Mar 17, 2005 -- Whiter teeth ruled the day at the Second annual Dr. William Schwartz Business Plan Competition at the Sy Syms School of Business March 16. Joey Bohm won first place in the competition for his business plan for a company called Hollywood Smiles, an intended as a lower-cost competitor to trendy businesses such as Brite Smile. For his efforts, Mr. Bohm won a prize of $5000. Dr. Lawrence Bellman, director of the Rennert Entrepreneurial Institute said he thought Mr. Bohm most impressed the judges "because he attempted to answer all questions in a very straightforward manner." "Joey's is a simplistic plan and there is a market there," Dr. Bellman said. "Everyone wants to whiten their teeth, but not everyone wants to spend $700 to $1000. Also, Joey focused on coffee drinkers and smokers in his plan. All of that required a thought process. In the end, I think his plan had the least flaws and was the most plausible and most doable." More than 200 students and faculty members filled the fifth floor conference room in Belfer Hall to listen to five eight-minute presentations from Sy Syms Wilf Campus students. A three-judge panel asked questions of each presenter for 10 minutes. The panel was made up of business leaders Josh S. Weston, honorary chairman of Automatic Data Processing, Inc.; Gerry L. Golub, chair of American Express Tax and Business Services; and Michael J. Connelly, president and CEO of Mosaica Education, Inc. In his presentation, Mr. Bohm said that US consumers in 2004 spent $1.3 billion on teeth-whitening products. He said his proposed company would tap into this market with a competitive, low-cost, high-quality teeth whitening procedure intended for middle and working-class customers. Brite Smile, a firm that offers a similar service, targets more affluent customers, Mr. Bohm said. Of the other four business plans, one desgined by Reuben Kerben, a SSSB senior, and one designed by Adam Mayer shared second prize. The monetary awards for second and third place were combined and evenly split among the two students with each receiving $2500. Mr. Kerben's business, called EZHW (for Easy Homework), was the only among the five that currently exists and is a Web-based educational information system for students, parents, and teachers specifically of private schools. Mr. Mayer's business idea also involved Web technology and aimed to compete with companies like Verizon to supply wireless Internet service to underserved areas.