Students win scholarships at ISM Conference

February 17, 2010

Kalamazoo -- Congratulations to two students majoring in integrated supply management for being named 2009 ISM Services Group Scholarship winners. Matthew Smith and Michael Hankamp and were among 11 students from 5 universities to receive awards.

Each winner received $1,000 plus sponsored registration and travel allowance to attend the ISM Services Conference in early December in Phoenix. In addition to attending the conference, scholarship winners participated in a supply chain case competition with students from the other four universities. Smith and Hankamp along with students from Rutgers University and Michigan State University teamed up to win the competition.



“The conference was an eye-opening experience,” says Smith. “We saw how service concepts are applied to industry and how industry responded to issues such as the downturn in the economy. The conference sessions also paralleled the case competition in which we were required to create a scorecard to evaluate supplier performance and quality. It was a fun experience and we were able to use knowledge from the classroom and apply it to real issues.”

"The scholarship program provides financial support to ISM students, and offers them the opportunity to attend the services conference," says Dr. Bret Wagner, associate professor of management and director of the ISM program in the WMU Haworth College of Business. "Our scholarship winners demonstrate the very best in educational achievement and are the future of the supply management profession. Their knowledge and experience made the conference especially valuable to them.”

The ISM Services Group is one of several groups comprised of ISM members with common interests in education and networking in various topics. Members are either in service industries or are supply management professionals who buy services. ISM Services Group's University Relations efforts focus on four main areas: mentoring, internships, scholarships and on-site activities.

In addition to student recognition, the ISM Services Group recognizes university programs in supply management that will take a leading role to integrate the latest thinking on services procurement into the curriculum. The WMU ISM program is one of five programs recognized.

Photo Caption: Pictured at the ISM Services Conference are Matthew Smith, Dr. Bret Wagner, director of the ISM Program, and Michael Hankamp.

Nationally known author and speaker to discuss corporate restructuring

Feb. 8, 2010

KALAMAZOO— Sheldon L. Stone, BS ’78, MA ’79, a nationally known author and speaker on the economy, automotive industry and corporate restructuring will speak on Friday, Feb. 26, at Western Michigan University as part of the Keystone Breakfast Speaker Series.

Stone, a partner at Amherst Partners, will discuss "Strategic Corporate Restructuring: 2010 and Beyond" in the Dean's Conference Room of Schneider Hall, home of the Haworth College of Business. The event is free and open to the public and begins with breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and the presentation following at 8 a.m.

Reservations are required and may be made by calling (269) 387-5050. Parking is available in the nearby Fetzer Center parking lot.

Stone, a partner and head of the Restructuring and Turnaround Practice for Amherst Partners, specializes in advising companies on strategic and restructuring planning and implementation.  Additionally, he has held executive positions in the retail, technology and automotive supplier industries.  His industry experience includes automotive original equipment manufacturers, automotive suppliers, construction and engineering, building materials, retail, real estate and technology.

Stone’s experience includes a position of interim president and COO for a $45 million automotive supplier.  While in this position, he directed the company to an 8.7 percent pre-tax profit in a year, overcoming the previous two years’ losses totaling $3.1 million.  Additionally, Stone was the division general manager for DFS Galleria in Honolulu, Hawaii.  There he grew this flagship from $260 million to $420 million in two and a half years, while significantly increasing margin. Prior to this position, Stone was corporate group director of planning at DFS. He was also with Booz Allen Hamilton and Plante & Moran.

Stone has been featured regularly on NBC, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, The Fox Business Network, Fox News, NPR Morning Edition and is frequently quoted in Bloomberg News and The Financial Times. He received his BS and MA in Organizational Behavior from Western Michigan University, and an MBA from Georgetown University.  He is fluent in Japanese.

The Keystone Community Bank Breakfast Series is underwritten through the generosity of Keystone Community Bank. The series provides an opportunity for the local community to hear prominent business leaders, WMU faculty, alumni and friends of the Haworth College of Business discuss current business issues and corporate strategies as well as key information regarding the continuing progress of the college.

