NAMA honored four recipients of the 2011 Professional Development Awards of Excellence at the 2011 Trends In Agriculture fall meeting on November 9. These awards honor NAMA members based on outstanding achievement in the professional development areas. This year, Awards of Excellence were presented in the areas of marketing communications, public relations, product/species management and sales.

Marketing Communications ~ Margaret Fogarty, Farm Credit
Margaret Fogarty joined Farm Credit almost exactly 18 months ago, and her accomplishments during her tenure have had a truly profound impact on the organization and the industry.

Margaret and her team built a comprehensive, integrated marketing communications program to introduce a collective national brand and unify reputation management efforts in the Farm Credit System. In doing so, she introduced and implemented dozens of new concepts with more than 90 Farm Credit System entities that had nearly a century-long legacy of local, disparate brand-building.

Frequently presented with diverse (and often outdated) technical capabilities, geographical dispersion, varying business philosophies and styles of communication, Fogarty executed an integrated strategic communications program that encompassed corporate brand identity, internal communications, online communications, public and media relations and national contributions.

Margaret is more than an active member of NAMA; she is also a leader and educator. As soon as Fogarty joined the ag industry, she became a NAMA member and attended the 2010 annual conference. She valued what she learned through her membership and wanted to give back, so she created opportunities within NAMA to connect peers and Farm Credit associations, as well as to ensure that Farm Credit was a strong financial supporter of NAMA.

Ms. Fogarty embraced the 2010 conference opportunity by implementing 2011 Idea Share NAMA Pre-Conference, Farm Credit’s first systemwide internal communications conference, to coincide with the NAMA event and collaborated with NAMA organizers to ensure all Farm Credit efforts were complementary and supportive of NAMA activities.

Public Relations ~ Chuck Zimmerman, ZimmComm New Media, LLC
From on-line photo album development for key industry events, to news reporting and media liaison activities for various commercial clients, to ‘blogging’ his way across the land, Chuck has become a common sight at just about any type of meeting or event in the agriculture industry. He has also done a great deal to get many others involved in new media endeavors.

ZimmComm’s primary website, www.AgWired.com, continues to grow in web traffic and involvement by industry professionals and agriculturists alike. He regularly crisscrosses the country from one event to the next, hired by PR professionals and companies of all types and sizes to perform a specific but expanding list of New Media, Social Media and related Public Relations services.

As part of the ZimmComm, Inc. business model, Chuck has developed numerous websites, some of which are focused on one commodity or industry enterprise. Some have become very viable website “channels” for a specific industry purpose. Some of these websites are owned by ZimmComm, Inc. and others are built and maintained by ZimmComm on a contractual basis for their clients. Many of these website concepts were born out of brainstorming about a specific challenge or need in the industry, and then developing a web presence to serve that need.

Chuck has been active in NAMA throughout his career and he continues his membership in a very active way now in his role representing his own company, ZimmComm, Inc. He has given countless hours and days to NAMA service in many, many ways over the years. He has always been active in his local chapters, and has been involved in program planning and leadership at local levels. He is currently a nominee to the Executive Committee.

Product/Species Management ~ Stephanie Gable, NOVUS International, Inc.
Since September, 2008, Stephanie Gable has worked as the Global Ruminant Market Manager for Novus International in St. Louis, Missouri. She is responsible for developing marketing strategies and plans to reach their dairy and beef customers in six world areas including the United States, Mexico, Brazil, China, Australia and Europe.

Stephanie has always been in charge of the marketing for the Beef and Dairy segment, but this year she has taken on additional responsibilities with Pork and the General Feed Line businesses at Novus. Stephanie’s business sense and get it done attitude has helped build awareness and support for the sales teams of these four segments. Stephanie will be a co-author on her first scientific article.

Prior to joining Novus, Stephanie was the Companion Animal Pharmaceutical Product Manager for Fort Dodge Animal Health near Kansas City, Missouri, where she re-launched a canine heartworm product. She also worked as the Strategic Initiative Product Manager and initiated livestock, equine and companion animal programs and rebates.

Previously, Stephanie was the communications manager for Bayer CropScience in Durham, North Carolina. Her overall responsibility was as the key client contact with their communications agencies in all markets including corn, cereals, cotton and horticulture. She was accountable for developing effective communications plans that were strategic and measurable.

Stephanie has taken several steps to not only grow herself through organizations like NAMA, but she has also taken the time to develop her staff into professional agri-business employees that will make a difference. In addition, Stephanie has been involved in NAMA on every level; local and national. She served for many years on the Careers Committee and then as a member of the executive committee for seven years. She currently serves on the Agri-Business Educational Foundation Operating Committee.

Sales ~ Sue Lee, Farm Journal Media
Sue is the national sales manager for Farm Journal Media – no small task in itself, considering the number of properties the company has to ‘sell.’ Sue does an excellent job of networking and meeting individually with clients and potential clients before, during and after trade shows and other industry gatherings, and has a tremendous ability to communicate with any type of personality. Without being pushy, Sue really gets to know clients and their needs before trying to jump them with the sales pitch.

Sue takes her job seriously, but she obviously loves her work, too. She is a strong example of what NAMA stands for in terms of integrity, opportunity, and down-right respect for agriculture and those who pour their hearts into it on a daily basis.

And Sue has put her passion to work directly for NAMA in so many ways. At the chapter level, she has served as president, Best of NAMA chair, secretary, treasurer, program chair, Agri-Marketer of the Year chair, careers chair, and membership chair. And at the national level, she has served as National Continuing Education co-chair, as a member of the Agribusiness Forum national committee, and as a regional director – and currently serves on the national membership committee.