University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy Wins the 2016 Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition

PRESS RELEASE

NEW ORLEANS (Oct. 16, 2016) — A team of pharmacy students from the University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy was named the winner of the 13th annual 2016 Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition. A team from the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy was the runner-up, and a team representing the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy finished as the second runner-up. The decisions were made after a spirited live competition on Oct. 15 at the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) 2016 Annual Convention.

“We commend all the participating teams from the 2016 Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition, but ultimately one team stood out above the rest and was declared the winner — the University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy,” said NCPA President Bradley J. Arthur, RPh, co-owner of Black Rock Pharmacy and Brighton-Eggert Pharmacy in Buffalo, N.Y. “With half of small businesses failing within their first five years, these teams of pharmacy students received invaluable experience that increases their chances of being successful pharmacy owners. If these well-thought-out business plans are any indication of the future of independent community pharmacies, then the future is in good hands.”

The 2016 competition drew participants from 46 schools and colleges of pharmacy across the United States. This is the first national competition of its kind in the pharmacy profession. The contest is named in honor of two great champions of independent community pharmacy, the late Neil Pruitt, Sr. and the late H. Joseph Schutte. The competition’s goal is to motivate pharmacy students to create a business model for buying an existing independent community pharmacy or developing a new one. Through this competition, NCPA is helping to prepare tomorrow’s pharmacy entrepreneurs. The competition is supported by Good Neighbor Pharmacy, Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Company, and the NCPA Foundation.

The three finalist teams made exciting live, competition presentations of their business plans before the competition judges and a large audience at NCPA’s convention. The teams were also honored at the NCPA Foundation’s Oct. 16 Award Ceremony. The results of the competition were announced during the Opening General Session.

“The NCPA Foundation helps cultivate the next generation of independent community pharmacy owners and the Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition is our crown jewel in those efforts,” said Charles West, PD, President of the NCPA Foundation. “Many past participants in the competition have gone into ownership and always point to this experience as being an important stepping stone. Judging by the submitted business plans and live presentations of the finalists, the ranks of successful pharmacy owners will only grow.”

The winning team, the University of Texas at Austin, is comprised of captain Heather Rozea and the other members are Brittany Corbell, Taylor Dean, Jennifer Ma and Jigar Satasia. The team advisor is Dr. Nathan Pope and the dean is M. Lynn Crismon, PharmD, FCCP, BCPP. Their chapter received $3,000, and $3,000 was contributed to the school in the dean’s name to promote independent community pharmacy. The team members, team advisor, and the dean will also receive complimentary registration, travel, and lodging to NCPA’s 2017 Multiple Locations Conference.

The first runner-up, the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy, is comprised of captain Huy Pham and the other members are Felicia Charles, Stephanie Sun and Michael Verble. The team advisor is Dr. Patrick Brown and the dean is Bob Blouin, PharmD. Their chapter received $2,000, and $2,000 was contributed to the school in the dean’s name to promote independent pharmacy.

The second runner-up, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, is comprised of captain Elaine Pranski and the other members are Brandon Biggs, Caleb Goodrich and David Tran. The team advisor is Dr. Ashlee Mattingly and the dean is Natalie Eddington, Ph.D., FAAPS. Their chapter received $1,000, and $1,000 was contributed to the school in the dean’s name to promote independent pharmacy.

All newly participating schools receive a plaque commemorating their participation in the competition. Schools that already were awarded a plaque in a previous year receive an engraved plate to add to their plaque. Teams placing in the top 10 receive a special plate acknowledging this distinction. For more information about the Business Plan Competition, please visit NCPA’s website.

The remaining finalists in the top 10 were Drake University College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences; the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy; the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Pharmacy; the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy; the University of the Pacific Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; the

University of Washington School of Pharmacy; and Washington State University College of Pharmacy.

The submissions were judged by a panel consisting of 55 NCPA members, Good Neighbor Pharmacy Business Coaching consultants, and business team leaders from the Professional Compounding Centers of America (PCCA).

The judges for the written competition were (in alphabetical order): Kaarin Appel, AmerisourceBergen; David Benoit, Northeast Pharmacy Service Corporation; Lance Boles, Iva Drug Store/Hartwell Drug; Kevin Borg, Potter’s House Apothecary; Brent Bovy, Reinbeck Pharmacy; Robyn Bradley, AmerisourceBergen; Ashley Branham, Moose Pharmacy; Dan Brown, Care Capital Management; Donnie Calhoun, Calhoun Compounding; Jeff Carson, Oakdell Pharmacy; Brian Caswell, Wolkar Drug; Frances Cohenour, Chad’s Payless Pharmacy; Chris Daly, University at Buffalo; Hussein el Khatib, Toledo Pharmacy; Ken Epley, NCPA Past President; Mark Ey, CARE Pharmacies Cooperative Inc.; Lisa Garza, Katterman’s; Russell Gellis, Apthorp Pharmacy; Bob Greenwood, Greenwood Drug; Travis Hale, Remington Drug; Brett Hansen, Dennar Drug; Holly Henry, NCPA Past President; Ed Horton, Tanglewood Pharmacy; Jennifer Hughes, Greenwood Drug; Nick Karagianis, AmerisourceBergen; Tom Kelly, Medicine to Go Pharmacies; Farzana Kennedy, Alexandria Compounding; C. A. Kuykendall, Village Health Services; Neil Leikach, Catonsville Pharmacy; Bill Letendre, PCCA; Sonia Martinez, Marco Drugs; Mike McCarty, AmerisourceBergen; Tanya Mericle, AmerisourceBergen; Hamid Mohaghegh, Family Pharmacy; Rich Moon, Pharmacy Innovations; Joe Moose, Moose Pharmacy; Jason Montgomery, AmerisourceBergen; Diego Naranjo, AmerisourceBergen; Danny Nelson, AmerisourceBergen; Peg O’Neil, AmerisourceBergen; Scott Pace, Kavanaugh Pharmacy; Wes Pilkington, Greenwood Drug; John Pross, AmerisourceBergen; Jeff Puetz, AmerisourceBergen; Kristen Riddle, US Compounding Pharmacy; Paul Satterfield, AmerisourceBergen; Troy Simons, Perry Compounding; Yorke Spence, AmerisourceBergen; Stephanie Smith Cooney, Gatti Pharmacy; Stacey Swartz, Neighborhood Pharmacy; Christian Tadrus, Sam’s Health Mart Pharmacies; Dirk White, Harry Race Pharmacy; Mike Vesely, AmerisourceBergen; John Voliva, IACP; Scott Welle, AmerisourceBergen; and Dennis Witkowski, AmerisourceBergen.

The judges for this year’s live competition were (in alphabetical order): Mike Bollinger, Live Oak Bank; Jon Grether, Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Company; Charlie Le Bon, AmerisourceBergen; Mark Riley, NCPA Past President; and Jerry Shapiro, NCPA Foundation Board Member.