NAMA is pleased to announce the winners of the 2016 Professional Development Awards. Each year, NAMA recognizes industry leaders at the very top of their respective fields. These prestigious awards acknowledge excellence in the areas of marketing communications, public relations and sales.

The 2016 Marketing Communications award recipient is Marcy Tessman, President and Partner at Charleston|Orwig.  In her tenure with Charleston|Orwig, she has risen from account service to agency partner and president. She works with clients throughout the food system while ensuring that the agency provides flexible, positive career paths for every member of the team.  Her specialty is to ensure that client brands are well defined and resonate with their respective audiences.  She has led major branding initiatives with clients in production agriculture as well as consumer-facing retail food brands including Arm & Hammer Animal Nutrition and Zoetis.  Marcy is active in the Badger NAMA Chapter, having helped organize activities over the years.  She has served as a judge for the Student Marketing Competition and advisor to the UW-Madison Student NAMA Team.

The Professional Development Award for Public Relations goes to Bill Brozak, Director of Communications for Colle+McVoy/Exponent PR.  Bill is a leader of the agency’s agriculture practice.  His expertise has played a vital role in expanding business for some of the agency’s leading agriculture clients, which include the Land O’Lakes agriculture brand, Winfield. Additionally, he has developed successful communications programs for clients such as Granular, Progressive Ag Foundation, Purina Animal Nutrition, DTN/The Progressive Farmer, Schneider Electric, General Mills and others.  Bill has been an active NAMA member for five years, serving as treasurer, vice president and active president of the North Central NAMA Chapter.  Over the years, he has helped plan events, recruit members and facilitate relationships between the organization’s members and agency clients.

Matt Herman is awarded the Professional Development Award for Sales. As Associate Publisher for DTN/The Progressive Farmer, Matt continues to be the leader in elevating the print, digital, custom publishing and event offerings of the company within the agricultural advertising community. In addition to serving as the strategic lead on key agricultural accounts, Matt has direct sales responsibilities on some of the most impactful ag partners to the media business.  He was integral in launching the first ever DTN/Progressive Ag Summit and has been a leader in developing programs and opportunities that combine the integrated offerings of the DTN digital platform with The Progressive Farmer.  A long-time member of NAMA, Matt has been engaged as a committed leader in the North Central Chapter, as well as on a national level as a member of the Boot Camp Committee.

The professional development awards of excellence will be presented at the 2016 NAMA Fall Conference in Raleigh. The honorees will receive their awards during a morning session on Thursday, September 22^nd  at The Sheraton Raleigh. For more information on the NAMA Fall Conference, visit http://www.nama.org/fall-conference/2016-home.