Leading Under Pressure: Michigan Ross Students Tackle 2025 Leadership Crisis Challenge
Nearly 400 students across the University of Michigan competed in the 2025 Leadership Crisis Challenge, which ended in victory for two teams of students from the Ross School of Business.
Every year, the Sanger Leadership Center organizes the Leadership Crisis Challenge, a two-day event that tests students’ crisis response skills. Undergraduate and graduate student teams take on the role of senior leaders at a fictional company, navigating a real-time media crisis. Participants must navigate uncertainty, think quickly, and maintain composure under intense pressure.
This year’s challenge, sponsored by General Motors Co. and McKinsey & Co., positioned students as leaders of StarNight Aerospace, a fictional company debuting a supersonic passenger jet. As the jet neared its first flight, concerns emerged about the company’s culture and the safety of its flagship product, forcing the company to respond.
This year’s case explored pressing issues in aerospace engineering, supply chain optimization, and sustainability and challenged students to find quick solutions.
In the end, two teams emerged as overall winners—one from the graduate division and one from the undergraduate division. Both teams consisted primarily of Michigan Ross students.
Graduate winners
Matt Hughes, OMBA ’26
Haris Jameel, OMBA, ’26
Susan Mostofizadeh, WMBA ’26
Viraj Shah, FTMBA ’26
Jatin Sharma, FTMBA ’25
Yasin Taghvaei, FTMBA ’25
Jon Watson, OMBA ’26
Undergraduate winners
Megan Douglas, BBA ’25
Vidit Khattar, BBA ’25
Sam Mitchell, BBA ’27
Ryan Rzeszut, BBA ’27
Siti Khadijah Sultan, BS ’27
Avi Thanawala, BS ’25
Tiger Wu, BBA ’27
