Montana State AMA students take top prizes at international marketing conference in Chicago

BOZEMAN - A record 42 Montana State University students from the American Marketing Association chapter at MSU traveled to Chicago in March to attend the AMA International Collegiate Conference, providing a key professional opportunity for MSU students to network and flex their skills in marketing competitions.

The conference was held March 12-14 and attended by approximately 1,900 students representing AMA chapters from more than 150 universities across the country.

MSU's AMA chapter, housed in the Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship, raised the needed funds to send a record number of their student members to the conference.

The MSU organization has consistently ranked in the top 10 college AMA chapters and last year made history by earning the top International Chapter of the Year. Due to that accomplishment, the chapter was not eligible for a ranking this year - but will be again at next year's conference in New Orleans. Instead, MSU's chapter was placed in the Platinum Circle for this year, and acted as conference co-host with other top chapters.

Students competed in a chapter record 18 events at the conference. Their results are as follows:

• Second place, Intercollegiate Case Competition (out of 110 schools that entered) presenting their plan to Major League Baseball (MLB), the competition's sponsor, was Erin Lawrence, Ella Kunze, Will Grey, Morgan Shepherd and Blair Ringer. Other team members included Elsa Tritsch, Kaili Chikos, Brynn Ryan, William Warner, Alexandra Hill, Hunter Swenson and Jack Hays .

• Second place, Marketing Strategy Competition (106 schools entered) by the team of Lindsay Posewitz and Lizzy Totten.

• Third place, Undergraduate Research Competition, featuring academic-level research on branding in politically polarized times, by Kinley Walters.

• Third place, Best Website (out of 350 student chapters worldwide), created by Izze Truax, Blair Ringer and Elle Skudlarick.

• Two finalists (top 20%) in the Perfect Pitch Competition (out of 600 students entered), Jesse Nehring and Leah Hargrave.

"The impressive outcomes are a direct result of the chapter's leadership," said Eric Van Steenburg, MSU professor and faculty adviser for the university's AMA chapter. "This is the 10th year MSU has had an AMA chapter, and I couldn't be more proud."

The chapter is led by an elected Executive Board: President Jack Hays, Executive Vice President Jackson Redder, VP Marketing Izze Truax, VP Fundraising Farrell Zulkarnain, VP Programs Leah Gingras, VP Membership Hugo Rice, VP Finance Molly Claussen, VP Social Impact Chloe Warford, VP Consulting Madelyn Pierson and VP Communications Ella Kunze.