Career Conversation Networking Mixer + Finance Feud trivia:
Friday, February 21, 2025 | 3:30 PM - 8 PM

ACG Cup 2025 COMPETITION:
Saturday, February 22, 2025 | 8 AM - 5 PM

Mixer & Finance Feud, 2/21:
Embassy Suites | Widdicomb Ballroom
710 Monroe Avenue, NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49504

Competition, 2/22:
Grand Valley State University, Seidman
College of Business
50 Front Avenue, SW
Grand Rapids, MI 49504

Our next ACG Cup Competition is coming up!
IMPORTANT DATES: All times are Eastern Standard Time (EST)
The 2025 ACG Cup Competition timeline is here! Every effort will be made to keep dates as they are; times may change slightly. Mark your calendar now!

ACG Cup is an intercollegiate competition among business school students from colleges and universities across the nation. Retaining and recruiting talent in West Michigan is a major objective of the Cup competition for ACG's Western Michigan Chapter. During the competition, students analyze a complex business case and present strategies involving merger and acquisition alternatives, valuation, capital markets, finance options, and corporate strategy. Student participants gain invaluable experience in a real-world context, receive feedback from leaders in the local business community, and create networks, all while competing for a top prize of cash -- and their school's name on the ACG Cup trophy!

ACG Western Michigan is known for bringing together a robust and diverse group of students representing teams from around our state and the nation. We once again look forward to hosting teams from near and far. We're also renewing our popular networking reception the evening before our competition -- and this time, pairing it with our fun and friendly Finance Feud trivia -- so teams can make new connections to the West Michigan business community and judges in a low-stress, high-energy way.

Sample Case for Student Review: See this past ACG Cup Case as an example to help your team understand the scope of work involved in the competition. (This case was written by and is the property of ACG Western Michigan and contains no answers and is provided strictly for enhancing understanding of the competition.)

ACG Cup 2025 registration will be open for two weeks -- from January 15, 2025 to January 31, 2025. All teams must be registered by January 31 to receive access to our ACG Cup Resource Materials Library and to receive the case on February 6.

See details below for easy team registration!
(Note: The registration form will not be available until registration officially opens on January 15, 2025.)

A. How to register: Fill out the survey form to register your team.
1) Complete registration must include all team members' names and emails in the appropriate section(s) of the registration form.
2) Registration information must include a team name that does not reference the team's college/university affiliation.
3) Team registration fees are $175. ACG Western Michigan will invoice the individual identified as responsible for the fee on the registration form. (Invoices will not be emailed until after registration closes on January 31, 2025.)
4) A single individual (a team member or a professor) can act as the main contact and register the entire team. A main contact must be identified when registering.
5) Teams may be comprised of a mix of undergraduate and graduate students or may be comprised of solely undergraduate or solely graduate students.
6) *IMPORTANT* Once a team has been successfully registered and approved, the main contact will be notified. (S)he will also be notified if there are errors on the registration form.
All team members will receive an email with instructions about submitting a resume, headshot, and LinkedIn profile to ACG Western Michigan after complete registrations are approved.
7) If your team information requires any editing after the registration has been finalized, please email ACG Cup Director Heather Edwards at hedwards@acg.org for help.

B. ACG communication with teams
1) Upon ACG Western Michigan review and approval of registration, Team members will be notified via email. Team members will receive an email with instructions about submitting a resume, headshot, and LinkedIn profile to ACG Western Michigan after complete registrations are approved.
2) ACG Western Michigan will communicate any important updates or changes to the main contact, and if necessary, to the professor listed on the team's registration.
3) If your team information requires any editing after the registration has been finalized, please email ACG Cup Director Heather Edwards at hedwards@acg.org for help.

Meet the faces of the next generation of talent! Connect with them at our Networking Reception and at our ACG Cup 2025 Competition!

The following list is comprised of colleges and universities that have participated in our competition in the recent past. As we continue to grow our competition, we are eager to expand the list of competing institutions. Click on any college or university logo below to learn more about their business program offerings.
If your institution is taking part for the first time in 2025, email ACG Cup Director Heather Edwards at hedwards@acg.org and we'll add you to this list!

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We'll provide professors with Cup Updates -- newsletters that will let you know about how the competition is shaping up -- throughout the competition season as details are cemented and confirmed. Cup Updates will be emailed to professors and will be available here.

Cup Update No. 1: 9/20/2024

Cup Update No. 2: 10/30/2024

Our Resource Materials Library is a one-stop primer on M&A methodologies, presentation and personal branding basics, and provides a case sample presentation video and a private equity overview. Once registered for the competition, all teams and their professors will receive access to the on-demand offerings in the library. Professors will be encouraged to view them and add them to their curriculum when discussing methodologies that can aid students in understanding the intricacies all things M&A.

