Marketing Department Newsletter
November 2017, Volume 1, Issue 2

In this issue....
StudentSpotlight
Student Spotlight
Katelyn Wondolkowski

Katelyn Wondolkowski is a senior earning her Marketing degree with an emphasis in Professional Sales. She is currently a member of the UW-Whitewater Sales Team, and she recently competed at the Great Northwoods Sales Warm-Up at UW-Eau Claire. She has also received a full-time offer upon graduation from Impact Networking

Julie Hill, department executive assistant (hillj@uww.edu) asked her a few questions about her career goals, the Sales Team, and advice for other students in this issue's Student Spotlight .

What are your career plans after graduation and future career goals?

After graduation I will be working as an Account Manager at Impact Networking in Madison, Wisconsin. I hope to establish a strong pipeline and eventually work my way up to a manager and partnership role in the company.

 
Congratulations on Team 1st Place and 2nd Runner-Up at the Great Northwoods Sales Warm-Up! What was it like to compete for UW-Whitewater Sales Team? How will this experience help you reach your career goals?

Competing at the Great Northwood's competition was a great experience! It was my first national competition, so I was definitely nervous. With the help of my coach and peers, I was able to learn new sales skills and apply them to my scenario. I am really grateful for the experience because it gave me the confidence to work harder for the things that I want so I can be successful in my sales career.

 
What advice would you give to other students starting off at UW-Whitewater in the Marketing program?

My advice to students starting off in the Marketing program would be to get involved. I didn't get too involved until my junior year and that is my biggest regret of college. Not only have I made so many relationships socially and professionally, but have also been able to improve my skills as a sales professional which will more than help me after graduation.


Cynthia Skurski, Recruiting Director for Impact Networking, LLC also shared this about Katelyn:
"I met Katelyn when she was just a Sophomore. Katelyn approached me at the UW- Whitewater Hawk Fair. I remember being so impressed with her poise and demeanor for only being a sophomore. From that initial interaction with Katelyn, I knew she would be an Impact employee at some point in time.  The very next year as a Junior, Katelyn was offered the Sales Internship position for our  Madison, WI office. Katelyn was up against 50 + students that also wanted this position. With her drive, dedication and persistence, she was chosen for the Internship. Katelyn has now received a full-time offer upon graduation and will be starting as an Account Manager in our Madison, WI office. Katelyn is the perfect example to show that if you want something bad enough, no matter what the circumstance is, you can achieve it. Impact is very excited to see the future success she will help bring to our company."
AMARegionalConference
AMA 10th Annual Regional Conference

AMA Regional Conference Organizers Tessa Taylor, Nick Rasmussen and Haley Lechner.
The UW-Whitewater chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) hosted their 10th Annual Regional Conference on Friday, October 13th. This year the theme of the conference was Experiential Marketing. Keynote speakers included representatives from GMR Marketing, Summerfest, the Milwaukee Bucks and Tito's Vodka. 

Over 450 students from 26 different AMA chapters  attended, coming from as far away as Germany. In addition to attending the keynote presentations, students competed in a variety of marketing competitions.  There were five competitions: Sales, Mock Interview, Elevator Pitch, Digital Marketing and a Marketing Case. All students that competed had the chance of winning almost $7,000 in prizes. There was also a career fair that allowed students to network with over 30 employers coming from a variety of fields of business. 

AMA's 10th Annual Regional Conference was another great success this year!  Visit our Marketing Department Blog to see the full photo gallery .

Networking at AMA's 10th Annual Regional Conference Career Fair.

FacultySpotlight
Faculty Spotlight
Dennis Kopf

Marketing professor, Dr. Dennis Kopf, now serves as the Co-coordinator of the Integrated Science and Business Major at UW-Whitewater. The Integrated Science and Business Major (ISBM) is one of the most recent and exciting additions to degree offerings at UW-Whitewater. Students may complete this degree through the College of Business and Economics (BBA) or College of Letters and Sciences (BS). Integrated Science/Business provides core knowledge to obtain careers in water technology, environmental project management, manufacturing or water treatment facilities. ISBM majors have also worked in biomedical device selling, pharmaceutical selling or gone on to obtain more specialized graduate degrees in science, medicine and business. 

Dr. Kopf has a Ph.D. in Marketing from New Mexico State University, an MBA from Webster University and a B.S. in Chemistry from Truman State University. He has a wealth of experience in both science and business. Before entering academia, Dr. Kopf was a senior chemist for one of the largest privately held environmental services firm in the country. In addition, he was a research fellow assigned to an interdisciplinary research cluster at New Mexico State University. His research cluster worked on open source intelligence collection and analysis for civilian and defense needs.

Dr. Kopf participating in a videoconference with a university in Colombia.  
ISE
Institute for Sales Excellence

UW-Whitewater Sales Team took Team 1st Place at Ball State University Regional Sales Competition. 
The Institute for Sales Excellence  is in full swing! Here is a recap from the sales competitions that students have participated in so far - on and off campus:

Ball State University Regional Sales Competition  was held at 
Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana on October 5th. 
UW-Whitewater took home
Team 1st Place . Congratulations to  Henry Bernhagen, 1st place competitive track,  Nick Rasmussen 4th place competitive track and Kayla Agostini, 1st place developmental track.

