When Johnny Hanna graduated last April from BYU-Idaho, he had no idea what his future had in store for him. Now, almost six months after graduating with his bachelor’s degree in business management, Hanna is a partner of a software company recently named as the first place winner for Fortune Magazine’s MBA Showdown.

Hanna, who currently resides in Provo, Utah, is a partner for Property Solutions, a software company that builds software for multifamily housing industries.

Property Solutions, which was started by Dave Bateman, also a BYU-I alumnus, was invited to compete in Fortune Magazine’s MBA Showdown after winning the BYU Business Plan Competition and coming in second place in the Entrepreneur Challenge for the State of Utah.

After conducting primary research for the multifamily housing industry, Hanna recruited Carlos Aponte, a current BYU-I student, as an account executive.

Through Aponte’s work Property Solutions was able to build a huge clientele, Hanna said, including several clients in departments at BYU-I who have started to use the software.

The MBA Showdown is a competition that invites the top 50 universities in the nation to compete in its business competition and is highly competitive, Hanna said.

The BYU-based team beat other competing top Ivy League schools, including Harvard and Yale, Hanna said.

“We’re shocked,” Hanna said.

As part of the winning honors Hanna and his winning team were flown to New York City Oct. 31 and presented the award from Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The team is also featured on the cover of November’s Fortune Small Business Magazine, with an inclusive three-page article inside the magazine, Hanna said.

The magazine has over one million issues in publication and has already helped the company retain new clients, Hanna said.

“It [the competition] brought a lot of recognition to BYU as a school and it will help give BYU-Idaho recognition as well,” Hanna said. “It proves that as soon as you graduate your education really can pay off.”

Aponte is currently working on putting together a division of Property Solutions at BYU-I.