Rebecca Macies, MBA/MS in Sustainability class of 2027.

Two teams tied for second place: Team Stella Strategy of Bard College (Kelly Pierson (MBA in Sustainability), Thuy-Linh Le (MBA in Sustainability), Will Shipley (MBA in Sustainability), and Malkie Rothman (MBA in Sustainability), and Team Green Growth of Columbia University (Siddharth Gundala (MA), Erik Stein (MA), Eszter Varga (MA), Salome Dormoy (MA)). These teams were awarded $3750 each.

Special thanks to the other colleges represented in the finals competition, which included University of California Berkeley and the University of Southern California.

The judging panel included a who’s who of the banking and capital markets industries:

• Scott Beckerman, CSO, Comerica Bank
• Joe Pigg, SVP, American Bankers Association & head of ESG Working Group
• Chad Spitler, Founder & CEO, Third Economy
• Matt Elliott, Managing Director (retired), Bank of America
• Luisa Brasil, Project Officer, CPD Capital Markets
• Elizabeth Doty, Director, Corporate Political Responsibility Taskforce, University of Michigan
• Lauren Bigelow, Managing Partner, Growth Capital Network / Finance Lecturer, University of Michigan
• Marcos Mancini, Senior Sustainable Finance Adviser at United Nations Development Programme
• Charlene Zietsma, Faculty Director, Erb Institute, Max McGraw Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at University of Michigan 

At Alliance for Responsible Capitalism, two co-founders were responsible for content development for the case: Russell Forthuber and Amy Gobel. 

Special thanks for running the finals event at the University of Michigan go to the following student volunteers:

• Lead Volunteer and Planner: Praveen Mahendran, MBA/MS Sustainability Candidate, University of Michigan
• Ellory Overcast, MS Sustainability Candidate, University of Michigan
• Yale Loucks, MBA Candidate, University of Michigan
• MacKensey King, MBA/MS Sustainability Candidate, University of Michigan