The Associate - Matthew Hazlett/ The Towerlight

The seventh annual Associate competition ended Tuesday, April 12, and president and chief executive officer of Baltimore Gas and Electric Kenneth W. DeFontes, Jr. named finalist Stacy Ruddy the winner.

“This has been probably the hardest thing I have ever done. The amount of time that goes into completing the cases and the stress you deal with on a weekly basis is hard to explain,” Ruddy said. “However, making it to the final two has made that all worth it. Winning the final case [is] the icing on the cake for everything that I have done over the past eight weeks.”

The final task was to create a business case and presentation to Constellation Energy on how to target and persuade Millennials in the Mid-Atlantic to choose Constellation Energy as their energy supplier.

Ruddy presented the idea of an increase in the use of social media to attract Millennials as opposed to the traditional approach of billboards and radio ads.

She suggested Constellation Energy do so by using websites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to advertise, as well as sending mass text messages.

“[Stacy] has poise, presence, and polish. It’s been clear [she] has a grasp of strategic issues. [She] also makes it clear that the traditional approaches that Constellation Energy uses may not work all that well,” DeFontes said. “It takes insight and courage to make this case. [She] really nailed value proposition.”

Runner-up Kyle Harrer suggested a three-phase plan that would include the traditional use of billboard ads, mailed brochures and radio ads, as well as online advertisements.

He also suggested that Constellation send a “thank you” note with a $25 gift card to those who choose the company for their energy supplier.

“Kyle showed good leadership to share the limelight with Ross,” DeFontes said. “Clearly [he] understood the concept of headroom. He showed business savvy. Humor endeared us to [him], and [he] showed [his] humor in a positive way,”

BGE and Constellation Energy interviewed Ruddy and Harrer for jobs. Although Ruddy was named the winner and she is guaranteed a job by one of the companies, Harrer will most likely to be hired as well, according to DeFontes.