Kensington resident Steven W. Church, who graduated with a 4.0 average Friday from Montgomery College’s Macklin Business Institute, turned a job as a Geico claims adjuster into a history-making achievement for community college students across the country. Church led a team of Montgomery College business students into the final rounds of an international business ethics competition where they faced off against teams from Ivy League institutions and graduate programs— the first time a community college has qualified for the finals.
What does a business ethics team do?
We have to come up with a real-world business dilemma, and then analyze the legal, ethical and financial aspects of the situation. You compete by giving PowerPoint presentations to panels of judges about how to resolve the issue.
What was your situation?
Well, I work for Geico, and insurance companies are always wrapped up in ethics complications, so I chose an issue in my job as our topic: whether or not insurers should use generic parts to repair cars.
And what did your team decide?
We thought customers could be better-informed, so our solution was to create a two-tier policy system that allows customers to choose upfront whether they approve using generic parts for repairs. The company informs people upfront they have a choice, but then charge more for people who want specific parts.
What did you personally take from the competition?
You learn a lot in class, but ethics can be very idealized, and it taught us a practical way to combine ethics with the realities of running a business.
Any chance your idea will be used by Geico?
The Montgomery College president wants to hear our presentation, and then he wants us to be able to present it to someone at Geico for consideration … ideally Warren Buffet, but I’m not sure that’s possible
