Building on nearly 15 years of meaningful engagement in shaping future business leaders, The Ohio State University Max M. Fisher College of Business and KeyBank have extended their successful partnership into 2023.

As part of this continued collaboration, KeyBank and the KeyBank Foundation have pledged more than $1 million in philanthropic support for a number of signature programs at Fisher, bringing Key’s total commitment to the next generation of business leaders to more than $3 million in support to date.

“The Fisher community is extremely grateful for KeyBank’s longstanding and continued partnership and shared vision in providing our talented undergraduate and graduate students with innovative learning experiences and impactful programs,” said Anil K. Makhija, dean and John W. Berry, Sr. Chair in Business at Fisher.

“Our storied and successful partnership with KeyBank is helping to deliver on Ohio State’s modern land-grant mission of preparing future leaders with the relevant skills and insights to advance and elevate our region and our state.”

With KeyBank’s support, Fisher has launched two signature programs: the KeyBank MBA Minority Student Case Competition and the KeyBank Business Leadership and Creativity Undergraduate Student Symposium.

The KeyBank MBA Minority Student Case Competition

Created in 2005, the KeyBank MBA Minority Student Case Competition has become one of the nation's most recognized minority MBA student case competitions. The annual event, directed and administered by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion Student Services (OD&ISS) at Fisher, provides an opportunity for teams of graduate students to hone their business acumen and team-building skills while learning from KeyBank executives.

Each year teams from 25 to 30 leading academic institutions from across the country gather at Key’s headquarters in Cleveland for the competition. Through 2018, 14 competitions have been held and 77 unique universities have participated, providing more than 850 MBA and business graduate students opportunities to gain valuable presentation, critical thinking, analysis and research skills.

In addition to the enrichment opportunities the competition provides students, KeyBank receives thoughtful analysis and outside-the-box solutions to the real problems and challenges facing the regional bank as well as the broader financial services industry.

The event also serves as a strong recruiting pipeline for KeyBank, providing the company access to talented students from a number of graduate business schools.

The KeyBank Business Leadership and Creativity Undergraduate Student Symposium

Since 2008, the KeyBank Business Leadership and Creativity Undergraduate Student Symposium has hosted undergraduate students from universities across the country for a three-day, intensive camp focused on leadership, creativity, product innovation, spreadsheet management, entrepreneurial thinking, persuasive communication, and the art of “putting it all together.”

The symposium allows students to improve their presentation, critical thinking, analysis and research skills, while interacting with peers from schools across the country.

“Iron sharpens iron and diamonds are needed to cut and form more brilliant diamonds,” said David Harrison, senior director of OD&ISS. “The KeyBank Symposium provides an opportunity for the best and brightest undergraduate students from around the U.S. to hone their business acumen and skills in a highly competitive environment on Fisher’s campus.”

To date, 397 students representing 69 unique universities have participated in the symposium on Ohio State’s campus.

Additionally, the event is an opportunity to introduce undergraduate students to Fisher as a potential destination for graduate business studies.

“Through our support of this valuable partnership, KeyBank and the KeyBank Foundation helps ‘level the playing field’ for many institutions, including historically black colleges and universities, to provide support for students to participate in these transformative learning experiences,” said Margot James Copeland, executive vice president at KeyCorp, and chair and CEO of KeyBank Foundation.

“Our goal is to see our communities thrive. Within the last year, the KeyBank Foundation has given more than $430,000 in grants to organizations across central Ohio. These organizations share our fundamentals with proven impact to change lives.”

In addition to serving as the administrator for the KeyBank events, Fisher’s OD&ISS is a unique differentiator as a valuable and dedicated resource for underrepresented students at the college. It also provides graduate student assistants with opportunities to serve as leaders and organizers of these events.

“KeyBank’s nearly 15 years of support has been incredibly impactful — not just for Fisher students, but also for hundreds of other minority and underrepresented students from across the country,” Harrison said.

“It’s also a positive example for other companies interested in collaborating with Fisher and OD&ISS of how partnerships can be mutually beneficial for educational institutions, their students and the business community.”