American Marketing Association's reign continues

April 11, 2016

The American Marketing Association Chapter at UW-Whitewater has accomplished something that it has never done before, winning the International Chapter of the Year Award for a fifth consecutive year at the International Collegiate Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. The honor marks the program's 13th overall title in 38 years.

"Each year there is a whole new set of leaders and members who are working hard to maintain our position as the top chapter," said Jimmy Peltier, AMA adviser since 1986. "There are 350 chapters competing to become the International Chapter of the Year, so to dominate for so long is quite a testament to our students, college and university. It is very rewarding to see so many advisers and student members from other chapters come up to me to acknowledge our efforts over such a long period of time."

Stephanie Mueller, a junior marketing major who is the current AMA president, said "The hard work we, as a chapter, put in throughout the year paid off. I appreciate all the dedication and long hours each member puts into this great organization."

In addition to winning International Chapter of the Year, the chapter finished third in the country in the Case Team competition, the 10th time in 11 years that the AMA team made the finals.

"These kids are amazing," said AMA case coordinator Pavan Chennamaneni, associate professor of marketing. "We compete with some of the best business schools in the country, so to have such a long stretch of success is very rewarding."  

Matt Van Zeeland, team captain, laid out the team's path to success. "We started working on the Hershey Icebreaker Cool Blast case in September, putting in hundreds of hours over the semester collecting research and creating our case solution," said Van Zeeland. "Once we heard in January that we made the finals, our case presentation team worked for months perfecting our client pitch to Hershey executives at the conference."

The AMA Sales Team also excelled at the conference. Senior marketing major Ryan Buske took second place in the ABC Supply Sales Competition, and Kelly Tetzlaff, Kelsey Berchem and Nandi Hambrick placed second, third and fourth in the Aerotek Perfect Pitch Competition. 

For the chapter's highest individual award, senior marketing major Kevin Oppe (pictured right) won the AMA Sales Student of the Year, rising to the top of 11,500 students. Dan Herlache, AMA Sales Team Coach, praised Oppe. "Kevin is not only a great sales student, he is an outstanding leader. Clearly, the results that we have had as a team this year are a testament to his value to our organization."

Oppe said, "Winning the AMA Sales Student of the Year is one of the greatest moments of my life.  I wouldn't have had this opportunity without UW-Whitewater's great Sales Institute, training from my advisers and help from my peers."