UW-Whitewater Sales Team took Team 1st Place at Great Northwoods Sales Warm-Up.
Great Northwoods Sales Warm-Up was held at UW-Eau Claire October 20-21st. UW-Whitewater took  Team 1st Place . Katelyn Wondolkowski placed  2nd runner-up, Therese Merkel placed 5th and Kelly Deschner placed 15th.

International Collegiate Sales Competition hosted by Florida State University  took place November 1-5. In the Sales Role-Play competition, our two contestants Kelsey Berchem and Jessica Kendall combined for UW-Whitewater to take  Team 3rd Place, out of 78 universities and 140 competitors! Kelsey Berchem placed 5th individually.
UW-Whitewater Sales Team took Team 3rd Place at the International Collegiate Sales Competition.

Perfect Pitch Sales Competition
was held at UW-Whitewater on October 3rd. Sponsored by Impact Networking and CED (Consolidated Electrical Distributors). There were 139 competitors and a total of $2650 awarded in prize money. Congratulations to the top 5 winners: Sam Morgan, Therese Merkel, Anna Tracy, Zach Goggins, Kelsey Berchem and the eleven finalists!
AlumSpotlight
Alumni Spotlight
Matt Lueder, Managing Partner at Northwestern Mutual

The Marketing Department is very fortunate to work with companies and sponsors from a variety of businesses, many which employ UW-Whitewater alumni. One such alumnus is Matt Lueder, who runs the Matt Lueder Group at Northwestern Mutual. Mr. Lueder graciously donated $2,500 this year toward UW-Whitewater Sales Scholarships.

In this issue, Mr. Lueder was interviewed by Julie Hill, department executive assistant (hillj@uww.edu):

Can you tell me a little bit about your school y ears at UW-Whitewater and career path?
I grew up in Fort Atkinson, attended UW-Whitewater from 1997-2000 and graduated  in May 2000 with a Communications degree and Marketing minor. I truly enjoyed UW-Whitewater and am forever grateful for the  education I received there and being connected to
my dream career through UW-Whitewater. I found
a Northwestern Mutual financial representative internship in my senior year. While it was outside the box of my degree, I jumped in because it is a Top 10 internship out of 16,000 internships ranked nationally. I fell in love with the work of impacting peoples financial futures and getting to run my own business. I realized it was far too risky to work for somebody else and wanted to be personally responsible for my results. Upon graduation, I became a financial advisor with NM in our Madison office. I was in that role for 10 years including several management roles (running our internship program, managing director of two offices). I joined our corporate office in 2009 to go through their executive management training program and now am a managing partner of our Milwaukee financial planning office. Being involved in the development of our internship program has kept me connected to UW-Whitewater for the last 18 years since I graduated. It is so fun to get back to campus each semester and see the growth that is occurring on campus and interacting with the students. I am truly blessed to have found my perfect career while still in college.

What is your role at Northwestern Mutual and what do you enjoy about it?  
My current role at NM is Managing Partner. I am responsible for the growth and development of our Milwaukee office. I oversee 65 financial advisors and 150 associates in southeastern WI. I love my opportunity to now help people find the career of their dreams and help them move from success to significance to have the most impact they can on their clients, families and the community.

Why did you choose to donate $2500 for scholarships?
Being very involved at UW-Whitewater the last 18 years, this was a no brainer. I want to pay forward the gifts that were given to me during my experience at UW-Whitewater. We are very involved with Jimmy Peltier in AMA and the sales certificate we have formed. We are also very involved with Warhawk athletics and a financial partner to Kristina Navarro and the Warhawk Leadership Academy. I wanted to add to our contributions and be able to directly donate three scholarships to current UW-Whitewater students. It is a privilege to be able to impact great students at my alma mater. 
TimHyland
Tim Hyland (bottom left) meets with PSE students and their advisor Rob Boostrom (far right).
Tim Hyland visits 
PSE and UWW

Pi Sigma Epsilon (PSE)  was fortunate to visit with Tim Hyland, UW-Whitewater and PSE alumnus.  He was visiting the College of Business and Economics for a college advisory board and the university advisory board and wanted to meet with current students. Since being a member of PSE throughout his entire collegiate career, Tim has been very active with the organization at the national level, serving a term as the President of the PSE National Council. The College of Business and Economics (CoBE) building, Timothy J. Hyland Hall, is also named after him!

PSE students develop their sales and marketing skills through experiential learning and professional opportunities. 
NewProgram
The Department of Marketing is on track to begin offering an "Innovation and Social Enterprises" emphasis, minor and certificate in Fall 2018. These new programs will help students understand innovation and the role it plays in creating social impact.  In the courses that comprise these programs, students will learn how to develop innovation strategies, processes and marketing plans for social enterprises. In addition to preparing students for a career in this growing area, the new programs will help employers identify graduates who are well versed in innovation and its application to social enterprises.

Stay tuned for other news, photos and updates with our

Department of Marketing | University of WI-Whitewater | 262.472.1333 
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