President Bill Clinton to Deliver Keynote at Hult International Business School’s 2nd Annual Global Case Challenge

(Boston – January 11, 2011) Hult International Business School announced today that President Clinton will serve as this year’s keynote speaker and personally present awards to the winning team at the 2^nd Annual Hult Global Case Challenge. The case challenge is an innovative competition that calls to action the world’s brightest business school minds to tackle the world’s most pressing issues. This year’s competition, in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative and Water.org, an organization co-founded by Gary White and actor Matt Damon, will focus on developing solutions to the global water crisis. Hult will award a $1 million dollar prize to Water.org for the implementation of the winning solution.

As a Clinton Global Initiative member, the Hult Global Case Challenge has committed to working with fellow CGI member Water.org to help tackle the ever-growing issue of global clean water access. Today, one billion people, nearly one-in-eight of the world’s population, do not have access to a clean supply of water.

“I’m pleased that Hult has partnered with Water.org to identify and deploy solutions to the global water crisis,” said Robert S. Harrison, CEO of the Clinton Global Initiative.  “This partnership demonstrates the power of the Clinton Global Initiative’s model, connecting leaders from various sectors and empowering them to develop solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI’s members have already improved the lives of 300 million people worldwide, and with the efforts of organizations such as Hult and Water.org we hope to impact millions more people in the years to come.”

“As cities and slums grow at increasing rates, the water crisis will only worsen, killing thousands and leaving millions with a reduced quality of life,” said Stephen Hodges, President of Hult International Business School. “We are truly thankful to have the support of President Clinton, CGI and various business and academic institutions throughout the world in this much-needed endeavor.”

Water.org was selected from among CGI’s 1,800 ‘Commitments to Action’ made by the world’s top organizations dedicated to world change. The organization was chosen by Hult because of their pioneering efforts in the clean water space – including their innovative WaterCredit initiative, which facilitates small loans for water and sanitation access.

“Every year, I am more impressed by the caliber of CGI members and the work that they do,” said President Clinton in a press release from CGI. “Over the last five years, CGI Annual Meetings have convened nearly 150 current and former heads of state, along with 15 Nobel Peace prize winners, hundreds of top CEOs, and many other leaders from around the world, all of whom have committed to working together to create a prosperous, sustainable global community.”

The case challenge will consist of two phases: a Regional and a Global Final. On March 5, a regional competition will be held in the five cities where Hult has campuses – Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai and Shanghai. The winners of the regional competitions will then compete in the Finals in New York City on Thursday, April 28 (note date change) at the W Hotel. The finalists will present their solutions to a world-class panel of executive judges, and have the opportunity to meet and have photos taken with President Clinton.

More than 1000 applications from teams at the world’s top academic institutions were submitted.  Thousands of students have registered to participate in the competition, including students from Harvard Business School, Columbia, NYU, Yale, Stanford, Hult, London Business School, Dartmouth, Duke, MIT, HEC Paris, INSEAD, IE, India Institute of Management, University of Toronto, Carnegie Mellon, American University of Beirut, Tel Aviv University, Peking University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hitotsubashi University and Estação Business School, among others.

Applications to participate in the event are still being accepted and registration forms can be completed online by visiting: www.hultglobalcasechallenge.com. Selections are announced on a rolling basis. Students can compete at any of the five locations.