A luncheon Wednesday, November 14, from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. will honor the 2007 Professional Development Awards of Excellence recipients. The Professional Development Awards of Excellence recognize NAMA members for achievement in the areas of Marketing Communications, Product/Species Management, Public Relations and Sales.
Congratulations to the recipients of this year’s awards:
Marketing Communications
Pete Kovac, Nicholson Kovac, Inc.
Pete Kovac has served as the CEO of one of the country’s top 100 ad agencies, one of the top BtoB agencies, and one of the top agricultural agencies for going on 26+ years. The agency now is almost $100 million in capitalized billings, employees over 125 individuals and continues to serve agricultural clients, most notably FMC Corporation.
As CEO of NK, Pete is the ultimate marketing communications professional. He uses his expertise to serve a wide range of clients, as well as for training and development of NK professionals, many who have created stellar careers in agricultural marketing communications themselves.
NK has the full scope of marcom capabilities from traditional advertising to media planning, from PR to market research, from direct to interactive and more. The agency and Pete have been honored on an ongoing basis by BtoB Magazine, as top agency of the year (multiple times), as well as top creative work, particularly for agricultural clients.
Pete has been a lifetime member as well as supporter of NAMA, and certainly the last 26+ years as head of Nicholson Kovac. He has supported numerous staff members via paying for their memberships, attendance at chapter meetings and national conventions and more.
In fact, many NK staffers have served in multiple leadership roles for NAMA, and the agency and Pete continues to promote the value of NAMA and encourage membership and leadership.
Public Relations
Greg Smith, Padilla Speer Beardsley
Greg Smith has over 20 years of communications management experience. At Padilla Speer Beardsley, he leads the company’s agribusiness practice which was recently recognized as one of the nation’s largest independent public relations agribusiness agencies by the O’Dwyers Directory of Public Relations Firms.
Greg is responsible for leading the public relations efforts for BASF Professional Vegetation Management, BASF Turf & Ornamental, Global Ethanol Services and Agri-Business Solutions at Padilla Speer Beardsley.
As the VP for Padilla’s agribusiness practice, Greg is responsible for the growth and development of the practice area and staff, including client management, PR counsel, strategy development, measurement and evaluation of programs and professional development of those in the agri-business practice.
Greg serves as an adjunct professor at St. Thomas University, teaching public relations writing and advanced public relations courses, and at Bethel University, teaching communications management and business communications, both in St. Paul, MN. He also applied these teaching skills internally through Padilla’s Post Grad educational sessions for employees.
Greg is very active in the National Agri-Marketing Association, serving most recently as president and past president of the North Central Chapter. He has played an active role in program development and served in various other North Central Chapter leadership roles. He has worked to develop programs for NAMA members, including the negotiating workshop, member networking events and golf outings.
Product/Species Management
Klaas Okkinga, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc.
Klaas Okkinga is responsible for managing the marketing department in the swine division of BIVI. He has also been given the opportunity/challenge to launch a new circovirus vaccine into the swine market – Ingelvac CircoFLEX. In the swine industry, circovirus is the “hottest” disease in the industry and all of the players in the market are doing their best to launch products for this disease and lay claim to precious market share. Klaas successfully launched Ingelvac CircoFLEX and quickly achieved the market leader position. This is an especially remarkable feat, in that Ingelvac CircoFLEX was actually the third product to market and the disease pressure and competition amongst competitors was (and is) intense.
Klaas has had many achievements through out his career in addition to the recent Ingelvac CircoFLEX success. Over the past 18 months specifically, he achieved double digit million dollar sales and profits in year three of a product’s life, by reaching 30%+ market penetration in competitive US markets.
Klaas has held positions in the U.S. and abroad. He has a true appreciation for marketing communications and is always looking for innovative ways to express the brand and reach new customers. Klaas is willing to take risks in order to advance his company and products. The swine industry is a relatively small category, however, Klaas is not one to let this limit his creativity … be it a viral email campaign, television call-in program or utilizing decoder glasses at a trade show, Klaas embraces his category and pushes the envelope with regard to communications strategies and tactics for swine producers and veterinarians.
In addition, Klaas was instrumental in the development of the BIVI PCVAD Research Award. This is an annual $75,000 award, shared amongst three winners in North America, to fund research projects related to circovirus.
Klaas, although living and working in St. Joseph, is and has been an active member of the MOKAN NAMA chapter — participating in meetings and the annual golf outing.
As a marketing manager at a corporation, Klaas’ participation with NAMA adds perspective and value to our NAMA organization, which tends to skew toward the agency/media membership. Continuing to keep the involvement of marketing managers, such as Klaas, is critical to the organization.
Sales
Bill Heffron, Bock & Associates
Bill Heffron is wrapping up a very successful selling career in 2007. He has excelled in achieving high levels of customer satisfaction and professionalism.
Bill is a consummate salesman. He knows his publication, the details of the market segment served, his competitors and, most importantly of all, his customers’ position in this market. This allows him to design advertising proposals using all appropriate publications and related products and always with the customers’ budget and objectives in mind. Research such as Starch FARMS and USDA Census of Agriculture reports were pored over by Bill. He frequently used several sources of data to explain a marketing position and to justify a communication proposal.
Today’s marketplace is a multi-media marketplace. Bill grasped this concept with enthusiasm and is a leader in integrating new media products such as website advertising and e-newsletters into customers’ proposals. This is further proof that “some old dogs” can learn new tricks.
His strong relationships with customers have been deepened through the years because his work has kept their needs on the top of the priority list. Sure, his sales records indicate that Bill’s needs were also met along the way. But never at the expense of the customer. Since the news of Bill’s retirement began filtering out, his phone has been busy with congratulatory phone calls from customers around the country.
Bill’s NAMA involvement has focused on supporting local activities. He has been actively involved in both professional improvement/recognition events like the annual Best of NAMA awards and the more social activities such as the summer golf outing. Bill states, “NAMA is extremely important to us as a networking tool. Many of us greatly benefited early in our careers from the added boost NAMA gave us in getting to know our customers on a more social level.”
The early registration deadline and hotel cut-off date for the 2007 Agribusiness Forum is one week away on Monday, October 29. After October 29, registration rates will increase and any hotel reservations made after October 29 are subject to higher rates and potential unavailability.
“It’s a big world out there,” the saying used to go. But increasingly, globalization and technology are making our world smaller and smaller. Events on the other side of the globe impact the way we do business. The internet and cellular technology have revolutionized the pace of communication, presenting new challenges and opportunities for us as marketers.