Randy Brown (BBA '84) honored with Cablefax100 award

Outdoor Channel, America's leader in outdoor TV, announced that Randy Brown, Outdoor Channel’s Senior Vice President of Affiliate Sales and Marketing, has been honored with a prestigious CableFAX 100 award. He received this award along with his peers at a luncheon held at The Grand Hyatt New York.

The CableFAX 100 has become THE list naming the most influential professionals in the cable industry. At the annual luncheon, cable leaders, pioneers, influencers, out of the box thinkers and rainmakers are all recognized and saluted for their contributions to the industry. The industry event showcases the who’s who of the cable business and not only honors the CableFAX 100 award winners but The Regional Top Players in the cable industry as well.

"I am truly honored to receive the CableFAX 100 award and I would like to express my gratitude to CableFAX for their support and recognition,” said Brown. “I’d also like to thank everyone at Outdoor Channel, especially my loyal and enthusiastic sales team who have done a magnificent job building our brand and expanding the reach of our popular outdoor enthusiast programming across the country.”

Randy Brown joined Outdoor Channel as Senior Vice President, Affiliate Sales and Marketing in September 2007, bringing more than two decades worth of proven experience from companies such as ESPN and Tennis Channel. He plays a key role in securing cable, satellite and telco carriage for the leading network in the outdoor genre. Most recently, Brown and his team secured nearly four million additional subscribers since October 2008. In June of this year, he and his six-member sales force were awarded two prestigious CableFAX Sales Executive of the Year Awards in the category of Affiliate Sales Person of the Year (Mid-Size Network) and Affiliate Sales Team of the Year (Large and Mid-Size Networks).

“Randy has been an invaluable member of our executive team since the day he joined. His leadership, along with his industry knowledge and expertise, has been a major driver of our recent success in the distribution arena,” said Tom Hornish, COO at Outdoor Channel. “This CableFAX accolade is well deserved and comes as no surprise to us considering his capabilities and long history of achievement in the cable industry.”

CableFAX is a cable industry trade publication written for operators providing the latest news and insight on mergers and acquisitions, technology breakthroughs, regulatory issues, marketing initiatives, programming and personnel changes.

Advertising & Promotion students place first in state in marketing competition

KALAMAZOO--A team of Western Michigan University advertising students came in first among Michigan universities and 11th overall in an important recent national competition.

The team of four students, all majoring in advertising and promotion, competed against teams representing 49 universities from across the nation in the recent EdVenture Partners GM & U Marketing Challenge. The team, dubbed Echo, received 90 out of 100 possible points, beating out teams from Michigan State University, Wayne State University, Eastern Michigan University, Northwood University and University of Michigan-Dearborn.

2009 EdVenture competition team

• Cory (Alva) Oslin of Ann Arbor, Mich.
• Stefanie Weiss of Royal Oak, Mich.
• Abby Knapp of St. Joseph, Mich.
• Chauncia Van Lowe of Oak Park, Mich.

In an EdVenture Partners National Case Study Competition, small teams of students within a class are challenged to consider and answer a number of analytical questions regarding a client's brand positioning, a communication strategy or any other current strategic situation as identified by the sponsoring client.

WMU has participated in EdVenture competitions the past five years, consistently placing among the nation's best. This year's team developed an integrated marketing communication campaign for General Motors' College Discount Program (GM & U) using a variety of consumer touch points and carried the tagline "Drive Your Life."

The team's advisor was Dr. JoAnn Atkin, WMU associate professor of marketing. Atkin uses the competition as the advertising and promotion major student's capstone project in Marketing 4810: Integrated Marketing Communications Campaigns. The students won the right to represent WMU by beating out another student team in the class.

"This competition has always brought out the best in our students, and this year was no exception," Atkin says. "The task was daunting, considering the automotive market conditions and limited financial resources, but the students were able to rise to the challenge. I'm very proud of what they accomplished."

For more information on EdVenture Partners, visit edventurepartners.com.