During our popular Career Conversations Networking Mixer, student competitors meet one-on-one with company leaders and decision makers looking for new talent. This year we're pairing this informal Career Conversations with our popular trivia night -- Finance Feud! Competitors will be able to meet and greet judges, advisors, and others at our Friday afternoon mixer on February 21, and stay to take part with fellow Cup competitors and company representatives at Finance Feud! Order of Events:

3:30 - 5:30 PM -- Career Conversations Networking Mixer
5:30 - 6 PM -- break for transition
6 - 8 PM -- Finance Feud trivia

These events will be held together in one convenient location: the Embassy Suites Widdicomb Ballroom and Foyer in the second-floor event space just a few blocks north of downtown Grand Rapids. Attendance is free for ACG Cup competitors and their professors. ACG Cup teams can indicate their desire to play Finance Feud trivia directly on their ACG Cup team registration forms. (Finance Feud presents a fun way for teams in business and related industries to try to one-up each other in a friendly trivia competition. This high-energy trivia night pits teams from accounting and law firms as well as corporations and universities against one another. The winning team takes home the trophy and bragging rights for the next year.)

Cup competitors have the opportunity to connect and network with representatives from Michigan companies, as well as competition judges, who represent many prestigious local and regional firms. ACG Western Michigan members are actively looking for graduate and undergraduate students with a finesse for finance who possess the skills and qualities that enable them to become experts in corporate finance, investment banking, financial advisory and private equity. Career Conversations connects participants with employers in the greater West Michigan region. Every year, student competitors are hired as a direct result of participating in this competition!

Career Conversations presents an opportunity for participating companies and Cup sponsors to create awareness about the deal making community and to expose students to potential career openings in this field. Career Conversations represents a chance for our competition's participants to GET CONNECTED with high-profile local firms looking for new, diverse finance and M&A talent!

See the list of participating companies and firms that competitors can make a plan to meet at this year's Networking Reception. Click on any logo to learn more about the company as a whole and click the PDF company description to see what you can expect to learn from our Career Conversation representatives at the Networking Reception!

Some companies and firms that have hired a Cup competitor in the recent past are included here. Click to view their websites for more information about what sort of opportunities could await you!

Adamy Valuation	BDO USA, LLP	Blackford Capital	Calder Capital
Charter Capital Partners	Connection Builders	Crowe LLP	DWH
Mercantile Bank of Michigan	NuVescor	Waséyabek Development Company

Our judges' gallery will be linked here when we seat this winter's judging groups -- don't forget to come back and see who you'd like to connect with at our ACG Cup 2025 competition!

Meet members of our ACG Cup Committee -- the team that makes our ACG Cup Competition possible!

Image Elisa Berger Charter Capital Partners Judges' Recruitment Lead	Image Gunther Brinkman Baking Company LLC Co-Chair/Wrangler Lead	Image Matt Fegan EHTC Finance Feud Lead
Image Ashley Gray Aquila Equity Partners Case Team Lead	Image Scott Harris Independent Bank Judges' Recruitment Lead	Image Jake Helwick Adamy Valuation Chair
Image Todd McGuire Plante Moran Case Team	Image Nathan Olberding Adamy Valuation Case Team	Image Jeff Weir BDO Career Conversations Reception Lead
	Image Heather Edwards ACG Western Michigan ACG Cup Director

Our generous sponsors make it possible to bring outstanding programs and events to you. Please click below or see our main Cup page HERE to learn more about them.

Are you interested in becoming an ACG Cup sponsor?? Click on our Sponsorship button now for current opportunities and reach out to admin@acgwmich.org for info on how your company can sponsor ACG Cup today. Don't delay -- a limited number of sponsorships are available! SPONSORSHIP

ACG Cup 2025 Sponsors -- Join this group of dedicated firms intent on meeting new talent!
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ACG Western Michigan is a local chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. The Western Michigan chapter was founded in 1999 by a group of West Michigan business leaders who recognized the need for a local organization to serve as a resource to executives actively involved in deal making and internal and external growth challenges in their companies.

Today, ACG Western Michigan is where change makers come to connect, share, and learn, and create an environment to foster growth for West Michigan business and all the markets our members serve.

Our global community serves a diverse membership of business leaders who bring perspectives from various disciplines, industries, and leadership experiences. Our programming features a vast array of thought-provoking and experiential content focused on the concerns of growing businesses.  Our events foster a productive exchange of ideas, build critical relationships, and create conversations of consequence.

From driving growth to navigating change, from developing talent to investing in the West Michigan business community, your concerns form our agendas.

ACG Cup 2025 -- Competition Details

All you need to know heading into the next competition!

Take a look at a recent competition video below and get ready for the next ACG Cup competition -- coming up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on February 22, 2025! Video captured and provided by Boldy Told Video, 2023.

We'll provide professors with Cup Updates -- newsletters that will let you know about how the competition is shaping up -- throughout the competition season as details are cemented and confirmed. Cup Updates will be emailed to professors and will be available here.

ACG Cup 2025 Sponsors -- Join this group of dedicated firms intent on meeting new talent!

Take a look at a recent competition video below and get ready for the next ACG Cup competition -- coming up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on February 22, 2025!

Video captured and provided by Boldy Told Video, 2023.