Five students from the University of Tennessee at Martin College of Business and Global Affairs became the third UTM team in eight years of competition to win a title by finishing first in the 11th national 2025 CSBS Community Bank Case Study Competition. The annual competition is open to undergraduate students in all fields of study to gain valuable first-hand knowledge of the banking industry. The Conference of State Bank Supervisors announced finals competition results July 14 at www.csbs.org.
A total of 35 student teams representing 27 colleges and universities from across the U.S. entered the competition. UT Martin’s team finished ahead of the University of Arkansas and Illinois State University, which finished second and third, respectively. The UT Martin team will present its findings at the Community Banking Research Conference, Oct. 7-8, at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and webcast live. Each winning team member will receive a $1,000 scholarship.
“Competition was tight, but the University of Tennessee at Martin team pulled ahead with exceptional depth and analysis in its case study,” said CSBS President and CEO Brandon Milhorn. “Ultimately, we are pleased that so many students participated in the competition and had an opportunity to learn more about the value and impact of community banks in the United States.”
For the 2025 competition, the teams partnered with local community banks to explore the impact of interest rates and inflation on the business of banking, with a focus on planning for the future through branch strategy, technology and managing regulatory burden. Each team advanced through two judging rounds by banking professionals to reach the finals. Carroll Bank & Trust, based in Huntingdon, is the community bank partner for the UTM team.
The UT Martin team members are Aaron Bartholomew of Parsons, accounting and finance major; Anna Batte of Bruceton, accounting and finance major; Blair James of Milan, accounting and finance major; Hayden Weber of Puryear, accounting major; and Makenzi Bouras of Bumpus Mills, accounting and finance major. UT Martin is the only university to repeat as winners of the competition.
John Clark, interim chairholder for the Horace and Sara Dunagan Chair of Excellence in Banking and a faculty adviser to the team, praised the students for how they approached the competition.
“The five chosen students quickly came together to form a truly high-performing team with a strong work ethic and a real desire to learn more about community banking,” Clark said. “Our community bank partner, Carroll Bank and Trust, chose a great group of executive officers that unselfishly gave of their time and talents to help the student team learn more about the bank’s story in the areas required for this year’s case study.”
Other faculty advisers to the team are Dr. Nell Gullett, professor of finance, and Dr. Brittany Cole, assistant professor of finance. Traci Crawford, administrative support assistant for the Dunagan Chair of Excellence in Banking, assisted team members with competition preparation.
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors is the national organization of financial regulators from all 50 states, American Samoa, District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. State regulators supervise roughly three-quarters of all U.S. banks and a variety of non-depository financial services.
CSBS, on behalf of state regulators, also operates the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System to license and register non-depository financial service providers in the mortgage, money services businesses, consumer finance and debt industries.
Learn more about the Dunagan Chair of Excellence in Banking and the UT Martin College of Business and Global Affairs at www.utm.edu.
(Information in this story provided courtesy of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the Dunagan Chair of Excellence in Banking in the UT Martin College of Business and Global Affairs. CSBS Media Contact: Susanna Barnett, 202-407-7156, sbarnett@csbs.org; X @csbs.org)
PHOTO: UT Martin team members who finished first in the finals of the 11th national 2025 CSBS Community Bank Case Study Competition are (l-r) Hayden Weber of Puryear; Aaron Bartholomew of Parsons; Blair James of Milan; Makenzi Bouras of Bumpus Mills; and Anna Batte of Bruceton.
