M. Alex Kortepeter, a senior in industrial engineering, has worked with a team this semester to create the Collegiate Consulting Association. He envisioned it as a network to serve as a recruitment platform, host professional events with corporate partners, and connect Midwestern and national student consulting chapters with high-profile clients.

He first had the idea when he worked at Deloitte in Chicago last summer. "Through discussions with other interns, I discovered that project-based consulting clubs existed all over the Midwest and that they all had similar struggles and pain points," said Kortepeter. "I realized that many of these pain points could be alleviated through a network of schools working together." 

Kortepeter founded CCA in December 2018 with four other Purdue IE students: John MaGee, Technical Lead; Andrew Jeng, Chief Engineer; Shaila Sundram, Product Lead; and Varun Raju, Operations Lead. "Each member of our team has a passion for consulting and for adding value to student consultants in the Midwest," said Kortepeter.

Eight university chapters have already joined CCA. They are: Badger Consulting, University of Wisconsin; Buckeye Undergraduate Consulting Club, The Ohio State University; Miami Business Consulting, Miami of Ohio; Nittany Consulting Group, Penn State;  Lambda Consulting Group, Northwestern  University; Spectrum Consulting Group, Michigan State University; and two groups from Purdue, PurdueTHINK and Purdue Solutions.

The students are publicizing CCA primarily through word of mouth. Kortepeter explained, "We're trying to be selective about the chapters that join CCA because it's meant to be a network for the most competitive students at these schools - so that it's worth the consulting firms' time to hire through CCA."

What's next for CCA? Currently they are reaching out to potential clients for member chapters and also reaching out to consulting firms to become corporate sponsors. They are also planning an April retreat for chapter leadership in Chicago.

Efficiency, networking and entrepreneurship are things that Purdue IEs do well, so CCA is one more way that Purdue IE is "rethinking IE".

Source: M. Alex Kortepeter, mkortepe@purdue.edu

Writer: DeEtte Starr, starrd@purdue.edu